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Ginger Bug. Homemade Root Beer Recipe. Naturally Cultured and Fermented Vegetables, Fruits and Condiments | Fermentation Articles, How-to Videos & Recipes. Comparing Salt, Whey and Starter Cultures for Fermenting Vegetables, Fruits and Condiments. When making naturally cultured vegetables, fruits or condiments, recipes will often call for a variety of ingredients including salt, whey and salt, or even just a freeze-dried culture. How do you choose the best culturing medium for your project? Purpose of Salt and Starter Cultures Salt can promote the fermenting process by inhibiting the growth of undesirable microorganisms, favoring the growth of desired Lactobacilli. Starter cultures such as whey, brine from a previous ferment, or freeze-dried starter cultures can add bacteria to the culturing process to get things going more quickly.

The combination used is a personal choice. Vegetable Fermentation Methods There are a few different ways to prepare brine for fermenting vegetables, including a method for fermenting without salt. Method #1: Salt-only Vegetable Fermentation Historically, salt was used to preserve foods before refrigeration. Method #2: Salt-free Vegetable Fermentation Method #3: Salt Plus Starter Cultures. Prebiotic (nutrition) Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and/or activity of bacteria in the digestive system in ways claimed to be beneficial to health.

They were first identified and named by Marcel Roberfroid in 1995.[1] As a functional food component, prebiotics, like probiotics, are conceptually intermediate between foods and drugs. Depending on the jurisdiction, they typically receive an intermediate level of regulatory scrutiny, in particular of the health claims made concerning them. Roberfroid offered a refined definition in the March 2007 Journal of Nutrition[2] stating: A prebiotic is a selectively fermented ingredient that allows specific changes, both in the composition and/or activity in the gastrointestinal microflora that confers benefits upon host well-being and health Researchers now also focus on the distinction between short-chain, long-chain, and full-spectrum prebiotics.

The prebiotic definition does not emphasize a specific bacterial group.

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Cultured apple goji berry compote — A Harmony Healing. Probiotic-rich, enzyme-filled cultured vegetables and fruits are some of the best foods you can eat to improve your digestion and strengthen your immune system. I use to have terrible indigestion and acid reflux on almost a daily basis and cultured foods help heal my digestive system and made me feel like a new woman! The recipe I’m sharing with you today is one of my favorite go-to recipes from my new cookbook Deliciously Holistic which is coming out in April 2013! This cultured apple goji berry compote is a great way to enjoy the benefits of cultured foods if you are new to them. This yummy apple compote is a sweet and tangy mix of Fuji apples and goji berries fermented in a fragrant orange, apple, ginger, and cinnamon juice blend. Lactobacilli or microorganisms are high in natural enzymes and are responsible for turning the starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits into lactic acid.

Liquid whey can be made by straining organic yogurt overnight in the refrigerator. 1 peeled orange 1. The Body Ecology Diet, The Healthy Diet and Nutritional Supplements Source - BodyEcology.com. Cultured Probiotic-rich Foods Are The Key To Digestive Health And Immunity — A Harmony Healing. Tibicos. Fermented water kefir with grains on the bottom and a floating piece of grapefruit peel Tibicos grains average 5 mm in size. Tibicos are a culture of bacteria and yeasts held in a polysaccharide biofilm matrix created by the bacteria. As with kefir grains, the microbes present in tibicos act in symbiosis to maintain a stable culture.

Tibicos can do this in many different sugary liquids, feeding off the sugar to produce lactic acid, alcohol (ethanol), and carbon dioxide gas, which carbonates the drink. Tibicos is also known as tibi, water kefir grains, sugar kefir grains, Japanese water crystals and California bees, and in older literature as bébées, African bees, ale nuts, Australian bees, balm of Gilead, beer seeds, beer plant, bees, ginger bees, Japanese beer seeds and vinegar bees,[1] Origin[edit] At least two references in the scientific literature relate to the origin of the tibi. Preparation[edit] Tibicos colony under microscope (200×) See also[edit] References[edit] Health Topics. Our Health Topics section includes hundreds of articles on nutrition, diet, and health. The menu at left groups related articles into convenient categories, or you can use the search engine to quickly zero in on a topic of interest. ABC's of Nutrition: Fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and more.

Ask the Doctor: Holistic advice for treating various ailments Beginner Videos: Sarah Pope, Florida Chapter Leader, offers basic video tutorials on a number of subjects. Book Reviews: Thumbs Up reviews of books that give sound nutritional advice, and Thumbs Down reviews of those that give dangerous or ineffective advice Caustic Commentary: Sally Fallon and Mary G. Children's Health: How to raise happy, healthy children Cod Liver Oil: Critical information on our number one superfood Dentistry: Articles on holistic dentistry DVD/Media Reviews: Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down reviews of DVD and other media from Tim Boyd and others Environmental Toxins: Pesticides, pollution, and industrial poisons. Fermentation (food) Fermentation in food processing is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions.

Fermentation usually implies that the action of microorganisms is desirable. The science of fermentation is also known as zymology or zymurgy. The term "fermentation" is sometimes used to specifically refer to the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol, a process which is used to produce alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer, and cider.

Fermentation is also employed in the leavening of bread (CO2 produced by yeast activity); in preservation techniques to produce lactic acid in sour foods such as sauerkraut, dry sausages, kimchi, and yogurt; and in pickling of foods with vinegar (acetic acid). French chemist Louis Pasteur was the first known zymologist, when in 1856 he connected yeast to fermentation.[7] Pasteur originally defined fermentation as "respiration without air". Uses[edit]