Nourishing Kitchen

This morning I looked around my kitchen and saw just how far down the path of nourishing food I’ve gone. Nourishing is a term I borrowed from the Sally Fallon book Nourishing Traditions. It is a cookbook that teaches you how to prepare food in the manner that cultures did prior to modern times. Our ancestors knew how to prepare meals in a healthy manner without microwaves or even refrigeration. It is time we relearned that knowledge.

Let me take you on a mini-tour of my kitchen to explain what I mean.

Soaking and Drying Almonds

Almonds and other nuts have anti-nutrient properties called enzyme inhibitors that can be tough on your digestive system. By soaking nuts overnight in water with a little sea salt, you can neutralize those enzyme inhibitors. This action leads to an increase in vitamin absorption.

The almonds are drying in a food dehydrator and will be ready tomorrow morning. That is when I’ll be doing pecans!

Kombucha – Continuous Brewer

Kombucha is a fermented tea with a trace amount of alcohol. Besides being a refreshing beverage it is believed to have health benefits including probiotics.

Can you see the SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast)?

Kimchi

I’ve been making kimchi for months. I love it. I’m currently on the last day of my latest fermentation. I ran out of Korean dried chili flakes, so I tried some Thai chili peppers in this one.

Sprouting Garbanzo Beans

Beans are loaded with anti-nutrients. Too much for this post, but the way to prepare beans is to get the beans to lower their plant defenses so the nutrients can be absorbed. Primitive cultures have figured out that soaking and sprouting beans accomplish this. I am going to make some hummus tomorrow. I expect these garbanzo beans will be sprouting by then.

(UPDATE 9/4/2010) Warning: kidney and soybeans are toxic when sprouted.

Waking Up My Kefir Grains

Frequent commenter DHammy recently sent me some kefir grains. My first batch was a little thin. My second batch was better. Later today I will start batch number 3. The third time is a charm, right? Kefir is a fermented milk drink that is loaded with many strains of healthy bacteria. I’ve heard of people who have had amazing health benefits after adding kefir to their diet. Kefir is the extreme version of yogurt.

Why?

Our food is too dead and too processed. Learning how to prepare foods in a traditional manner and how to restore positive gut flora will help your health. Two books that will help you on this journey are Nourishing Traditions and Wild Fermentation.