Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Culturing

Yesterday was an all around great day. It was one of those very rare days where there was nothing on the calendar. It is purely amazing how much you can get done when you don't have to be interrupted a million times. I had a huge list of "to do's" so I got up ready to go full speed. I had a garden to plant, a house to clean, food to prepare, etc. I am pleased to say that all of my "to do's" became "done's." Nothing can make me happier. I had yogurt culturing, sour dough starter on the counter fizzing, wheat sprouting and kale in the dehydrator.  Super exciting stuff.

I decided to order a new culture from my favorite place; Cultures for Health. They have it all. There is a culture for yogurt called Villi that makes yogurt without being cooked. You just add it to your milk of choice and leave it on the counter. That easy. That way, if you use raw milk, you are keeping it raw and keeping the nutrients. Anyone can do it. I talked to the sales lady and asked if I could carry their products in my store. "Sure", they say. Just like that. I can share with you what I love. They have all sorts of things and you can check their website here:

If you get it from me in the next order, you get to save on tax and shipping costs if you are here locally. If you are out of state, there is a small shipping charge of $2 and still no sales tax. I need to do a large group order so email me if you are interested. Some of their great products and prices are:

Water Kefir Grains 
Milk Kefir Grains (I use this ALL the time)
Kombucha Tea Starter (Scoby)
Buttermilk Starter
Viili Yogurt Starter
Piima Yogurt Starter
Greek Yogurt Starter
Bulgarian Yogurt Starter
San Francisco Sourdough Starter
New England Sourdough Starter
Camaldoli (Italian) Sourdough Starter
Parisian (French) Sourdough Starter

*****All prices are $11.99 except for the kefir and kombucha starters which are $16.99.

Culturing food helps with digestion. We need a good digestive system so we can get the nutrients out of food that our bodies need. 

Take care of the tummies. Don't be afraid to try something new and culture your own products. Easy, Peasy. The culture does the work. You just add the ingredients and sit it on the counter. Once you make your yogurt, you can keep using the same culture so you don't need to buy it again. What a deal! You can also strain the yogurt in a cheesecloth to make soft cream cheese. I am venturing into raw goats milk to see what I can do with that. Even easier on tummies. 

Also on the topic of tummy health, I can now order probiotics since it is cooling down. Those of you who have been asking, I will order next week so email away. 

Hope you all have something planted for the fall season. Even if it is one pot. Here's a little sneak peak at what will be on my dinner table soon.......


 Bet you can't guess what it is.



7 comments:

Aspiring Foster Mama said...

I LOVE Cultures For Health! I've ordered 3 of their products, one which didn't rehydrate correctly and they shipped another out to me immediately. Awesome company.

Terri Burges Hirning said...

I have to tell you, my friend in Flagstaff who is the raw foodist made a sourdough starter out of yeast FROM THE AIR!!!!!! She is using teff flour. She called me all excited Tues. Once I get the recipe I will share with you. She plans on dehydrating the dough and make a truly raw sourdough. But, it was bubbling away on her counter, how cool is that?!?! Meanwhile, I need to get started on Kefirs.....

RPH said...

Is that broccoli? or cauliflower? or cabbage? They all look so similar. I swear our skin was going to turn green from eating so much broccoli this summer. Our garden just kept producing and we could barely keep up. Fresh garden broccoli is soooo go!! I am sad to see our growing season come to an end.

Shari Goodman said...

Close, Its Vates which is in the Kale family.

Kitchen Recovery said...

Love those days when all the little kitchen tasks get DONE (or at least started in the case of sprouting)!
Okay, so villi tastes like yogurt, but you can make it like kefir without heating the milk? I've made raw milk yogurt before, but you still have to heat it to 110 degrees. I just might have to get some villi.

Shari Goodman said...

With the Villi culture you only need to heat the milk to make a pure starter at first. After that, you use raw milk straight from the fridge, add 1 T. of the pure starter that you keep in the fridge and mix it and sit it on the counter. You will need to make a new pure starter about every seven days using some of the previous pure starter. The bacteria in raw milk will eventually weaken the starer if you don't use a pure starter as a base.

Kitchen Recovery said...

Thanks for the info, I really want to try it. I'll look into it more!