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Showing posts with label gluten free sourdough bread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gluten free sourdough bread. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
July Newsletter
This month's newsletter features an article on baking Gluten-free Sourdough Bread in the heat of summer!
Also a recipe and video for Marinated Tomatoes using home made Kombucha vinegar. Yum!
Click here to read!
Click here to read!
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
May Newsletter
May Newsletter has photos of readers' baking creations and their personal variations! 
Also a piece on getting ready to ferment vegetables as we move into the gardening season.
Click here to read newsletter!Monday, April 1, 2013
Monday, November 26, 2012
Free November Newsletter
November Newsletter Click Here to Read
This month's topics:
This month's topics:
- Holiday Food
- Natural Antihistamine
- My article published in Living Without Magazine Dec/Jan edition!!
- My new website!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Free September Newsletter!
September Newsletter is out!! Click here to read!
This month's topics:
Lacto-Fermented Cucumber Relish
Whole Grain Sorghum
Frozen Tomatoes
Congestion Buster
Bread Crumbs & recipe for GF meatloaf
Thursday, May 3, 2012
May Newsletter!!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Cooking Gluten Free on the Road
After many years of minimal traveling due to health problems and stringent food needs, my daughter and I took a road trip together. In the last few years I had traveled by car to Maine for weeklong vacations by the ocean. With practice I mastered the art of packing the car: Kombucha tea into its special box, loaves of home made bread, frozen Highly Digestible Beans, vegetables from the garden, water kefir, milk kefir, grains, nuts, dried fruit and olive oil. I had the packing pattern down pat.
This trip was going to be different, however, as we were traveling by plane. Some people, when faced with a flight across the country followed by an 8 day road trip ending with a family wedding, pack lots of clothes and shoes. I, on the other hand, pack lots of food and equipment. I packed an Elite Rice Cooker with steamer attachment, a small toaster and a few plastic containers for soaking and storage. In the suitcase I used clothes for cushioning around the equipment.
The day before we left I baked 3 loaves of gluten free sourdough chia bread and sliced it into 30 slices. My chia bread recipe is extremely long lived so I knew it would last the week. I packed it in a plastic container lined with wax paper. (My daughter is also allergic to gluten so I packed enough for her) I also packed dry rice and lentils, rice cakes, nuts and a homemade amaranth/teff mix for breakfast which is simply a 50/50 mix of whole grain amaranth and teff. I brought 2 Ziploc screw-on containers to soak the grains and lentils.
I also packed provisions for the full day of traveling:
I cooked extra bluefish the day before mixing the leftovers with olive oil, salt, lime juice and a Cajun pepper mix. I added some lightly steamed broccoli and layered it over bed of rice. I also packed a bag of fresh cut celery and carrots. For snacks I toasted 6 thick slices of bread right before leaving the house to have with Applegate Farm sliced chicken.
A few days before the trip I cooked a pot of Highly Digestible Beans putting some portions of it immediately into the freezer. One portion had rice so it was almost a complete meal. I also froze 2 portions of cooked amaranth/teff hot cereal. My plan was to have 24-36 hours of prepared food so I wouldn’t have to think about cooking until I had a good rest. The only thing I would have to do was soak nuts before bed.
When it was time to go I packed the frozen beans and amaranth/teff in the bottom of the lunch bag. These would defrost slowly keeping the fish, chicken and veggies cold.
The food worked better than I had hoped. The toasted bread was great for snacks and was even great without anything on it! My fish lunch was perfect. Satisfying and unusual. When we had a midday stopover in Detroit we bought nori rolls at a Sushi Restaurant in the airport for dinner later on the connecting flight. This worked perfectly with the cut veggies. We arrived a little weary but well fed.
In the hotel room I began unpacking and realized that I had a minor luggage malfunction. There was brown rice scattered all over everything. No big deal. It could wait till morning. The frozen food had defrosted but was still very cold. They went right into the mini refrigerator. I made up 2 portions of nuts to soak for the morning.
As we were wired from our trip and unable to sleep my daughter and I went out for a walk in the cool San Francisco evening around Fisherman’s Wharf and unexpectedly found some colorful plastic plates from the Rain Forest Café that we could use for our meals.
In the morning I dug out the rice cooker from the suitcase, pouring off the scattered rice. I heated water in it and reheated the cold amaranth/teff mixture. I mixed it with the soaked, drained nuts and had a normal breakfast minus flax oil and cinnamon but I was very happy with it.
We would spend one full day in San Francisco and move on. I soaked some lentils for the next day of traveling. I gathered some more of the scattered rice and soaked some of that, as well. I would cook later in the day, probably when I needed a rest from jet lag.
My regular diet includes beans nearly every day. They are an excellent source of protein and add variety to my meals. My Highly Digestible Beans cause me no intestinal distress whatsoever whereas if I eat beans without my usual preparation I have a lot of discomfort. I didn’t want to give up beans but I knew that the cooking time would be difficult in a hotel room so I decided on lentils because they soak and cook more quickly than other beans. Usually I add a fermented liquid to the soaking water and cook my beans with seaweed but I was able to cut those steps out without any intestinal distress.
Using the steamer I planned to steam veggies during the last part of the cook time. We could make a few meals and store them in the lunch bag with ice in a Ziplock screw top
With my lentils and rice happily soaking I began a bit of sightseeing. My daughter had already begun catching up with friends so I was on my own. I was concerned about having bouts of sudden jetlag fatigue. The last time I traveled to California, pre-gluten and food sensitivity diagnoses, it took seven days to recover from the jet lag. Huge blood sugar swings, huge fatigue, huge hunger. After I finally recovered I only had 3 days of vacation time left only to begin the jetlag process soon after arriving home. It is a testament to the power of a body to heal because on this trip I only had one hour of jetlag in both directions!
I began walking along Fisherman’s Wharf and saw an enormous seal lounging on a dock. Then I took a trolley to the Ferry Building which now houses unusually beautiful shops and artisanal food markets including an organic farm store where I bought some veggies for the big hotel room cooking experiment. There was also a push cart selling gluten free breads and treats by Mariposa. So beautiful!
After a few hours I felt the fatigue set in and headed back to the hotel. After a short rest I began my cooking adventure. The cooker has two settings, “cook” and “warm” which translate as really high and really low. I brought the lentils to a boil on cook and turned it down to warm. This probably works well for slow cooked rice but resulted in barely simmering lentils so I turned it up to cook again and kept my eye on it for about an hour, stirring often with a small wooden spoon. This worked well. Using my pocket knife I cut up the veggies from the organic farm store, swiss chard and turnip, and steamed them during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. I realized I couldn’t cook the rice in time to eat dinner because the rice cooker was full of very hot lentils so I toasted a piece of multigrain bread and had that with the lentils. Dinner was really excellent. When they were cool I stored the leftovers in lunch containers and stored them right next to the little freezer in the mini fridge.
The next morning I cooked the rice and had it for breakfast. It was nice break from amaranth/teff and helped me continue rotating my food.
As we began our road trip down the coast we happily ate our leftovers for lunch. We had some meals out, carefully questioning our servers but by day five I wasn’t eating my own food any more and began to feel sluggish and spacey. I repeated the soaking and cooking routine again and got myself back on track, feeling much better.
After driving past many mountains and elephant seals we arrived at our family event, the wedding. I had already sent my food requests to the hostess who forwarded them to the caterers. Turns out the groom was gluten intolerant as were a handful of others! Our little gluten free club included some vegetarians, some sugar-frees and some dairy frees. The caterer did a fantastic job of accommodating us with beautiful food of great culinary height. There were gluten free challah rolls, (egg bread) that I hesitated to eat, being sensitive to eggs, but decided to take a chance after being off of eggs for 3 years. They were very nice and doughy. The “wedding cake” was a tower of gluten free cupcakes! I scraped off the sugary frosting after having a little taste of it. The cake part, which had walnuts in it, was a beautiful texture with very delicate spicing. It also probably had eggs in it so I got to test myself a little further. I did have a moderate reaction the next day and now feel sure that eggs should stay out of my regular diet.
It was a blessing to go to an event and receive such good care around our food needs. I also have tremendous gratitude for the many advances in alternative medicine and gluten free awareness which has made it possible for me to regain my health and travel again.
This trip was going to be different, however, as we were traveling by plane. Some people, when faced with a flight across the country followed by an 8 day road trip ending with a family wedding, pack lots of clothes and shoes. I, on the other hand, pack lots of food and equipment. I packed an Elite Rice Cooker with steamer attachment, a small toaster and a few plastic containers for soaking and storage. In the suitcase I used clothes for cushioning around the equipment.
The day before we left I baked 3 loaves of gluten free sourdough chia bread and sliced it into 30 slices. My chia bread recipe is extremely long lived so I knew it would last the week. I packed it in a plastic container lined with wax paper. (My daughter is also allergic to gluten so I packed enough for her) I also packed dry rice and lentils, rice cakes, nuts and a homemade amaranth/teff mix for breakfast which is simply a 50/50 mix of whole grain amaranth and teff. I brought 2 Ziploc screw-on containers to soak the grains and lentils.
I also packed provisions for the full day of traveling:
I cooked extra bluefish the day before mixing the leftovers with olive oil, salt, lime juice and a Cajun pepper mix. I added some lightly steamed broccoli and layered it over bed of rice. I also packed a bag of fresh cut celery and carrots. For snacks I toasted 6 thick slices of bread right before leaving the house to have with Applegate Farm sliced chicken.
A few days before the trip I cooked a pot of Highly Digestible Beans putting some portions of it immediately into the freezer. One portion had rice so it was almost a complete meal. I also froze 2 portions of cooked amaranth/teff hot cereal. My plan was to have 24-36 hours of prepared food so I wouldn’t have to think about cooking until I had a good rest. The only thing I would have to do was soak nuts before bed.
When it was time to go I packed the frozen beans and amaranth/teff in the bottom of the lunch bag. These would defrost slowly keeping the fish, chicken and veggies cold.
The food worked better than I had hoped. The toasted bread was great for snacks and was even great without anything on it! My fish lunch was perfect. Satisfying and unusual. When we had a midday stopover in Detroit we bought nori rolls at a Sushi Restaurant in the airport for dinner later on the connecting flight. This worked perfectly with the cut veggies. We arrived a little weary but well fed.
In the hotel room I began unpacking and realized that I had a minor luggage malfunction. There was brown rice scattered all over everything. No big deal. It could wait till morning. The frozen food had defrosted but was still very cold. They went right into the mini refrigerator. I made up 2 portions of nuts to soak for the morning.
As we were wired from our trip and unable to sleep my daughter and I went out for a walk in the cool San Francisco evening around Fisherman’s Wharf and unexpectedly found some colorful plastic plates from the Rain Forest Café that we could use for our meals.
In the morning I dug out the rice cooker from the suitcase, pouring off the scattered rice. I heated water in it and reheated the cold amaranth/teff mixture. I mixed it with the soaked, drained nuts and had a normal breakfast minus flax oil and cinnamon but I was very happy with it.
We would spend one full day in San Francisco and move on. I soaked some lentils for the next day of traveling. I gathered some more of the scattered rice and soaked some of that, as well. I would cook later in the day, probably when I needed a rest from jet lag.
My regular diet includes beans nearly every day. They are an excellent source of protein and add variety to my meals. My Highly Digestible Beans cause me no intestinal distress whatsoever whereas if I eat beans without my usual preparation I have a lot of discomfort. I didn’t want to give up beans but I knew that the cooking time would be difficult in a hotel room so I decided on lentils because they soak and cook more quickly than other beans. Usually I add a fermented liquid to the soaking water and cook my beans with seaweed but I was able to cut those steps out without any intestinal distress.
Using the steamer I planned to steam veggies during the last part of the cook time. We could make a few meals and store them in the lunch bag with ice in a Ziplock screw top
With my lentils and rice happily soaking I began a bit of sightseeing. My daughter had already begun catching up with friends so I was on my own. I was concerned about having bouts of sudden jetlag fatigue. The last time I traveled to California, pre-gluten and food sensitivity diagnoses, it took seven days to recover from the jet lag. Huge blood sugar swings, huge fatigue, huge hunger. After I finally recovered I only had 3 days of vacation time left only to begin the jetlag process soon after arriving home. It is a testament to the power of a body to heal because on this trip I only had one hour of jetlag in both directions!
I began walking along Fisherman’s Wharf and saw an enormous seal lounging on a dock. Then I took a trolley to the Ferry Building which now houses unusually beautiful shops and artisanal food markets including an organic farm store where I bought some veggies for the big hotel room cooking experiment. There was also a push cart selling gluten free breads and treats by Mariposa. So beautiful!
After a few hours I felt the fatigue set in and headed back to the hotel. After a short rest I began my cooking adventure. The cooker has two settings, “cook” and “warm” which translate as really high and really low. I brought the lentils to a boil on cook and turned it down to warm. This probably works well for slow cooked rice but resulted in barely simmering lentils so I turned it up to cook again and kept my eye on it for about an hour, stirring often with a small wooden spoon. This worked well. Using my pocket knife I cut up the veggies from the organic farm store, swiss chard and turnip, and steamed them during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking. I realized I couldn’t cook the rice in time to eat dinner because the rice cooker was full of very hot lentils so I toasted a piece of multigrain bread and had that with the lentils. Dinner was really excellent. When they were cool I stored the leftovers in lunch containers and stored them right next to the little freezer in the mini fridge.
The next morning I cooked the rice and had it for breakfast. It was nice break from amaranth/teff and helped me continue rotating my food.
As we began our road trip down the coast we happily ate our leftovers for lunch. We had some meals out, carefully questioning our servers but by day five I wasn’t eating my own food any more and began to feel sluggish and spacey. I repeated the soaking and cooking routine again and got myself back on track, feeling much better.
After driving past many mountains and elephant seals we arrived at our family event, the wedding. I had already sent my food requests to the hostess who forwarded them to the caterers. Turns out the groom was gluten intolerant as were a handful of others! Our little gluten free club included some vegetarians, some sugar-frees and some dairy frees. The caterer did a fantastic job of accommodating us with beautiful food of great culinary height. There were gluten free challah rolls, (egg bread) that I hesitated to eat, being sensitive to eggs, but decided to take a chance after being off of eggs for 3 years. They were very nice and doughy. The “wedding cake” was a tower of gluten free cupcakes! I scraped off the sugary frosting after having a little taste of it. The cake part, which had walnuts in it, was a beautiful texture with very delicate spicing. It also probably had eggs in it so I got to test myself a little further. I did have a moderate reaction the next day and now feel sure that eggs should stay out of my regular diet.
It was a blessing to go to an event and receive such good care around our food needs. I also have tremendous gratitude for the many advances in alternative medicine and gluten free awareness which has made it possible for me to regain my health and travel again.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Fermented Foods: A Culture of Healing
Currently many of us are discovering that our diet creates an environment in our bodies for health or illness to thrive. We are learning that certain foods can stress and damage our digestive systems, and that in order to fully recover we may need to change not only our diet, but also our entire dietary lifestyle. These changes can be extremely challenging on all levels and can impact our relationships and social lives. After a 20-year period of illness and learning how to successfully alter my diet, I am pleased to report I am the healthiest I have ever been.
Our lifelong relationship with many foods makes it difficult to permanently omit some of them from our diet. These are the foods of our cultures, our families, our peer groups and our memories that nourish us emotionally, as well as nutritionally. It takes time to create a new relationship with food. We cannot will ourselves to like, enjoy or desire unfamiliar foods. We may need time to get used to and appreciate unfamiliar tastes and textures. As we alter our diets it is essential that we are mindful, gentle and patient with ourselves throughout the entire process.
I had struggled with poor health after giving birth 25 years ago. In those early years I had continuous colds, chronic sinus and yeast infections, asthma, fatigue and symptoms involving every bodily system. It took me six years to find a naturopathic doctor who recognized that I had systemic candida. He set me on a rigorous treatment of diet change and yeast killing supplements. Progress was slow and intermittent with many setbacks. Sometimes it was hard to stay hopeful about recovering. I spent a lot of time exhausted on the couch and learned to develop new levels of patience with my slowly healing body. Deepening my capacity for patience was an unexpected and valuable gift that came out of this particular life lesson.
Over the next ten years I was able to heal most of my symptoms, however I still had to carefully monitor my activities to avoid getting exhausted or sick. Seeing how altering my diet contributed to my health, I continued to look for ways that food might take me to the next levels of wellness.
One day, I found a book claiming that old-fashioned sourdough rye bread could rebuild the entire digestive system while cleaning out the arteries! This was my first step into the world of fermented foods and traditional cooking techniques. The sourdough starter recipe included a long fermentation period: daily feedings for seven days and 12-24 hours of rising. The enhanced digestibility and healing properties were said to come from the seven days of fermentation.
With some practice I was able to make wonderfully rich and substantial bread at a cost far below retail prices. After eating it for a while I noticed a steadiness in my health, although I still had some unresolved symptoms.
Then I read that lacto-fermented sauerkraut was good for people with unresolving intestinal issues. The process of lacto-fermentation creates lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins which, when consumed, becomes instantly available to the body. Lacto-fermenting vegetables is an ancient salt brine technique of vegetable preservation. The recipe simply called for vegetables, salt and water fermented in a container for three weeks. I decided to give it a try. After the 3 weeks I tried a bite and was startled at the taste. It was simultaneously sweet, sour and salty. I wasn’t sure if I liked it enough to eat more of it. Fifteen minutes later my body told me that I needed to eat more of that stuff and to eat it now! I listened to my body and ate some more. It was as if my intestinal system was coming alive.
In the following weeks my energy level jumped a few more notches and my digestive issues seemed to improve. Making my own sauerkraut cost much less than store bought and I could control the amount of salt. I could also experiment with different
vegetables for interesting combinations.
I found an online chat group of fellow fermenters and tried to learn as much as I could. One chatter suggested I try homemade kombucha tea for overall immune building. Kombucha is another fermented product that produces lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins. She sent me an impressive compilation of all the illnesses people claimed the kombucha helped them recover from. The list included illnesses from every bodily system.
I bought a kombucha culture, which looked like a shiny pancake. I followed the recipe and watched the unusual fermentation process through the glass jar. I was not quite sure that I could bring myself to drink the liquid but when the tea was ready, about 9 days after the start of fermentation, I bravely had a sip. It was light and pleasant tasting. Then I had the odd sensation that it was gently burbling through my intestines. A few hours later my body seemed to be craving more and I started drinking small amounts a few times a day. It seemed to clear the sinuses nicely and again, my energy level jumped. My intestines seemed a bit better, as well. This wonderful drink also cost very little to make on a regular basis.
Eating Curds and Whey
About this time I heard about kefir and water kefir. I made the milk kefir for my family, having already eliminated most dairy products as part of the candida treatment. This was the easiest to make of all the fermented foods so far. You put the little kefir grains in a jar, pour milk on top, cover with a cloth and let it sit on the counter for 36 hours. Done. Again, the fermenting process allows lactobacillus and enzymes to grow, improving the nutrition and digestibility of the milk. This kefir has a sour taste and can be used plain on hot cereal or other grains. It can also be sweetened with fruit, honey, agave or stevia and used like a thin yogurt for sauces, desserts, and salad dressings. I also learned to make it into cheese by straining it through cheesecloth. The cheese making process brings to mind the old nursery rhyme, “Little Miss Muffet,” and her curds and whey. When the kefir drains through the cloth, the remaining cheese caught in the cloth is called curds. The water left in the bottom of the bowl is called whey. The cheese is a robustly sour cream cheese and is great on toast. The whey is a supremely potent liquid, full of lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins with the addition of minerals. It is good for drinking, cooking, baking and soaking grains and beans.
Water kefir is another culture that creates lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins and makes a nice dairy-free drink. I have read about people sweetening it and using it in place of sodas but never tried it myself, needing to stay away from sweets. I mainly use it in soaking water for grains and beans, which is another old-fashioned cooking technique I learned on this journey.
Soaking fosters the production of enzymes and vitamins, thereby increasing digestibility. I began soaking my grains before cooking, but didn’t notice any differences in taste or digestibility. One day I didn’t have enough time to soak and simply cooked the rice. It was then I noticed the rice didn’t seem as smooth in my stomach as it had been when I had soaked them.
Most of us know about soaking beans for increased digestibility, but adding 2-4 tablespoons of kefir, kefir whey or water kefir boosts the fermenting power and can bring the flatulence factor way down, a benefit probably welcomed by all involved. Soaking beans for 24 hours also allows the beans to quadruple their size, increasing the amount of available servings while bringing the cost per serving down to about 8 cents. Properly prepared beans are highly nutritious, tasty, and economical.
Good-bye to Gluten
My health continued to improve but I still had those remaining symptoms. I consulted a new holistic doctor about these symptoms. She ordered various tests and blood work and when the test results were back she gently told me I was sensitive to dairy and eggs, and I should completely eliminate them from my diet at least for a while, but possibly forever. She then told me I was also gluten intolerant.
This piece was extremely distressing to me having spent a year perfecting my sourdough rye bread. I loved making this bread. I loved creating the starter and watching it grow into an aromatic sponge over its seven-day growing period. I loved the malty aroma and the way butter seeped down through the pores onto the plate. I even bought a grain mill so I could grind my own rye berries. I was in a bit of shock about it all, but given my previous success around healing with food I had no hesitation about changing my diet one more time.
My doctor had given me this news one afternoon and I decided to have one last dairy and gluten-filled dinner. That evening I toasted a generous slab of sourdough rye and slathered it with butter. I ate slowly, relishing and savoring the taste and sensation of this marvelous ancestral bread. When I was finished I said goodbye and moved forward.
The next day I eliminated gluten, dairy and eggs from my diet. After 48 hours the remaining symptoms disappeared! I vacillated between great happiness to have found the root cause of my long time illness and grieving that I might never eat gluten again. No more toasted bagel and cream cheese, no more holiday cookies, no more slices of pizza…
Over the next few weeks I was unprepared to find myself moving through some of the recognized phases of grief: shock, grief, anger, bargaining and acceptance. I worked my way through it and then found myself in a new phase that I call resolution and declaration. I resolved that despite my restricted diet I would continue eating beautiful and lovingly prepared food. Then I declared that I would create gluten-free sourdough breads that could be made easily and was well within the parameters of my diet.
I experimented for a year with many failures but with a little help from my online chatters I was able to make some palatable nutritious breads.
Without the gluten and other problematic foods the tempo of my healing increased significantly.
Recovering is an incredible blessing for me after this very long road back to health. Sometimes I am still astonished that I am “back to normal” and that I have enough energy to do so many things in a day and still be alert in the evening. I am deeply grateful to have my energy, to be highly productive, and to be fully and happily engaged with life.
Our lifelong relationship with many foods makes it difficult to permanently omit some of them from our diet. These are the foods of our cultures, our families, our peer groups and our memories that nourish us emotionally, as well as nutritionally. It takes time to create a new relationship with food. We cannot will ourselves to like, enjoy or desire unfamiliar foods. We may need time to get used to and appreciate unfamiliar tastes and textures. As we alter our diets it is essential that we are mindful, gentle and patient with ourselves throughout the entire process.
I had struggled with poor health after giving birth 25 years ago. In those early years I had continuous colds, chronic sinus and yeast infections, asthma, fatigue and symptoms involving every bodily system. It took me six years to find a naturopathic doctor who recognized that I had systemic candida. He set me on a rigorous treatment of diet change and yeast killing supplements. Progress was slow and intermittent with many setbacks. Sometimes it was hard to stay hopeful about recovering. I spent a lot of time exhausted on the couch and learned to develop new levels of patience with my slowly healing body. Deepening my capacity for patience was an unexpected and valuable gift that came out of this particular life lesson.
Over the next ten years I was able to heal most of my symptoms, however I still had to carefully monitor my activities to avoid getting exhausted or sick. Seeing how altering my diet contributed to my health, I continued to look for ways that food might take me to the next levels of wellness.
One day, I found a book claiming that old-fashioned sourdough rye bread could rebuild the entire digestive system while cleaning out the arteries! This was my first step into the world of fermented foods and traditional cooking techniques. The sourdough starter recipe included a long fermentation period: daily feedings for seven days and 12-24 hours of rising. The enhanced digestibility and healing properties were said to come from the seven days of fermentation.
With some practice I was able to make wonderfully rich and substantial bread at a cost far below retail prices. After eating it for a while I noticed a steadiness in my health, although I still had some unresolved symptoms.
Then I read that lacto-fermented sauerkraut was good for people with unresolving intestinal issues. The process of lacto-fermentation creates lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins which, when consumed, becomes instantly available to the body. Lacto-fermenting vegetables is an ancient salt brine technique of vegetable preservation. The recipe simply called for vegetables, salt and water fermented in a container for three weeks. I decided to give it a try. After the 3 weeks I tried a bite and was startled at the taste. It was simultaneously sweet, sour and salty. I wasn’t sure if I liked it enough to eat more of it. Fifteen minutes later my body told me that I needed to eat more of that stuff and to eat it now! I listened to my body and ate some more. It was as if my intestinal system was coming alive.
In the following weeks my energy level jumped a few more notches and my digestive issues seemed to improve. Making my own sauerkraut cost much less than store bought and I could control the amount of salt. I could also experiment with different
vegetables for interesting combinations.
I found an online chat group of fellow fermenters and tried to learn as much as I could. One chatter suggested I try homemade kombucha tea for overall immune building. Kombucha is another fermented product that produces lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins. She sent me an impressive compilation of all the illnesses people claimed the kombucha helped them recover from. The list included illnesses from every bodily system.
I bought a kombucha culture, which looked like a shiny pancake. I followed the recipe and watched the unusual fermentation process through the glass jar. I was not quite sure that I could bring myself to drink the liquid but when the tea was ready, about 9 days after the start of fermentation, I bravely had a sip. It was light and pleasant tasting. Then I had the odd sensation that it was gently burbling through my intestines. A few hours later my body seemed to be craving more and I started drinking small amounts a few times a day. It seemed to clear the sinuses nicely and again, my energy level jumped. My intestines seemed a bit better, as well. This wonderful drink also cost very little to make on a regular basis.
Eating Curds and Whey
About this time I heard about kefir and water kefir. I made the milk kefir for my family, having already eliminated most dairy products as part of the candida treatment. This was the easiest to make of all the fermented foods so far. You put the little kefir grains in a jar, pour milk on top, cover with a cloth and let it sit on the counter for 36 hours. Done. Again, the fermenting process allows lactobacillus and enzymes to grow, improving the nutrition and digestibility of the milk. This kefir has a sour taste and can be used plain on hot cereal or other grains. It can also be sweetened with fruit, honey, agave or stevia and used like a thin yogurt for sauces, desserts, and salad dressings. I also learned to make it into cheese by straining it through cheesecloth. The cheese making process brings to mind the old nursery rhyme, “Little Miss Muffet,” and her curds and whey. When the kefir drains through the cloth, the remaining cheese caught in the cloth is called curds. The water left in the bottom of the bowl is called whey. The cheese is a robustly sour cream cheese and is great on toast. The whey is a supremely potent liquid, full of lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins with the addition of minerals. It is good for drinking, cooking, baking and soaking grains and beans.
Water kefir is another culture that creates lactobacillus, enzymes and vitamins and makes a nice dairy-free drink. I have read about people sweetening it and using it in place of sodas but never tried it myself, needing to stay away from sweets. I mainly use it in soaking water for grains and beans, which is another old-fashioned cooking technique I learned on this journey.
Soaking fosters the production of enzymes and vitamins, thereby increasing digestibility. I began soaking my grains before cooking, but didn’t notice any differences in taste or digestibility. One day I didn’t have enough time to soak and simply cooked the rice. It was then I noticed the rice didn’t seem as smooth in my stomach as it had been when I had soaked them.
Most of us know about soaking beans for increased digestibility, but adding 2-4 tablespoons of kefir, kefir whey or water kefir boosts the fermenting power and can bring the flatulence factor way down, a benefit probably welcomed by all involved. Soaking beans for 24 hours also allows the beans to quadruple their size, increasing the amount of available servings while bringing the cost per serving down to about 8 cents. Properly prepared beans are highly nutritious, tasty, and economical.
Good-bye to Gluten
My health continued to improve but I still had those remaining symptoms. I consulted a new holistic doctor about these symptoms. She ordered various tests and blood work and when the test results were back she gently told me I was sensitive to dairy and eggs, and I should completely eliminate them from my diet at least for a while, but possibly forever. She then told me I was also gluten intolerant.
This piece was extremely distressing to me having spent a year perfecting my sourdough rye bread. I loved making this bread. I loved creating the starter and watching it grow into an aromatic sponge over its seven-day growing period. I loved the malty aroma and the way butter seeped down through the pores onto the plate. I even bought a grain mill so I could grind my own rye berries. I was in a bit of shock about it all, but given my previous success around healing with food I had no hesitation about changing my diet one more time.
My doctor had given me this news one afternoon and I decided to have one last dairy and gluten-filled dinner. That evening I toasted a generous slab of sourdough rye and slathered it with butter. I ate slowly, relishing and savoring the taste and sensation of this marvelous ancestral bread. When I was finished I said goodbye and moved forward.
The next day I eliminated gluten, dairy and eggs from my diet. After 48 hours the remaining symptoms disappeared! I vacillated between great happiness to have found the root cause of my long time illness and grieving that I might never eat gluten again. No more toasted bagel and cream cheese, no more holiday cookies, no more slices of pizza…
Over the next few weeks I was unprepared to find myself moving through some of the recognized phases of grief: shock, grief, anger, bargaining and acceptance. I worked my way through it and then found myself in a new phase that I call resolution and declaration. I resolved that despite my restricted diet I would continue eating beautiful and lovingly prepared food. Then I declared that I would create gluten-free sourdough breads that could be made easily and was well within the parameters of my diet.
I experimented for a year with many failures but with a little help from my online chatters I was able to make some palatable nutritious breads.
Without the gluten and other problematic foods the tempo of my healing increased significantly.
Recovering is an incredible blessing for me after this very long road back to health. Sometimes I am still astonished that I am “back to normal” and that I have enough energy to do so many things in a day and still be alert in the evening. I am deeply grateful to have my energy, to be highly productive, and to be fully and happily engaged with life.
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