I am having one of those moments where I couldn’t wait to
get home and begin typing. If only I could be one of those bloggers who could
write an article on their phone, but I am not. My fingers don’t work as fast as
my mind on my phone where as on my macbook they just seem to work in sync with
the words that come to mind.
These moments rarely happen to me, especially when my alarm
wakes me up at 5:25am- I thought I would just want to come home and snuggle
back in bed after something like this. But boy oh boy was I wrong.
Early Morning Smiles, while heading to the Red Agency Office in Melbourne
This morning, I was invited along to a Blogger’s Breakfast
at the Red Agency Office in Richmond, where we were given the amazing
opportunity to have Trupp Cooking School come along and show us everything we
needed to know about fermenting drinks, food and more.
I have always had gut troubles ever since I was a little
Erin and it seemed no matter what I did or ate I would still be bothered by the
Irritable Bowel like symptoms and nut allergies.
Little did I know that fermented fruit, vegetable and diary
products could be changing my life and how I feel?!
Creating Sauerkraut from scratch, apparently the bigger the cabbage the better.
This morning we had Walter Trupp demonstrate how to make
series of concoctions while his beautiful wife Dorota Trupp who is a
Nutritionist explain to us all about the benefits and the nutritional value of
adding fermented foods to your diet.
I don’t want to go into too much detail and get all-technical
like the beautiful Dorota did as realistically you wouldn’t understand- I didn’t!
One of the most interesting facts I walked away with today
was the fact our body has over 3 litres of good bacteria lining our intestines
and gut helping to keep our body running smoothly and that a single “bad”
bacteria can turn your gut upside down until your body is able to remove it.
Take gastro for example, it is a string of bad bacteria that
sits in your stomach until antibodies or good bacteria can kill it and remove
it from your system- which usually happens in the runs or vomiting.
A lot of people in these circumstances will turn to
antibiotics or even a probiotic to try and kick the problem in the gut-
literally! But today I discovered this is not always necessary and that I can
do it naturally all at home with a fraction of the costs.
I know for me I pay over $30 a month for my probiotic that I
take each and every single day to make me a better me, but I had no idea I was
limited in good bacteria and that there was a world of home made good bacteria
out there.
This morning we learn to ferment things such as Kobucha,
Kefir, coconut water, yoghurt, sauerkraut and even vinegar. All of this would cost a great amount if
bought from a health food store, and who knows what is actually going into
them.
Where as if you make them from home you are literally
halving the cost if not more! And the bacteria can be used over and over again
to keep creating and altering recipes.
Making Kombucha
After this event I went straight home- where I am right now
to do some more research on where I can buy the kombucha mushroom from so that
I can make my own kombucha tea at home (and of course a pretty jar to store it
in and let if ferment.
If anybody doesn’t know what is Kombucha tea is, its
basically a tea made from a kombucha mushroom and either black, green or
whatever tea you drink.
Wikipedia term:
Kombucha (Russian: chaynyy grib (чайный гриб), Chinese:
chájūn (茶菌),
Korean: hongchabeoseotcha Japanese: kōcha-kinoko (紅茶キノコ)),
is a lightly effervescent fermented drink of sweetened black and/or green tea
that is used as a functional food. It is produced by fermenting the tea using a
symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, or "SCOBY".
The hard bacteria that is formed on top of the Kombucha
This would have been my favourite most enjoyable thing my
tastebuds tried this morning and is definitely something I want to introduce
into my diet. So easy to make and I can
even get the kids involved adding in some bicarb soda and juice to make them a
very natural and healthy fizzy drink.
The other thing I really enjoyed was Water Kefir, which is
slightly different to the Kombucha. They both have great probotic benefits, but
the kefir has a much faster fermentation rate and a much milder flavour.
Left to Right:
Water Kefir, Kombucha, Milk Kefir and Sauerkraut.
The Water Kefir we tried today had lemon added into it
making it taste like a delicious natural lemonade, especially when a pinch of
bicarb is added to give it that fizziness. People add all kinds of things such
as coconut, ginger, vanilla, molasses and pretty much anything you want to add
to it.
Walter also suggested adding a few stererlised eggshells
into the mix and letting them dissolve overnight to add extra calcium value to
the drink. So to sum the Water Kefir it is like water you drink from the tap
only supercharged and so much more beneficial to your body. Again I have jumped
online and looked at getting bacteria to kick this one off.
With all of these fermented foods and drinks you need to
introduce them to your diet slowly and slowly up the dose as you see fit.
Dorota described it best as feeling like you have a hangover if you introduce
too much all at once as your body just wont know what to do with all these
types of bacteria going through your body so there is only two ways out- the
other end quickly or back where it came from.
I would suggest that maybe it would be best to see a
nutritionist before properly introducing the fermented drinks and foods into
your diet or really do some research on it.
I am in no way a nutritionist and I would go get some
professional advice, not just take my word on it as this post is just my
personal opinion and the advice I was given this morning.
Thank you soo much Red Agency for having me this morning, as
for me I am about to jump on the Trupp Cooking School website and organise some
classes J I
am hooked!
