Archive for the ‘Food-Nutrition-Health’ Category

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Culturing Milk: Yogurt

Friday, July 1st, 2011

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…)

Posted in Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health | Comments Closed

All Natural First Aid Kit

Monday, June 27th, 2011

by Catherine Haug, May 4, 2011

As we all prepare for pending flood (or other) emergency, it behooves us to have a simple first aid kit in our Grab & Go pack. Things like bandaids, etc. that are in run-of-the-mill first aid kits are certainly important. But there are also all-natural, herbal items that might come in handy, both for the Emergency pack and for use at home.

It’s always best, of course, to use what is native to our area, that we can glean when in season, then dry or use to make a tincture for later use. But there are some other items that are not native that we may already be using, that are handy healers, too. (more…)

Posted in Emergency Preparedness, Health | Comments Closed

Keeping Bees

Saturday, June 25th, 2011

Honeybee

by Catherine Haug, June 25

(photo from bugguide.net/node/view/3080)

I continue to be fascinated by the craft of bee keeping, but not yet brave enough to do it myself. So far I’m contenting myself with encouraging my native mason bees, by giving them a bee block each spring for nesting.

This morning while listening to MTPR, I caught an NPR-Weekend Edition interview of Bill Turnbull about his hobby and book: Confessions of a Bad Beekeeper (what not to do when keeping bees [with apologies to my own]). I was reminded of Ronny’s excellent presentation at our February Gathering on Managing an Organic Beehive.

Mr. Turnbull captures wild swarms, something Ronny recommends, but I’ve not yet read the book, so I don’t know if he also keeps smaller (regressed) bees. Yet something he said in the interview rings with truth: “Keeping bees is a way of giving back [to the earth].”

You can listen to the 6-minute NPR interview at BBC Host Becomes A ‘Bad Beekeeper’. (more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Food-Nutrition-Health | Comments Closed

Feeding Sourdough Starter

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

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.

(more…)

Posted in Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health | 1 Comment »

‘Sourdough’ Oatmeal Porridge

Monday, June 20th, 2011

Served with blueberries & cream

by Catherine Haug, June 16, 2011

(All photos by C. Haug)

See also printable pdf version of this photo-essay: ‘Sourdough’ Oatmeal Porridge.

Last month I wrote a photo-essay on ‘Sourdough’ Pie Crust. It uses yogurt rather than sourdough starter to ferment the flour, since the leavening ability of sourdough starter is not wanted in a pie crust.

This same method can be applied to other baked goodies such as cakes, cookies, coffee cakes, and quick breads. And it can also be applied to cooked porridges. But why would you do this? (more…)

Posted in Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health, Health | 12 Comments »

Lacto-Fermentation or Live Culture

Monday, June 20th, 2011

by Catherine Haug, June 18, 2011; updated August 4 & 28, 2011

ESP recently hosted a panel presentation at our August 2011 gathering, on the topic of lacto-fermentation (See Gathering Summary: Lacto-Fermentation, with Don Bates & Jeanette Cheney). But perhaps you’re not sure what that means, or why it is important for your health. If so, read on….

(more…)

Posted in Energy, Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Health | 1 Comment »

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