Tag Archives: water kefir

Apple-Cran-Nut Chutney

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You know when you are tired at the end of a long day and it’s hard to think straight? Yeah, well that was me on Thanksgiving Eve. What was I thinking packing a Fido jar to the very top? Did I not realize that the next morning it would be sputtering on my counter, and when I went to open it, it would spray everyone in reach? *sigh* I guess I can let you in on a little secret: I may know a thing of two about kraut, but I am a total newbie when it comes to fruit ferments.

It does make for a nice photo, though, right? Or does it look more like a barfing Fido? Hmm.

Well anyways, the chutney was delicious :) Continue reading →

The Heating System that Saved My Kefir

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You’ve heard me talk about water kefir back in September when I posted my photo tutorial, How to Make Water Kefir. I have been making water kefir for months now and always had great success and no problems with my grains at all. They were very active, eating the sugars quickly (two days), and multiplying like mad.

Until autumn arrived.

Since the cooler weather, my water kefir was taking much longer to eat the sugar water, often 5 days or longer, and they weren’t doubling in volume like they had been. I have my water kefir in my corner cab, which is on an outside wall. Since we decided to heat our home with wood this year, this corner stays much cooler than other areas of our home, and is generally around 64 degrees.

I went through a few weeks of struggling with the water kefir - fighting to get them to work. I let them “rest”, added eggshell and molasses - every trick you read about - in case it wasn’t temperature-related. My grains were not doubling, the water was still too sweet, and the grains resembled applesauce.

Nothing was working. Continue reading →

Getting to Know Shannon and Jeff from Cooking God’s Way, Part 3: Fermenting Foods + win their airlock system!

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This week is the final part of three interview sessions with Shannon (and Jeff) Pearce from Cooking God’s Way.

Last week, in Part 2, we discussed real food and Shannon shared several of her delicious recipe with us. If you missed that post, you can go read it here.

This week we talk about one of my favorite subjects - fermenting foods. And at the end of the article you can enter to win one of Cooking God’s Way’s Airlock Systems! Continue reading →

Kefired Applesauce

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One of the benefits of living in New England is being able to pick apples in autumn. We have an apple orchard right in town and they grow such beautiful apples!

I ended up purchasing two bushels over two weekends. My kids were elated since I refuse to buy commercial apples, and the organic apples I could buy are usually wrinkled as well as pricey.

Apart from enjoying apples raw, I froze some slices for apple pie next month, and I dehydrated many into apple chips (I’ll share that recipe/method soon!). Continue reading →

Sourdough Starter in 12 hours

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I know - it’s unbelievable!

Everywhere you read, it takes days to make sourdough. Well I suppose if you follow directions, that may be true.

For me, recipes are guidelines. I tell my family, “If you like it, make sure you take seconds, because it may not ever come out like this again.”

I much prefer sourdough to regular bread since it has been soaked and is easier on the gut. Sometimes I don’t prepare enough ahead to have it ready in time, so we don’t eat sourdough as often as I’d like.

So I am thrilled to have stumbled on making quick sourdough starter. Continue reading →

Storing Water Kefir - what jars are best?

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I planned to include this in my How to Make Water Kefir post, but it was already quite long. If you haven’t read it yet, you can do so now.

Above you can see my second ferment when it is finished. Here I am filling jars to put in my refrigerator.

On the left is a swing-top jar that I fill using a narrow funnel (I am upgrading to this dual-purpose stainless one). On the right is a 1/2 gallon mason jar with a regular wide-mouth funnel that I have since upgraded to this funnel.

The swing-top is fun for toting on outings. I use the mason jar to hold extra water kefir that doesn’t fit in my refrigerator jar, which I’ll show you in a minute. Continue reading →

Make Your Own! Monday link-up 9/10

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Welcome to Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own Monday Link-Up.

I thought it would be fun for us to share our versions of store-bought foods.

What are you making on your own and no longer purchasing at the store? Share here!

I am sharing my How to Make Water Kefir photo tutorial…

Check to see which Top 3 Submissions I featured this week… Continue reading →

Kefir Pop Rockets

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I refuse to buy store-bought popsicles. I’ve been able to refuse them for about two summer’s now. So my kids were thrilled when I made them kefir pops - and I was thrilled they were consuming probiotics! Read: How to Make Water Kefir - Photo Tutorial.

Although my kids will drink kefir straight with no added juice, the pops weren’t very flavorful on their own. They needed a boost.

First I froze kefir in the bottoms of these BPA-free Rocket Pop Molds. Continue reading →