OK seriously, this is the most beautiful thing that has ever come out of my kitchen. Real sourdough bread, fermented for almost 24 hours. The perfect combination of delicious and digestible. And one of the very best vehicles for pastured butter.

Humans all over the world have been fermenting food since ancient times. The earliest evidence of winemaking dates back to eight thousand years ago in the Caucasus area of Georgia.

It’s very recent that fermented foods have begun to disappear from our plate. Modern pickles and sauerkraut are made with vinegar instead of the traditional method of lacto-fermentation using salt. Bread and pasta are made with commercial yeast instead of being naturally leavened with wild yeast (sourdough). Wine, beer and cheeses are being pasteurized — killing off all the good bacteria we so desperately need to maintain health.

But there are many advantages to going back to the traditional ways of our ancestors, and eating more fermented foods.

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Holy moley, that was a good dinner. Carrot Ginger Soup with Raw Cream (I froze the soup I made a few weeks ago; I’ve been feeding it to Kate) Cress, Fennel and Apple Salad with Redwood Farm California Crottin Goat Cheese, Pine Nuts and Vinaigrette Homemade Sourdough Spelt Bread with Raw Butter Kenwood Sauvignon Blanc [...]

I am making All-Day Beef Stew from “Nourishing Traditions” for our Sunday night dinner. I am marinating 3 pounds of stew beef (grass-fed) in a cup of red wine in the bowl of my crock pot in the fridge. Tomorrow morning I’ll take it out and add 4 cups of beef stock, some peeled tomatoes, [...]

I have been feeding my new pet for a week. With fresh (so fresh it’s frozen) whole grain rye flour (organic, naturally) and warm distilled water. It’s been bubbling and growing happily in its gallon glass jar in the corner of the kitchen. So today — I decided it was stable enough, and I fed [...]

I just read this fascinating article, Going with the Grain by Catherine Kzapp on how she healed her father, a sufferer of celiac disease, or gluten intolerance. Gluten intolerance has become a serious modern disease, not just among kids on the autistic spectrum (autism, Aspberger’s ADD/ADHD), but among many, many people with chronic digestive problems. [...]

I’m really excited! Yesterday I got my delivery from GEM Cultures. Here are the cultures I got and what they are used for: 1. Kombucha – This is a symbiotic mixture of yeasts and Bacterium xylinium (a relative of the vinegar bacterium). People all over the world (Germany, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Japan, Indonesia, China, and [...]