DISCLAIMER: I am not a nutritionist, doctor or even a scientist. My only expertise is that I love food and am highly motivated to do what is best for my family! It can be difficult to read various studies all of whom demonize the other side and claim to be right. I am trying to find the truth about nutrition, and am using this series to document and share what I've learned and concluded.
SALT
Salt is an essential mineral to our health because our bodies cannot make it and it is required for optimum cell functionality. Sodium and chloride are needed to produce hydrochloric acid and help the brain and nervous system function. Some people need more salt, some need less. It is between you and your doctor to decide how much salt is too much.
My purpose is to uncover how salt is PROCESSED. When I think of processed food, I don't think of salt. Yet my research has shown me that salt is highly refined. The chemical and high-temperature processes remove all the trace minerals from the sea.
"To keep salt dry, salt refiners adulterate this 'pure' product with several harmful additives, including aluminum compounds. To replace the natural iodine salts that are removed during processing, potassium iodide is added in amounts that can be toxic. To stabilize the volatile iodide compound, processors add dextrose which turns the iodized salt a purplish color. A bleaching agent is then necessary to restore whiteness to the salt" (Nourishing Traditions, pg. 48).In contrast, unrefined sea salt contains traces of marine life which provides a natural form of iodine. Notice I said "unrefined". Most sea salts are refined as well. True sea salts are a light grey color, which indicates trace mineral content. This salt should be 82% sodium chloride and 14% macro-minerals.
This is a highly recommended salt- by Nourishing Traditions and SEW. I haven't actually tried this kind yet, but plan to next time I buy it! "The best and purest commercially available source of unrefined sea salt is the natural salt marshes of Brittany, where it is 'farmed' according to ancient methods" (NT, pg. 49).
YOGURT
When I started drinking raw milk, I decided to make my own yogurt from the milk. I loved it AND it was so much cheaper! I would have paid $3.50 per quart each week, or $14 a month. Instead I now pay $3.50 for TWO quarts of milk for yogurt- or $7 a month! And this is for the expensive non-homogenized milk! And it couldn't be easier!
Here's what you do.
- Pour one quart to half a gallon of milk into a large pot. I use my dutch oven.
- Heat the milk to 185 for pasteurized. (110 for raw)
- Let cool back down to 110. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Do not skip this step.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons of yogurt into the cooled milk. The first time you make this, you'll have to have store-bought yogurt for your starter. But then just save a couple tablespoons for your next batch and you'll never need to buy it again!
- Cover and place in the oven. Leave the light on for a minimal heat source. Let stand 7-9 hours. Stir and refrigerate until cold!
- You might be done! OR you might be like me and like REALLY thick yogurt. I place a thin, unbleached tea towel over a large bowl. I pour the yogurt on top of the towel, gather up the edges, and close with a rubber band. Then I hang it from the knob of my cabinet with the bowl underneath. The WHEY drains out and the yogurt remains. The longer it sits, the thicker it gets. If you let it sit for a really long time (stirring occasionally) you will get CREAM CHEESE! (More on how to use whey tomorrow!)
- Also you can add jam, honey, pureed fruit, or maple syrup to add some flavor to it.
Several bloggers are inspiring me to try Kefir, which is described as a drinkable yogurt. If yogurt is full of good bacteria, Kefir is the swat team of bacteria and will clean you out! Yogurt is described as a transient bacteria, which passes through you, cleaning as it goes. Kefir actually colonizes in your gut and sets up camp to keep on cleaning. It replaces enzymes that are lost during pasteurization. You can drink it straight or add it to your smoothies. You can buy it in the store or order a starter and create your own! I'm excited about introducing this super-food into our diet!
Come back tomorrow for SOAKED GRAINS and FCLO/BO!
Come back tomorrow for SOAKED GRAINS and FCLO/BO!
16 comments:
I've really loved this series. I tend to live at my farmer's market over the summer, which tastes so much better. The homemade yogurt sounds good too - I'll have to find some time to try it at some point!
Thanks for the shout otu! haha
I seriously love this salt! ;) I have one quart left from 5 pounds in one year. :) hahahaha I add it to everything and I'm gernous when I add it. :)
But I buy it coarse to save and I fill the shakers with the $10 one pound bag at the health food store. :) Is it crazy I'm thinking of giving it away for Christmas presents this year? :)
The only reason I started to buy this salt is because adrenals NEED salt and I was showing symptoms of low salt. Your body needs salt, but good salt. I read somewhere that our adrenals keep our bodies the consistency of salt water, without good salt it can not do that. :)
I do not think the fermented sauerkraut agreed with me last night. :( My poor gut is so messed up.
I bet your homemade yougurt is awesome! :)
I can't wait to hear about soaked grains....I still don't fully understand what that means, but I signed up for a newsletter yesterday and received an ebook. It won't do me any good because I don't plan on ever eating gluten again, but I'm interested in it. ;)
Signing up...
Finally, something I can comment on! We do drink Kefir. I buy it at the store. It's Lifeway brand.
Claire loves it. I like to pour it over Grape Nuts cereal.
Celtic salt is the grad daddy of sea salt!!
I'm about to buy the grains to make kefir, I hear they reproduce fast so if you hold up you can get some of mine. To make your own!
Bugga..always forget to sign up!
I love the info on salt. We've been using sea salt for a while now, but to be honest I never really knew the specifics on it's nutritional difference. I can't wait to try the brand you linked to.
I remember when we were changing the way our family ate and getting rid of (most) processed foods--many of which were high in sodium. It was winter (in MN). One day I saw our son licking our van. He said he loved the salty taste (road salt mixed with dirt). YUK! It was then I realized that his little body needed more salt than mine did. It was also the day we started to generously salt his food--no more licking vehicles!
I've also been making my own yogurt for a couple years. I do a couple things different (I'm not saying right or wrong...just different) than you do based on information from the Specific Carbohydrate Diet - Breaking the Vicious Cycle website. I do a 24 hour fermentation. "24 HR yoghurt really is one of the most healthy foods you can find and its incredibly good value too. What else gives you 700 billion good bacteria per cup, lots of protein, vitamins, minerals, amino acids in an easy to digest, delicious tasting, incredible value, food. If you had to try to buy the same in a manufactured product you would have hundreds of pills and of course they would need to pack chemicals in with them to allow them to be manufactured. Yoghurt is fermented for 24 hrs, unlike commercial yoghurt which is only fermented for about 4. The long 24 hour fermentation that we give ensures that all the lactose (milk sugar) in the milk is used up. The Lactose in the milk is a disaccharide and the fermentation converts it to galactose which is a monosaccharide that is easy to absorb as well as to L-lactic acid (the form the body can use). We also restrict the bacteria cultures that are used to ferment the milk to specific ones that have been found to be very beneficial." The other thing I do differently is that I used a commercial starter available at our local health food store for every batch. It does add a little to the cost, but I do it based on info on the same site. According to them "Using the yoghurt I have made as a starter for the next batch would be a bad practice. The commercial yoghurt or starter powder we use as a starter has been produced under tightly controlled production methods and should not contain undesirable strains. If we use the yoghurt that we have produced with each generation other strains are likely to contaminate it and the existing bacteria can also mutate to undesirable strains."
I'm loving this series and find myself reading it first thing each morning. So educational!! Thanks!!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who forgets to sign up. (See, Kaitlin!) :)
Char- a 24 hour fermentation period sounds really interesting. Thanks for all that additional information! I'm interested about using the starter each time, too. I'm going to look into that some more! Thank you so much!
I can't believe that about your son licking the van! Wow. Talk about your body telling you what you need! WOW. I read that out loud to my husband and he was really amazed, too!
LOL, Maria! That's awesome! I'm glad to know that... Do you all drink it, or just Claire?
Barbie- maybe we'll have to stop by sometime soon!!!
Sew- I'm excited about orderint he Celtic salt. It sounds so awesome!
I have used Celtic Sea Salt for years and LOVE it. I actually add it to Bella's vegetables because the minerals are so good for her.
I have never made my own Kefir or yogurt, but Bella and I eat the plain whole milk yogurt and plain kefir all the time (great in smoothies).
Nourishing traditions!!!! yeahhh!!! :)
yogurt is unfortunately on my list of "please get that away from me" foods right now! haha. Maybe in a few months I'll like it again :)
Very interesting about the salt! We use sea salt, but it is the grocery store brand. When it's time to buy more salt, I will look into the Celtic salt.
As for the yogurt, that is very cool! I also have been hearing about kefir forever, and I just need to try it. :)
Lauren, we all drink it. But I used to really push it on Claire when I was trying to get her to eat anything at all other than breastmilk. it's one of the first things she tolerated. She drinks it in a straw cup. I love to add frozen fruit to it and blend it up for any of us. That's like a whole meal for Claire. I can have Kefir for breakfast and not be hungry till lunchtime. But I don't make my own...
I do some of the things in your other posts but not all of them. Geez, and to think I thought I was all great doing organic milk. I'm totally paranoid to have you over for a meal ever again! LOL
Oh man, I'm DEFINITELY buying that salt as soon as we're out of our regular salt. The way they process it has definitely turned me off!
I made cream cheese and whey this week!
I put the cream cheese in my mashed potatoes along with a ton of butter tonight and it was SO GOOD! (oh and sea salt. and pepper.) YUM.
I'll be giving that salt a try too. We started using sea salt a number of years ago but didn't realized it was still processed.
Catching up with your blog! :) I LOVE your Au Naturale series!! You should definitly try kefir-- I got a starter from a friend last fall and it's still producing kefir-- much less expensive than buying it at the store. I wish I could mail you a starter! :)
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