Kombucha and Kefir

[murphysranch]

Hello fans of the above.

I've been dying to tell you all that I went to a class on Thursday. A food prep class on a ton of new things for me. This lady was about 60'ish and she and her DH have been 100% organic for 5 years, and she takes a ton of natural vitamins, orders from iHerb and a mountain herb co. in Oregon; only buys at health food stores or special orders stuff from her local grocery store (not a chain); is thin thin thin and happy happy happy; her name was Barbara (good name..) and I had a wonderful 6.5 hours there with 5 other women who came to learn.

We learned about making two kinds of sauerkraut (didn't care for either); sprouting kaumut and then grinding it up and making bread (yummy), pie crust (not yummy), and tortillas (so so); making soap with lye, water and olive oil; making a face cream; made and ate a sugar free apple pie; soaking nuts and then drying (for digestibility; made gluten free crackers (wonderful!!); made gluten free tortillas (good); made guilt free chocolates (tasty); made ice cream (sugar free - yummy!!); and thennnnnnnnn

the lady gave me some kefir grains and a scoby. She called them bulgaros and a mushroom.

So now what? I made some black tea with 1/2 C sugar, cooled and then added this monster scoby (lunch plate size). Its sitting on the counter. DH is non plussed about it.

She sent home a canning jar with the grains, after she washed them with water, and added some organic raw milk. What do I do with it now? I don't have raw or organic milk, and I'm lactose intolerant (not majorly, but don't get near me in about 2 - 3 hours).

Oh and where do I buy the kaumut grains - they were so so good.

She mentioned "nourishing traditions" cookbook a few times, which I've heard of here on this forum.

I've been searching the internet for the above answers, but cannot find a single, well written source document about each of the two items (scoby and grains) that I can print and study and follow.

Thanks!

-Barbara

 

[ORChick]

Have you done a search here on SS? I know there are several good, informative threads on kefir, and am pretty sure on kombucha as well. I have seen kamut grains at a "health food supermarket", kind of like Whole Foods, in the bulk foods section, but your local health food store may have them as well. The "mountain herbs from Oregon" is most likely Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene - www.mountainroseherbs.com - I have ordered from them, and found them very satisfactory. Sounds like an interesting class; glad you had a fun time.

 

[ORChick]

I forgot about this site - everything you could possibly want to know about kefir. It was my learning spot when I first got my grains some years ago. The information is good, you just need to wade through his annoying verbage to get to it

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

 

[TanksHill]

What a wonderful class. That sounds like a ton of fun.

First off you don't need to use organic raw expensive milks with your kefir.. Granted some who have goats and cows dos it's not necessary. I am only using regular store bought milk right now. I figure it's better than nothing. Works great.

I am sure Free can answer any questions you have about the kefir, if you can't find it on Dom's site. The more kefir I have around the more things I find to use it it.

I am not very familiar with the Kombucha Scobys, but I know there's some info around here somewhere.

good luck,

gina

 

[Lady Henevere]

Sounds like a cool class! Here's a thread with lots of kombucha info: http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2666&p=1

 

[freemotion]

Yep, lots of discussion here on ss about everything you learned at that class! Also check out the "what are you fermenting today?" thread, along with your search here on kombucha and kefir. Very, very easy.

I am VERY lactose intolerant but can drink/eat anything that has been kefir'd. I can also drink raw goat's milk with impunity!

Kamut is an ancient Egyptian (I think) variety of wheat that is very high in nutrients. I use it a lot. I mix it with hard red wheat for bread and soft white wheat for pastry. It makes a slightly coarse, yellowish flour with a lovely, delicate flavor and a wonderful texture. Makes lovely pasta, too, although it is a bit fragile until cooked.

I get my kamut from Whole Foods, and they make me very upset that they don't carry it consistantly. So both dh and I buy as much as we can afford when we see it there, and store it in glass jars. One of these days I will get a 50# sack of the stuff. You want to buy whole kamut berries, often simply described as kamut. You can order it online from places that sell whole grains and whole wheat. There is no such thing as GMO kamut, either!!!

 

[ORChick]

Murphysranch, as you are on the west coast (well, sort of, only a "little bit" inland ), if you are thinking of ordering in bulk you might want to consider these people:

http://www.azurestandard.com/

A lot of what they have is organic, and the prices, for the most part, don't seem to be out of line. I've had a couple of orders from them, and plan to order in the future. Of course, to make it worthwhile, you need to order quite a bit.

 

[mamaluv321]

Free, first off I have to say,you inspire me lady! All the stuff you do, where do you get the energy?? Anywho, what do you use to mill your grain? Assuming of course the you mill it yourself, I need to know more! Have you ever thought of having classes like the lady mentioned above? I bet you'd be fab at it! Your so full of information, I'd love to be able to tap into!

 

[freemotion]

Free, first off I have to say,you inspire me lady! All the stuff you do, where do you get the energy?? Anywho, what do you use to mill your grain? Assuming of course the you mill it yourself, I need to know more! Have you ever thought of having classes like the lady mentioned above? I bet you'd be fab at it! Your so full of information, I'd love to be able to tap into!

(blushing...) Where do I get the energy? From doing all this stuff! The more of this you do, the more energy you will have because you will be more healthy....plus the process is very stress-reducing and gives a deep sense of satisfaction. Plus you have to re-arrange your life...to have more time! Plus....it really does save a lot of money, so after the initial "ouch" of making changes in the schedule (reducing work hours) the budget works.

I already had a top of the line VitaMix that dh and I got a few years ago as an anniversary gift to each other. It had a "dry container" which is for grinding dry things, and it gathered dust for a couple of years. Now the only dust on it is grain residue! I grind when I need flour, so it is always fresh. I store extra in the fridge until needed.

I don't make all my own flour products, though, as we can get nice ones around here, as far as pasta and bread go. I admit it. I will when I retire, though, at least that is the plan.

Yes, I'd like to do classes! I do teach a class (healthy lifestyle, which covers several areas but focuses mostly on food) via teleconference that several people here have taken, and would like to add in-person cooking classes, too. But my kitchen is small and if I rented space, it would not be cost effective, I think. I'm still working it out.

My other idea, still just a seed, is to set up a website with classes and video tutorials to go along with my teleconference classes.