by Catherine Haug, August 26, 2011
USDA: My Food Plate
(icon, above, from ChooseMyPlate.gov)
In June of this year, the USDA replaced its food pyramid with “My Food Plate” in attempt to make it easier to understand how much of each of 5 food categories to eat: Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Protein, and Dairy.
USDA recommendations, and Cat’s comments follow: (more…)
Bread & Butter Pickles
by Catherine Haug
(photo, left, of lacto-fermented pickles by C. Haug)
This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable pdf file: Gathering Summary: Lacto-Fermentation with Don Bates & Jeanette Cheney, Aug 17, 2011.
See For More Information (below) for the recipes handouts.
Presenters Don Bates & Jeanette Cheney described and demonstrated the following, and brought samples and tasters to tempt our taste buds: (more…)
by Catherine Haug, August 19, 2011; updated January 14, 2012 (Seed & Nut Milk section)
At this month’s Gathering on Lacto-Fermentation, Jeanette Cheney demonstrated how to make several fermented beverages traditionally made from milk (but her samples were made from coconut and soy milk). One of the questions from the audience concerned why and when do you need to sterilize the milk (heat to 180° F) before adding the culture.
I’ll admit that when I first starting making yogurt, kefir and other cultured dairy products, I too was rather confused by this. But after much experience, I think I have a good understanding to share with you. (more…)
by Catherine Haug, June 20, 2011
(photo by C. Haug)
This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable pdf file: Gathering Summary: Cheese Making at Home, a Panel Presentation).
Presentation Topics
Panel members Fran Wade and Shelli Riedesel demonstrated the following cheese-making processes:
See also:
Freshly cultured yogurt
by Catherine Haug, June 28, 2011
(all photos by C. Haug)
Don’t you just love that sweet-tart flavor of creamy white yogurt? Or do you prefer yours with honey and fruit stirred in? Did you know that yogurt is a lacto-fermented food that you can make at home?
Yogurt is a very popular food, as major brands like Dannon have promoted yogurt’s ability to normalize a troubled digestive system. It’s the probiotic bugs in yogurt that do this good work, but you don’t need to buy these advertised brands to get the same benefit.
Our August gathering will be on lacto-fermentation, which includes the culturing of milk to make things like yogurt, cheese, sour cream, butter, and kefir. (See also my recent post: Lacto-Fermentation or Live Culture, and The EssentiaList: Yogurt & Kefir, from Powdered Culture).
Read on for a photo essay on how you can do this at home. See also printable pdf version of the photo-essay: Making Yogurt at Home: a Photo Essay. (more…)
By Catherine Haug, June 20, 2011
I continue to experiment with my sourdough bread (after learning how at our recent SourdoughGathering), researching info on the web to help me make the best bread possible. My starter has not been as bubbly as I would like, probably because I don’t use it every day, so I’ve been experimenting with how, and when to feed my starter.