Empowering Probiotics

 Let's start with the basics:

Probiotics come from fermentation.  Starches and sugars are processed by some type of "start" or "mother" into probiotics (live bacteria and yeasts that are good for you, especially your digestive system). If you're new to probiotics you might think of bacteria as germs that cause diseases. However, we all have lots and lots of bacteria and our health can be good or bad according to how much good bacteria we have to fight the bad.  

Throughout the ages of the world probiotics have been made as a way to preserve food- like kimchee, sourkrout, etc. There are even ways of pickling that are probiotic producing fermentation.  Some things you can try: carrots, beets and beet greens, cabbage, peppers, cucumbers, collard greens, swiss chard, zuchini, etc.

I don't want to repeat what many people before me have already done.  The ratio of salt to vegetables is not one size fits all and I don't have recipes yet that I feel really comfortable sharing. So I recommend watching lots of videos on fermentation, or finding a good book written by someone with experience.  There are good and bad ways to do it and lots of people who've been doing it longer than me who can warn you of pitfalls and how to avoid them. I did make some good pickles last year and some good beets and beet greens the year before, and some good fermented cabbage, but...I'm still very much a newbie in this area of probiotics.

Natural Yeast, or Sourdough

This is one of the most common forms of probiotic use.  The start is basically a fermentation factory that digests the flour partially, actually making it more gut friendly for US!  I've found that types of flours in starts matter.  A white flour start has not performed well for me with a whole wheat flour bread.  I prefer to get a whole wheat start for making whole wheat bread.  BUT as a beginner, starting with white or with quick breads is much much easier! One of my friends simply uses a regular muffin, pancake, waffle, or buscuit recipe and reduces a little of the water or milk in the recipe, mixes it up the night before (or about 10-12 hours before she needs to cook it up) to allow the yeast to process the starches and sugars and cooks it up according to the recipe's directions.  I've had good results making indian fry bread with sourdough.  The recipe I used had baking powder in it so it was a quickbread. 

There are also some good sourdough recipe books out there.  Caleb Warnock has a really great one and he's very diligent in his research and publishes things that really work.  I've found this is not always true, some people cut and paste a recipe and share it without actually trying it.  I've wasted many ingredients on these recipes and I'm more picky about where I get my recipes as a result.

I've found the amount of flour I add to bread dough varies greatly depending on the moisture in the air due to climate and weather conditions. The amount of salt you add is a major element too.  Too little inhibits the raising of the bread and too much will hinder it too. And the sugar you add is very different between different flours.

I have also learned that yeast can be picky about climate, if you can find a start from someone in your area, you may have better results than getting one in the mail from someone in a very different region than you. BUT, if you can get your hands on one that's been handed down for generations, they are often most strong! There's a white flour based one from Saratoga Jack's in Utah that I LOVED for making white sourdough. YUM. Theirs comes with a recipe that worked for me every time I followed it.

I'm still learning with the whole wheat so I don't want to share a recipe yet, but if you're doing white bread sourdough, definitely get the start from Saratoga Jack's that comes with a great recipe!

Kambucha

Kambucha is a probiotic drink with a vinegary taste. The length of time you ferment it determines how much it tastes like vinegar and how bubbly (effervescent) it is, it also determines the amount of alcahol in it.  It was traditionally made with black or green tea, but it can be made with water or  herbal-type teas.  I like it made with raspberry tea, hibiscus tea, lemon tea, and I'm going to try it with licorice. It's disgusting with mint tea (an exception for me because I love mint teas).

You can start Kambucha with a mother or SCOBY  (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast,)- a probiotic factory that processes starches and sugar into probiotics.  If I am using a 1 qt jar to make kambucha, I can use water, a tablespoon of honey and my SCOBY and in three days I have plenty of probiotics and the sugar is pretty much all eaten up by the SCOBY.  I use something like a coffee filter in the ring for the jar because it needs air, but protection from bugs, dust and other things. There are lids made for kambucha making that are washable and reusable AND we've used them for filtering our fresh milk from our goats!

It isn't effervescent for me after three days, but is a beneficial probiotic.  Refrigeration will slow, but not entirely stop the fermentation process, so don't make more at one time than you can consume within a few days.  Pouring the liquid into a bottle that I can seal tightly and letting it sit at room temperature one more day usually makes it just a little tingly, which I love. Warmer temps that are not TOO hot(you don't want to cook it) will process faster.  

You can use the same process by making a tea (or herbal, flower, etc. infusion), allowing it to cool to room temperature and adding it to your jar with a SCOBY, the starch or sugars in the tea are often enough without honey unless it's a low sugar fruit like lemon, lime, etc, and then it will need a little honey or sugar for the SCOBY to process.

HOWEVER, if alcahol consumption is an issue you want to avoid, be very careful how long you leave it.  One website recommended WEEKS.....you are going to have some alcahol at that point and it WILL be very vinegary. I don't drink any alcahol, at all, and one time I lost track of the time I had it fermenting and ....it gave me a little buzz and I had to throw it out.  I hated throwing it out, but It's a thing between me and God, so out it went.

 

Water Kefir

Water Kefir was my first foray into probiotic production.  I think it's a simple one.  Water, sugar and water kefir grains, unrefined sugar works best, you can also use white sugar, molasses, honey, or coconut sugar. Four cups of water and 1/4 cup sugar of your choice with kefir grains is good for the first ferment. You can add dried, fresh or frozen fruit (ahem, blueberries) and when it's done they will float on the top (you can easily scoop them out), it should be ready after 24 hour but you could leave it up to 72 hours.  Strain through a strainer made of a non-reactive substance, like cheese cloth or plastic, not metal. You can refrigerate it and drink it a this point or do a second ferment by adding fruit juice (one cup to the amount of water in this example), putting them in a bottle with an airtight seal (I use cleaned bottles from my store bought kambucha or water kefir).  Keep on the counter for 18-24 hours.  Open them over the sink, they may fizz and bubble up over the top a little depending on how fizzy they are and how much you filled the bottle.

 

Milk Kefir

You can put the kefir grains in with the milk and leave overnight and drink up the next day, especially if its raw milk-which I love.  Some fun ways to add tastiness are to strain it into a new jar (refill the main jar with the grains in it with milk and set to process again-refrigeration will slow, but not stop the process), add berries, orange , mandarin, or clementine peels and let process another day or two. Yum.  SUPER yum. Milk kefir produces billions of probiotic strains, so it's one of the most beneficial, and may help someone lactose intolerant with milk digestion because the probiotics are EATING the lactose! May want to experiment with caution depending on the severity of your intolerance.

 

Yogurt

I'm only going to say here that I have found yogurt to be one of the hardest ways to make probiotics and it only produces a single strain of probiotics.  Keeping the start and milk the right temperature for the right length of time is crucial and hard unless you're using an instant pot or yogurt maker.  At one time I was making it regularly and got very good at it, but it was a hard one to get good at-and a skill I haven't found it worth my while to master again because I find kefir to be more effective as a probiotic.  That said, there is a video on my "DIY Food Videos" tab that I found very helpful when I did get good at making yogurt.