ALMOND MILK KIFER

Raw live  almond kifer milk

Here is another delicious recipe that is so easy and full of healthy probiotics.  It has a tangy taste and is quite refreshing as is. I happen to like plain yogurt, buttermilk, and plain kifers.  But I suppose many folks might not like this unless it is in a smoothie with fruit.  I make my own almond milk, so I always have access to it.  If your interested in my almond milk recipe you can find it in my other recipe blog  here at...
                                                maryhelenstestskitchen@blogspot.com
Anyway here is how I do it.

Ingredients:

• Milk kifer grains  1/3 cup more or less
• Almond milk 2 cups more or less
• One clean container.

Instructions:

• Pour almond milk in rinsed kifer grains.
• Let sit at room temperature preferably 78 degrees fahrenheit
• strain when desired tartness and refrigerate.
• Rinse milk kifer grains well and put back in dairy milk as it thrives in dairy milk

Almond milk kifer looks quite done in my milk
kifer grains.

Easy enough for you?  And it really adds up and saves on your pocket book if you make it homemade.  It is so much richer in probiotics because it is homemade.  It is not heat controlled for market sale and therefore carries a lot more live healthy bacteria.  We need this to act like little pacman and gobble up that unhealthy bacteria right.  There is too much illness going around and probiotics is one way to ward that yucky "C" illness, and diabetes.

This was an easy strain.  Look at the
grains, they look clean right out of
the kifer almond milk.  I still need to
rinse well before I put it
back in dairy milk.

Remember, our body remains at 98.6 F right?  Well it's a perfect breeding ground for bacteria!!!  And with the undigested over processed foods remaining behind in your intestines causing havoc. It poisons you slowly or perhaps fast, causing a multitude of illnesses.  Not a laughing matter.  That's why I make natural probiotic foods.  I've cured my diabetes, and all that trimmings using probiotic foods.  Doctors told me I could not get off my meds.  Guess what?  I changed my diet by adding more probiotic foods like kifers, kombucha, and ferments, and my tests have show no signs of diabetes for almost a year now.  I have more choices in life and I get to choose.  I like the fact that it is possible to defeat and ward off many illness by diet alone.  If only my mom knew what I know, she might still be around.   FOOD IS MEDICINE FOLKS.

Till the next time...

 Many blessings,

Mary Helen

FERMENTED LEMONS WITH RINDS

FERMENTED LEMONS WITH THEIR RIND
AFTER 7 MONTHS THEY STILL
LOOK BEAUTIFUL

Seven months ago back in January my friend gave me about 25 pounds of ripe organic lemons.  I juiced and froze some.  I made lemon marmalade to preserve another portion of the lemons.  However, I wanted to find a way to preserve some besides canning it and killing anything that was alive in the heating process.  I found I could ferment it in a salted lemon juice brine.  Well after seven months let me share with you the results.   They are just as beautiful in color.  They came out in its own thick "syrup" full of natural pectin. They are now so delicate, and fall apart easy.  They looked so juicy I just had to try it.  Wow, it just melted in my mouth, rind and all.  I am very impressed.  I believe in food storage too besides eating healthy and this is how I did it...

Yes thats a thick salty lemon syrup full of natural
 pectin as well as probiotics and vitamins.

INGREDIENTS:

• Lemons 8-10 large (preferably organic) washed and sliced thin
• Jar sterile and large enough to fit the lemons leaving 2 inch headspace
• Juice of 3 large lemons
• 1/3 cup mineral salt (sea salt kosher salt, or pickling salt is fine just no iodized salt.)
• warm water enough to cover lemons at least 1 inch over the top

I mixed 1/4 cup warm water with the lemon juice and till the salt disolved in a separate bowel.  In a sterile jar I began packing  the sliced lemons in the sterile jar tightly.  I used a food pusher getting most of the air out every few layers. In doing this I added a little of the lemon juice brine solution each time. I did this till it was packed leaving a two inch headspace.  I then filled it with the lemon/water/salt solution leaving a one inch headspace.  I left it in a dark corner for a month.



I was not in a hurry to try it after a month because I don't like the rind or the white pith and I thought it would have that "pithy bitter taste".  So in February I put it in the back of the refrigerater for the past 6 months.   So after 7 months it's so ready.  I had to try it.   I am again a happy camper as I now have another probiotic ferment to share with you and my friends.

One note please.  This is a very lemony salty fermented tangy product. Similar to a salted plum. I would not suggested you eat it as is.  You might want to consider making a sauce and adding a couple of slices to a cooked product.  Or maybe a lemon vinaigrette.  Chopped fine and sprinkle it in a salad is another option right?  If you have any ideas let me know.  How about dried? Or any comments, please feel free to leave one.

Thanking you in advance and many blessings,

CAN YOU SEE THE TENDERNESS

Mary Helen

SO DELICATE, THEY JUST FALL APART

JUICY MOUTH WATERING FERMENTED LEMONS

MILK KIFER CHEESE SPREAD WITH COCONUT AND HONEY

Milk kifer cheese spread with coconut, honey and parsley.  It's all good.

Yesterday I had about 4 cups of nonfat milk in kifer grains which had curdled a bit too much.  It was  a lot more tart than what I had set out for.  Considering my intentions were to make a soft sweet cheese, similar to soft goat cheese with honey.  After straining the curds and whey. I seasoned the curds and I set it in my oven to get most of the moisture out with the light on.  It's perfect there where the light just warms it slowly, not harming the probiotic cultures.  If you have a dehydrator, by all means use it.  I plan on making a simple one just not today.  You do not need any fancy equipment to make this simple recipe.  Anyway, I had put my cheese spread out on parchmont paper and on a screen.   After 24 hours I flipped the cheese spread over to the other side and on a new sheet of parchmont paper, and continued for another 12 hours, until it was drying around the edges.

I decided to mask some of the sourness of the kifer cheese (curds) by mixing together...

Milk kifer grains, curds and whey
automatic separation makes it easy
to rid most whey from the curds.

Milk kifer spread out on parchmont paper
and put on an anti-splatter screen. to dry.
Whatever works right?

• one tablespoon milk
• one tablespoon powdered coconut milk
• one tablespoon honey granules (or any sweetener)
• one teaspoon parsley

Mix all the ingredients well.  By this time the kifer cheese spread is quite pliable, like  play-dough.  This makes enough probiotic kifer cheese spread to fit in a 4 oz  jar or container with a tight lid.

This will keep in the refrigerator, where it will continue to slowly ferment. It's great on crackers, toast, or bagels. Try it for yourself,  It's all good, it's all probiotic.  Besides being healthy, it's tasty, homemade, and quite affordable. Note:  For best result use within 5 days.  It's just another way to get your probiotics. lol  Don't forget, "Food is Medicine", and that is not a lol matter.  And it only takes just a spread a couple times a day to get a lot of probiotic cultures in you. 

I know it is a very time consuming recipe. However, you don't have to kifer-sit this recipe like you do milk in kifer grains.  It just takes time, time you could spend doing other things, right? But so worth the little effort put forth.

Enjoy, and many blessings,
Mary Helen

8 Reasons to Add Probiotic Foods to your Diet

8 Reasons to Add Probiotic Foods to your Diet.  Sauerkraut again to the rescue.  However I would wait till it has a sauerkraut smell, because according to this recipe, it says to let it ferment just a short while.  I ferment all the time and at this stage it smells pretty foul and I would not drink it till this smell passes.  It will pass, trust me.  lol.

SPICY FERMENTED SAUERKRAUT-HOMEMADE

 RAW SPICY FERMENTED SAUERKRAUT  NOT ONLY TASTY, BUT A PROBIOTIC FOOD
Food is medicine.

Here is a wonderful easy scum-less sauerkraut I made. Don't let the word scum scare you unless it is green or black.  Ewww.  But if anyone has made real homemade sauerkraut before they know there would most likely be scum on the surface, which usually gets skimmed off and discarded.  I was totally surprised when I opened this container only to see the plate looking back at me. 

I had some sauerkraut left over from a previous batch, so I wasn't in a hurry to open this container containing 6 heads of shredded cabbage. Every day I eat some sort of probiotic food which has allowed me to be diabetic free, and free of all medications. And this one happens to be delicious. My family and I love it.  However, I don't believe in doing smaller batches, because it takes so long to ferment, but its well worth the wait.  Yummy probiotics!   A tablespoon here, a tablespoon there, and that's all it takes to get your probiotic food. intake.  Why waste money on pills, when food is medicine?  Why? Anyway.

Besides the cabbage I added...

• cabbage 6 heads  Shredded or chopped small. (save the outer leaves for the top just in case...)
• Salt 1/2 cup
• Water to cover the salt and cabbage.
• Kombucha 16 oz
• Cayenne pepper 1-3 tablespoons (optional but healthier)

Instructions:

• Add salt and water and shredded cabbage and knead with your hands for a few minutes
• Allow cabbage to soak in salted water for 4 hours.
• Rinse well, and drain
• Add kombucha, and water covering cabbage 
• Put cabbage in container and punch down to pack tightly
• add the outer leaves of cabbage on top of shredded cabbage
• add a non plastic/non metal plate.  
• I also held that plate down with a jar emmersing the plate and kraut under the liquid. 
• I put a lid on that whole container, and put it in a corner for almost 2 months.

Here is a 3 gallon # 2 plastic container I used to put
my cabbage in.  I opened it after almost 2 months of
being undisturbed in a corner.  Can you see the jar, holding the
 plate down?  The plate held the cabbage down.  

It was the total emmersion that made this sauerkraut completely scum-less.  The whole thing was edible.  As you can see for yourself in the picture below, no scum.

These are the outer cabbage leaves I expected to
discard because I assumed
it would have scum on the top layer.
 Yay a scum less sauerkraut!  This was
definetely all good.

I am so glad I made extra, because I love to share, and it's so mouth watering and tangy.  I know it won't last long. It tastes too good to be good for you.  Yes, eating healthy can be expensive but if you make it at home it is so much cheaper right?

It takes so long to ferment this cabbage, it is so much better to
 make an amount you would be able to consume till your next batch is ready.
 I came out with about 5 quarts of  tangy delicious homemade
SPICY SAUERKRAUT.  Yum!

Well, I hope this helps in some way.  Feel free to leave any comments.

Thanking you in advance.

Many blessings,

Mary Helen

ROSEMARY GT KOMBUCHA

Rosemary Kombucha

I love the smell of fresh cut rosemary.  It is such a aromatic herb that makes green tea kombucha so tasty.  Not to mention it has so many nutritional benefits like phyto-nutrients.  Cellular nutrition equals cellular rejuvenation in my books.  So i'm all for adding a little rosemary to my kombucha.  It's also called an anti aging herb, and I believe it because I have seen the results with my own eyes on other folks who's skin alone testify to the health benefits of rosemary, by drinking it as a tea daily.  I have also been using it in my body butters as well for the past year, and I love it. So do my friends. Rosemary has natural salicylic acid, similar to other leading anti blemish lotions, but without all the chemicals.  But that's another blog I posted elsewhere.

Anyway, for the Rosemary Kombucha,  I added...

I disturbed my baby SCOBY, now there's another one
growing circumferencing the diameter of the container.

• water  one gallon
• green tea 4 tea bags
• rosemary dried 2- 6 teaspoons or 1 fresh sprig
• sugar 1/2-1 cup
• SCOBY (I used a small one)

I alway put the herbs in the water while it is still cold.  I heat it slowly till it is almost boiling then I turn the stove off at let it sit with the herbs in till it is barely warm.  I strain it and add that to my continous brew.  If this is your first batch you will add your SCOBY, and your 2 cups of kombucha from your previous brew, or a store bought bottle.  If you have no starter you can always use regular vinegar, but you need a SCOBY.  Yes it will culture.  I've done it a few times in my experiments.  Also, if you don't have a SCOBY you need a starter like a bottle of store bought kombucha if you don't have access to freshly brewed kombucha.  It does has enough live culture in it to recreate another baby SCOBY if left undisturbed for a few weeks.

I lifted the baby SCOBY'S and there is
 the mother SCOBY floating underneath.
Yummy rosemary kombucha beneath
 my SCOBY'S)

Note that rosemary has a lot of oil in the herb naturally, so it will take longer for the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) and the tea to culture.  Don't worry, just be patient, it will culture.  Mine took at least 7 days before I saw the baby scoby starting to grow on the surface like a thin film.  It took me 2 weeks of brewing before it started to have that kombucha slight vinegary taste.  Yum.  So after 2 weeks my Rosemary gt Kombucha is ready, and i'm a happy camper.