OT: Probiotics

[Guest guest]

Jen,

 

I've recently found a market in Seattle where I can buy fermented,

non-pasteurized kimchee, saurkraut, and miso. I've also tried some

yogurt and kefir since I got off my bipolar medications and I'm slowly

rebuilding my intestinal flora one serving, one day at a time.

 

You talk about lots of links, books and fermented possibiilities I

haven't had time to try yet. How about if we touch base offline? The

group seems to have moved on, but I'm still interested in probiotics.

 

Ron

 

 

, " Real? " <nifer.jenny wrote:

>

> Hi Ron,

>

> I'm pretty new to the fermentation thing myself. I hear you on the

temperature question. I

> was making water kefir while on the road this summer, and was fairly

successful, but then

> the weather turned and my vanagon was no longer warm enough to keep

those critters

> happy. Now I'm living in a real house, and also keep the

temperature lower and have been

> seeking ways to keep things warm as well.

>

> There are also some threads about this on the 'kefir_making " group

right now, people

> having kefir batches that used to finish in one day taking two or

three to culture 'properly'

> in the winter time. People there note that you can kefir things in

the fridge even, but it

> just takes much longer - like 1 week instead of 1 day. I believe

this is true for all

> ferments....things do keep fermenting, they just take longer. So

don't be dissuaded by the

> wintertime temperatures, just keep flexing those 'patience' muscles!

>

> In the " Wild Fermentation " book, Sandor speaks about making yoghurt

using an insulated

> 'cooler' with bottles of warm water in it to keep things toasty,

changing them out if they

> get too cold. I've been putting my ferments on top of the fridge,

as the heat exchanger on

> the back is always pumping out some heat. I also have tried putting

jars near to my heater

> ducts, with some success. I've heard of people using their ovens

with just the light on as a

> warm space, or just the pilot light for the older gas ones. I

remember our linen closet

> when I was growing up was always toasty warm as it shared space with

the water heater. I

> wish I still had one of those!

>

> So I encourage you to get creative for how to keep the critters

warm. Alternatively, I made

> a batch of pickles at a friends, and forgot to take them with me.

They put them in their

> unheated hallway until I returned ~1 month later. The recipe had

said to leave them for

> two days before refrigerating them, but after a month of cool

hallway temps they were still

> edible, even yummy!

>

> Another resource might be to connect with other local 'fermenters'.

I know folks in PDX

> from the workshop I did there, but have yet to find local folks (not

that I have tried yet).

> I'm happy to share more off list, as I don't want to upset people by

getting way off topic.

>

> Good luck, and be well!

>

> Jen

>

> , " dukkadon " <dukkadon@> wrote:

> >

> > Jen,

> >

> > Thank you very much for all the good suggestions about fermented,

> > probiotic foods. Running down all these leads should take me quite

> > some time.

> >

> > One more problem I have, however, is the heat in my apartment. I have

> > tried to culture yogurt and saurkraut in my apartment previously and

> > nothing happened. I found out that my apartment is too cold for too

> > long a period each day (while I'm away, and while I'm sleeping) for

> > bacteria to grow (because I turn the heat down to save on my heating

> > bill). I found out that most bacteria will not grow below a

> > temperature of 65 degrees. So I'm going to have to get a yogurt

> > warmer or bread warmer of some kind to keep the temperature between

> > 100 and 110 farenheit for the bacteria to do well.

> >

> > What do you do about this problem?

> >

> > Ron

>