Posts Tagged ‘lacto-fermented foods’

Lacto Fermented Watermelon Rind

Monday, January 21st, 2013

This post nearly got away from me. I promised sometime back to post about lacto fermented watermelon rind and never got it done. Thank you to the person who searched for the recipe. I apologize that you could not find it.

Recipe:

  • Peel a quantity of watermelon rind and cut into chunks of about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch each way.
  • Boil the rinds until you can poke them easily with a fork. (Add any spices you may wish before you boil the rinds.) Remove from the burner and allow to cool.
  • Add 1 tablespoon Celtic Sea Salt and 1 capsule of Spectrabiotic for each quart of rind chunks. (Spectrabiotic is a blend of eight beneficial bacteria and premium AFA algae. It makes a good inoculant for lacto ferments.)
  • Mix all ingredients well and pack into jars. Cap the jars with good lids.
  • Allow the jars to stand at room temperature for three days. You can eat immediately or store in the refrigerator.

Note about inoculation: some ferments, especially those where the vegetable is cooked, need to be inoculated with the good bacteria that does the lacto fermentation. I like using Spectrabiotic because I consistently get good results.

Note about storage and use: most lacto fermented vegetables mature their flavor in storage. But some need to be used up more quickly while others keep better. Lacto fermented watermelon rind keeps better than lacto fermented watermelon (the part you normally eat). Lacto fermented watermelon rind makes a good condiment with bean dishes where it adds just the right touch.

by Ellis Hein

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Probiotics, the Professionals of Life

Monday, April 16th, 2012

“Welcome to the major leagues, the home of the pros, where we do professional quality work for the love of it. We work as though our lives depend upon it.” This is the sign posted at the opening to the intestinal tract. No substance should be allowed to enter that will upset or hinder the work of your biotic pros.

Stress, many medications, alcohol, refined sugars, food additives, and more can destroy the colonies of your friendly bacteria. Remove these professional life-givers from your system and your troubles have only just begun.

But there is hope. You can reintroduce friendly bacteria into your intestinal tract by consuming lacto-fermented (i.e. cultured) foods containing live cultures and by taking probiotics supplements. (These need not be mutually exclusive.)

Yoghurt is, perhaps, the most commonly thought of cultured food, but most commercially available cultured foods have been treated to kill the live cultures. However, these foods are easy to grow yourself. I include several recipes in the pages of this blog. You can follow my examples and then branch out to devise your own recipes.

If you are purchasing probiotic supplements, you need to know that all brands are not created equal. Some brands may not even contain the organisms they claim. Some do not contain the numbers of viable organisms listed. It is also important that the supplement contain colonies instead of individual organisms. Among the reputable brands, only Simplexity Health’s probiotics are micro blended with AFA Algae. This gives them the food to quickly establish vigorously growing colonies in your intestinal tract. In fact, the AFA makes Simplexity Health’s pro biotics more professional.

By Ellis Hein

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Enzyme Alive or Dead

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

That title could mean many different things. Your cells are either enzyme alive or they can’t perform the necessary metabolic functions to sustain life. Your whole body is either enzymatically alive or it is dead.

However, this title is a question regarding the lacto-fermented foods I produce. Do they have live enzymes?

One of the tests for live, activated enzymes is to sprinkle some over a bowl of warm oatmeal and let it sit for 20 minutes. If the enzymes liquefy the oatmeal, you know they are active. If no liquid forms, either the enzymes are not viable or they lack certain co-factors, minerals and vitamins, to activate them. Which amounts to the same thing as far as function goes.

I was warming up my breakfast of lacto-fermented oatmeal and had added in a lump of cold, non-fermented oatmeal. I let my bowl of food warm gently over a pan of hot water for about 20 minutes until the food was ready to eat. After uncovering the bowl, the first thing I noticed was a quantity of clear liquid around the lump of non-fermented oatmeal. While not appetizing, it was exciting to verify that I am producing enzyme alive, easy to digest food.

So, definitely not dead!

By Ellis Hein

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