Fermented Garlic is a MUST-have for your refrigerator! It’s a wonderful medicine-like food, and making it a part of your diet can work wonders for many health concerns. Garlic fights colds and flus Garlic has a compound called allicin which has many health and medicinal uses. It has been used to fight…(Read More)
My husband was the last one in my family to try cultured foods. I experimented on my children first. My kids were sick and I wanted them to be well, so we all ate cultured food; and much to my surprise, everybody got better. Then as the cultured foods began to take over my kitchen…(Read More)
I believe in miracles and I believe that they live inside you and me. Do you believe that healing requires a miracle, or do you believe that our trillions of cells govern themselves and create the bodies that we have? So how does the eye know how to focus or the muscle know how much…(Read More)
Be grateful, ferment your vegetables, love others. I have been getting a lot of letters asking if you can ferment vegetables with water kefir or kombucha. You can ferment vegetables with these two different cultures, but the vegetables tend to get mushy and don’t last very long. You will get different bacteria and you…(Read More)
If you’re making kefir, and especially kefir cheese, you’re going to wind up with a lot of whey. Whey has been called liquid gold, and it has been used throughout history to help with many diseases. In fact, Hippocrates and Galen, two founding fathers of medicine, frequently recommended whey to their patients to…(Read More)
Watching tea turn into kombucha is quite a thing to behold. You give it the ingredients and let it work its magic. Billions of microbes and yeasts transform the tea into a bubbly probiotic tea that you will love. When you first start making kombucha you might be concerned and not know what to expect…(Read More)
I have had seasonal allergies since I was twelve or thirteen years old. For months in the springtime I locked myself inside the house and turned to drugs and steroids that harmed my immune system. This seemed to be what everybody did and I did the same because I had nowhere else to look. After…(Read More)
Every day I receive many emails from people who are new to fermenting and want to do a good job. They are afraid they are going to do it wrong, mess it up, or make themselves sick. I know from their letters how hard they are trying. Fermenting foods feels so different from anything they…(Read More)
Cultured vegetables have special powers that go far beyond regular vegetables. I love them and reach for them day after day and in times of special need. They can be powerful food – like medicine – and so I always have several jars in my refrigerator. I encourage you to do this as well; because…(Read More)
This is a time-lapse video I did to show you how a SCOBY forms in your kombucha. It’s quite a beautiful thing to behold with all the bacteria and yeasts dancing around in the jar. I hope you enjoy it. This was a project done with love, and I was so surprised by…(Read More)
I have glass jars everywhere in my house, and I have lots of cultured foods in many of them. I have a new book coming out this year — Cultured Food Life in a Jar. Everything is made in a jar, and what fun it was creating this book (due out in September 2017). I’m…(Read More)
Cultured Foods and LACTO-Fermented Foods are the same thing. The “lacto” in “lacto-fermentation” comes from the bacteria “lactobacillus.” Many strains of lacto-bacteria and yeasts are involved in culturing or fermenting foods. These special microbes break down the foods into more digestible nutrients with increased vitamins and minerals while reducing harmful pesticides and…(Read More)
Kombucha is an amazing drink. Sales have grown to be over 600 million dollars, and this was all done strictly by word of mouth. I have watched it grow and I’ve also witnessed the major soda beverage companies start to lose their credibility and hit a 30 year low in sales as people wake…(Read More)
Having lots of fermented foods in your fridge is the same as having a medicine cabinet stocked with natural remedies. We reach for these foods not only to keep us healthy and disease free but also when we find ourselves struggling with a virus, stomach ache, or any other kind of ailment that requires extra…(Read More)
Do you wonder when your kefir, kombucha, and cultured vegetables are done fermenting? I have a few tips to help you understand how and when they’re at the perfect place with lots of probiotics and will taste the best. There’s a little science behind this, and since culturing your food is an artisanal…(Read More)
I love coffee, and I drink a cup every day. Some believe it’s not good for you, but I’ve gotten so many benefits from it that I just knew this couldn’t possibly be true. I have a philosophy about the foods I eat. If I eat or drink something that I know…(Read More)
Years ago when I was young and raising my kids, I was often influenced by well-meaning friends and family. They scared me to death with the latest news they had heard and would say, “Don’t eat this and don’t let your kids do this and did you read that story about how…(Read More)
Kombucha is a wonder drink. This fermented tea has been around for centuries and is legend in many countries such as China, Russia, and Korea. There are even stories that Genghis Khan drank it often and gave it to the men in his armies. It can become a part of your life very quickly and…(Read More)
Pain touches everyone in some way; and when this happens, all of us reach for something that we believe will help us. The older I get, the more I find that every ounce of pain is here to teach me something. When I learn the lesson, the pain will vanish and I will have gained…(Read More)
Probiotic [Pro= for, Biotic= life] = Life-promoting or For-life as opposed to Antibiotic [Anti= against, Biotic= life]= Against-life. I routinely talk about each member of The Trilogy (Kefir, Kombucha, and Cultured Vegetables) and how each member has specific things your body needs to help you change your life. But here is even more…(Read More)
Flashing back to 2001 and my first few months of making kefir, my husband was really leery of it. “Milk sitting on a counter for 24 hours . . . are you sure about this?” he said. He always tries my crazy creations, but it takes him a little bit to wrap his head around…(Read More)
Soup can not only comfort your mind and your gut, but soup also has secret healing modalities that perhaps you’re not aware of. I think combining soups with cultured foods can help cure what ails you in a myriad of ways, but soup can stand on its own as powerful kitchen medicine. We all…(Read More)
Cultured vegetables are super powerful, but so is the brine they are made in. The powerful bacteria in cultured vegetables called Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) is a powerful weapon against pathogens that can invade your body and try to make you their host. L. plantarum is a transient resident in your body, which means it…(Read More)
“How do I apply all this cultured food stuff to my life? Where and how do I get started?” This is something that I hear quite often. People want to change their life and feel better but don’t know where to start. What makes people change their lives while others stay stuck in old…(Read More)
Stay Healthy – Drink Kombucha During Cold and Flu Season Kombucha is a wonderful probiotic drink and something you should really consider drinking daily during cold and flu season. The special probiotic yeast in kombucha (Saccharomyces boulardii, which cannot be killed by antibiotics) can help you stay healthy when viruses are all around you. This…(Read More)
Meet the new Super foods that can heal you when nothing else works. I am excited to be going back to New York to teach – The Trilogy, three foods that changed my life and can change yours too. This is the most extensive class I teach. This is a crucial time in history when…(Read More)
As we close out 2016, I hope you will look to this next year as a chance to find the you that you were always meant to be – healthy and happy. This is our top content of the year that you may have missed. Below you’ll find some of our most popular blogs of…(Read More)
We love traditions in our family. Every Christmas my mom always made a Christmas braid which was a giant concoction of cinnamon, nuts, and bread topped with a creamy frosting. I kind of changed the recipe with my family and made it from sprouted grains, and this year I decided to break with tradition and…(Read More)
This holiday season doesn’t have to be a time to overindulge in things that aren’t good for us, but most will do it anyway. After all, they say, it’s tradition, right? How about we make some new traditions – eating foods that make us feel good and feel happy. I have lots of…(Read More)
One morning I woke up hearing voices in the hall. It was my husband and daughter Holli, and I could hear Holli crying. She was throwing up and having diarrhea and was very upset about it. In our family, we are so accustomed to wellness that when someone gets sick, it feels like the world…(Read More)
“An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy gingerbread.” ~ William Shakespeare Ginger Better Than Ibuprofen Food as medicine is the way that I live my life. Cultured foods are front and center, but there are many other things I turn to when we need extra help and…(Read More)
Cranberries are usually eaten only around the holidays. It’s really a shame we don’t eat them all year long as they are powerful foods that can work like preventative medicine. I got all emotional when I discovered all the things cranberries can do for us. Don’t you think it’s a divine…(Read More)
I was taking my daughter to acting class this week, and I got a text from one of my team members. He told me to get a box of kleenex and to read the email. I stopped the car to read the email, and with tears streaming down my cheeks I was reminded once again…(Read More)
A lot of suffering in this world comes from the fear of discomfort. In my own personal life, pain has come to teach me things and get me to change. I resisted it, fought it, and finally changed when I could do nothing else. When it came in a health crisis in 2001 and I…(Read More)
I filmed this free video series to help you discover the power of cultured foods. Its one of the best ways I know that will help you understand the power that lays inside of you. You’re equipped with trillions of powerful microbes that keep you well and when you harness their power you thrive…(Read More)
When it comes to cultured/probiotic and fermented foods, I am officially obsessed. But not everyone is going to make as many of these foods as I do. Although, once you get started it’s an exciting journey! Here are the top five probiotic foods I ALWAYS have on hand, and why . . . Kefir was…(Read More)
Pumpkin smoothies are eggnog for morning people. I love, love pumpkin. It has many wonderfully healthy qualities and a creamy consistency that makes it a wonderful treat, especially around the holiday season. I use pumpkin in multiple ways, but some of my favorites recipes are ones I make with kefir. Fermenting pumpkin is a way…(Read More)
When you’re brewing kombucha, you need to feed the microbes so they can make probiotics. Sugar is the fuel source for these hungry critters. Always remember that the sugar is for those little microbes and not for you. They consume the sugar and then make probiotics and naturally occurring carbonation through the process of…(Read More)
Apple cider vinegar has many health benefits. Kombucha vinegar is very similar and has many of the same properties. This recipe uses the convenience of kombucha to speed up the process of making vinegar and uses apple scraps to give it that tangy apple taste. Apple cider vinegars are made with crushed apples that are…(Read More)
I love my microbes and all they do for me. Not a week goes by that I don’t discover something new that my 100 trillion microbes are doing just for me. I used to think that my liver was mostly responsible for filtering and removing compounds from within my body including hundreds of toxic…(Read More)
The “ginger bug” has grown in popularity over the years and is a fantastic way to make soda for your family. You don’t need a starter culture or even kefir whey. A ginger bug is a mixture of sugar, ginger, and water that captures wild yeasts and beneficial bacteria. Let it ferment for a…(Read More)
I love to eat and make kefir as well as yogurt. I’ve been having lots of fun making different types of yogurts made famous in different parts of the world. High number of centenarians I have discovered that in certain parts of the world, yogurt and kefir have been strongly linked with an unusually…(Read More)
I am pretty sure that owning a frozen ice cream machine has solved 90% of all my problems. I’m always looking for ways to enjoy my kefir, and kefir ice cream can be enjoyed anytime – even for breakfast! If you don’t have an ice cream maker that sits on the counter, you may…(Read More)
Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her kefir and whey. Along came a spider who ate alongside her, and happily digested all day. In the summertime, I receive many letters from people who have trouble with their kefir separating into whey and curds. Part of this is the warmer temperatures and also the…(Read More)
Several years ago I found myself with much to do. With my daughter getting married and a deadline for my new book looming, not to mention the fact that both my husband and I have our own businesses . . . it was intense at our house. I started feeling the pressure and found myself…(Read More)
So, you all keep asking . . . What do I do with all these SCOBYs?! If you are anything like me, you have a pile of SCOBYs in a massive SCOBY hotel just waiting . . . It feels somehow wrong to throw them away when you have taken care of them and watched…(Read More)
A few years back, a woman named Shelley came to my cultured food class. I couldn’t stop staring at her while I spoke, and I told my daughter that I thought I saw a light over her and was trying to figure out where it was coming from. She had been very sick when…(Read More)
So, let’s talk about starter cultures! I would like to clear up some confusion involving starter cultures and ratios. In my first book, Cultured Food For Life, the recipe for kefir called for 1 cup of milk to 1 tablespoon of kefir grains. In my latest Book, Cultured Food for Health (as well as…(Read More)
Once a Villain, Coconut Oil Charms the Health Food World With Its Incredible Properties I love, love, coconut oil for a myriad of reasons that relate to many different aspects of my health and wellness. First of all, coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid. This is a saturated fat that’s found in…(Read More)
It was ten years ago when I first read Jon Gabriel’s Book, “The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary DIET-FREE Way to Totally Transform Your Body.” Jon is a biochemical researcher who lost 226 pounds and wrote an international best-selling book about how he did it. Did you know that mental stressors can trigger…(Read More)
Trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. Fermentation is an art form and each individual cultured food is, in and of itself, unique. The three foods of The Trilogy each provide different good bacteria and…(Read More)
65,000,000+ probiotics There is a cultured Green Tomato dish on the market, made by Bubbies pickles, that is fermented. They had it analyzed for probiotics and they sent the results (65,000,000+) to me when I asked. They don’t use added cultures like Cutting Edge Cultures as I do, which means…(Read More)
There are a lot of common misbeliefs when it comes to SCOBYs – the wonderful SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeasts) that makes our beloved kombucha! Here are some of the issues I get asked about the most…(Read More)
Most of you don’t know what processes are actually happening inside of you every day. There are microorganisms everywhere and you can’t see them, but they are inhabiting you and everything else. You are 100 trillion cells of bacteria. Do you know how much that is? To get a point of reference, you…(Read More)
Jun! The Champagne of Kombucha! For some of you, this culture is old news . . . for others, you may have never heard of it. Jun is a cultured food similar to kombucha but supposedly its own separate thing. It is brewed with a SCOBY culture that is light in color and is made…(Read More)
My 23-year-old son, DJ, called me from his home. He was very sick with a stomach flu and was in a considerable amount of pain with stomach cramps throughout the night. With a half cup of pickle juice in hand I went over to his home. I went into his room which was…(Read More)
When? Saturday July 16th and August 20th We have two new classes coming up this summer. I hope you can make one of them and learn all about the Trilogy! Have you heard about the Trilogy? Kefir, kombucha, and cultured veggies are three foods that can change you life and your body. These are three…(Read More)
I get a lot of people writing me letters indicating that they are afraid they are going to get sick from eating cultured foods. They don’t understand cultured foods and how they work; preconceived ideas and the media have created fear, a lot of fear. I get a lot of letters about one particular…(Read More)
A recent study, published in the journal PNAS, suggested that bacteria in the gut may play a role in alcohol addiction and the risk of relapsing after rehab. The study was done on 60 alcohol-dependent individuals. They tested their intestinal bacteria composition and found that 26 out of the 60 alcohol-dependent subjects suffered…(Read More)
Yesterday my daughter Holli came running into the room and burst into tears. She cried and said, “Help me! My stomach hurts so bad.” And then she ran to the bathroom and started throwing up. She had spent the night with a friend who had just had the same thing, so I’m pretty sure…(Read More)
Prebiotics + Probiotics = Probiotic Powerhouse In the last few years I have been researching, and ingesting, a lot of prebiotics and what I have discovered is that prebiotics are just as important as probiotics. What is a prebiotic and why is this so important? Prebiotics are certain indigestible fibers that nourish the good bacteria…(Read More)
Everybody knows we should eat more salads, but if you make probiotic salads you quadruple the benefits. The most powerful food combo you can have is prebiotics (food for bacteria) and probiotics (cultured foods) together in a meal. These salads will do just that. When you eat a probiotic salad, you’re getting billions of…(Read More)
Lots of articles are popping up about reasons you should have kefir, but few of the people writing the articles have actually drunk kefir every day for 14 years. This post is specifically talking about milk kefir and not water kefir. My reasons for drinking kefir are very personal and specific to me. But here…(Read More)
First time I heard about the power of the cultured vegetable kimchi was during the bird flu epidemic. It was a scary epidemic that hit Asia in 2005 – about 60% of those infected with this virus died. Scientists were searching frantically for ways to protect humans and poultry from this deadly virus. Koreans have…(Read More)
It astonishes me that everybody doesn’t know about Cultured Veggies – they are such powerful little scrub brushes for the colon and deliver such powerful anti-virus abilities. Over and over again I have seen these veggies knock out colds and flu and even work magic on food poisoning. The thing that most surprised me…(Read More)
Coconut water is my favorite water kefir. I love how it tastes, how easy it is to make, and how it makes me feel. In the early days of making cultured foods, coconut kefir was a huge part of my daughter Maci’s recovery from food allergies and IBS. It was something she really liked…(Read More)
The legend goes . . . in China, 2727 BC, the Emperor Shen Nong, who was known as “the divine healer,” was boiling his water to clean out impurities. The pot was underneath a tea bush and several leaves fell into the pot. The pot had such a wonderful fragrance, color, and taste that the…(Read More)
The answer is YES! But you’ll need to know a couple of things before you do. If you add a culture to your cultured vegetables, like Cutting Edge Cultures or another starter culture, then you’re going to have extra bacteria in your culture that are stronger than just using salt and no…(Read More)
This little guy in the picture is my puppy Scoby (pronounced like kombucha SCOBY) enjoying his kefir. Kefir is incredibly good for dogs and we hear many stories of how it helps them in so many ways. Did you know that your pets need probiotics, too? In fact, most vets and animal experts have known…(Read More)
I make Kefir. What’s your superpower? Kefir can be made with many different kinds of milk, be it non-dairy or dairy milk. It differs in calories and nutritional differences depending on which type of milk you use. Kefir is far superior to regular milk. Fermentation is the alchemy of milk. It chemically breaks…(Read More)
“Is it just a coincidence that as the portion of our income spent on food has declined, spending on health care has soared? In 1960, Americans spent 17.5 percent of their income on food and 5.2 percent of national income on health care. Since then, those numbers have flipped: Spending on food has…(Read More)
Many people wonder if probiotic pills provide the same benefit as probiotic foods since they seem to be marketed in the same way—healthy bacteria for our guts. However, probiotic foods work significantly better because of their construction. To get into the small intestine and colon, where they do the work of breaking down and…(Read More)
Somebody asked me the other day how I come up with recipes for cultured foods. Many times they come suddenly into my brain. This will often make me miss my exits while driving on the highway because I am thinking about the specifics of how to make it. Another way they come is through a…(Read More)
Do you want to change your life and feel better? Here’s the truth. I have tons of resources to help you. You can find everything you need on my site to get started, and that information is free. I have other resources that I sell to expand and help you grow, but everything you…(Read More)
Viruses, yuck . . . my family used to get them a lot. Colds, flus, you name it, we got it. But so did everybody else I knew. It’s normal, right? Well, it’s actually not. Every year at Christmas we would go to my mom’s in Virginia and somebody would inevitably get sick, and then…(Read More)
Did you ever stop to taste a carrot? Not just eat it but taste it? You can taste the beauty and energy of the earth in every bite. A Bright Orange Liquid I was young, nine years old, and sitting in a classroom staring at my teacher’s desk. She had a thermos; and from…(Read More)
Sold OUT! Saturday, February 20th, 2016 Where: The Kitchen – located in the Santa Barbara, California Public Market Have you heard about The Trilogy? Kefir, kombucha, and cultured veggies are three cultured probiotic foods that can change your life and your body. These are three of the most powerful superfoods you can eat and…(Read More)
Sometimes food is more than food. That’s what I call kefir. It’s cold and raining outside, and I perform one of my usual morning rituals. I throw together a cup of coconut kefir, a spoonful of cocoa powder, a few heaping spoonfuls of coconut flakes, a few cashews, a little stevia and stir…(Read More)
2015 has been a busy year at Cultured Food Life. We launched many new products in our store and shipped four tons of products last year. I started a weekly radio show on Hay House Radio. My new book came out: Cultured Food for Health and we expanded our Biotic Pro membership site with many…(Read More)
The holidays are coming to a close and a new year is starting. Do you want to set a new intention to eat better but always feel like you fall short? Why is it so hard to change? Neurons and microbes You’re redefining who you are through your choices every day, and the hardest…(Read More)
It was gloomy outside, and I was gloomy inside. I was having my own personal pity party, feeling overwhelmed, and discouraged. I decided I was going to take my daughter Christmas shopping and break the gloom that was following me around. I took Holli to one of our favorite places to get something to eat…(Read More)
A sourdough starter has only two ingredients: flour and water. Combined with unseen organisms of bacteria and yeasts and its mysterious ability to transform food, you have a universe of possibilities. It’s Tuesday night and I usually make bread on Wednesdays. I take my sourdough starter out of the fridge to feed it. I…(Read More)
Sold Out! Saturday, February 6th, 2016 Have you heard about The Trilogy? Kefir, kombucha, and cultured veggies are three cultured probiotic foods that can change your life and your body. These are three of the most powerful superfoods you can eat and Donna wants to teach you how to make them a part of…(Read More)
I love almonds and they make wonderful kefir. Some people call almonds the healthiest food in all the world and they have tons of health benefits. But I know a thing or two about almonds that perhaps you do not know. Almonds Provide Protection Against Insulin and Blood Sugar Issues Researchers fed fifteen healthy subjects…(Read More)
I love kefir grains, but I didn’t start my journey making kefir using kefir grains. I started with the powder kefir and was very glad I did. I was pretty much a wreck at that time in my life and I needed something easy and foolproof or it wasn’t going to happen. Making…(Read More)
I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I felt off, kind of loopy in the head and couldn’t think straight, and not myself. I was tired and wanting to rest a lot and didn’t want to exercise. This was not like me, and it scared me. Then I got a…(Read More)
Is kombucha good for you? Is it alcoholic? As of late, kombucha has been getting a lot of press. Kombucha has become a 0.6 billion dollar industry and is causing quite a stir in the beverage business. Its popularity has grown strictly by word of mouth and is growing at an incredible rate. Even…(Read More)
I was struggling and I called my editor to say, “I’m having a really hard time writing this chapter in my book. I hate writing about sickness and disease. I so believe in wellness that writing about this is really hard for me and I’m having a hard time finishing it.” Laura, my…(Read More)
My New Book Could Change Your Life. These principals in this book have certainly changed my life in extraordinary ways, but are not well know, until now. For 14 years, I have witnessed miracles when people started consuming these probiotic foods, but I never had the studies or research to back it up . . .…(Read More)
I had just started my blog in April of 2010 and was afraid that nobody would be interested in cultured foods. I decided to do it anyway. I believe we are all guided to do things but it comes in whispers, not loud sounding trumpets. One such whisper came from my daughter Maci. She told…(Read More)
It was the summer of 2003. A friend came into my kitchen and asked what was on my counters. I excitedly told her about my beloved cultures and I watched her face change expressions. “These jars have been brewing for days on your counters?” she said. I got that sick feeling in my stomach that…(Read More)
We all eat condiments. They are easy to make, but most people just buy them. Why don’t you let me help you make them in as little as 5 minutes? They will have billions of probiotics and are perfectly preserved for months. You will love them, your family won’t know they’re eating…(Read More)
My grandparents knew. They knew the grandkids were eating badly. They fussed at our parents but nobody listened, because the foods we were eating were so addictive. We reasoned that they were the older generation and they were just being cranky. They didn’t like it when we ate sugar-laden cereals for breakfast or…(Read More)
What is a healing crisis? A “healing crisis” is something that happens when the body starts a detoxification process which is really a program of natural healing. This is a common occurrence among some individuals who start consuming cultured foods. When you start consuming cultured foods, your body is flooded with good bacteria. Then there…(Read More)
My daughter Maci moved to Mission Viejo, California, in April and I went to visit a few months later. I was blown away with all the healthy food choices and health food stores on every corner. We would get up at 6 a.m. and spend our days going to the beach, farmers markets, and…(Read More)
For years I’ve been trying to find something to naturally thicken kefir without heating it and adding gelatin. I wanted to make it thick like pudding, and adding chia seeds seemed to work well; but there was a better answer and it was a probiotic’s best friend. The prebiotic psyllium husk makes the…(Read More)
I get an overabundance of kombucha SCOBYs (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast). Every time you make a pot of kombucha you get another SCOBY. So what to do with them? I usually just put them in my garden. The plants love the B vitamins in the kombucha SCOBYs and they seem to nurture the…(Read More)
We have a cherry tree in our backyard. My husband is constantly telling me to get all the cherries before the birds do, but I seldom do. In the early hours of the mornings I hear the birds singing a sweeter song than normal as I watch them eat the cherries. People ask me all…(Read More)
Life changing events Each day, you’re headed down a certain path knowing for the most part how your day will unfold. Then suddenly an event takes place that rocks you to your core. A whole series of powerful events changes your trajectory and in the process can change the focus of your mind, your…(Read More)
I have always had an obsession with cows and goats. I’m not quite clear why, but when twelve goats wound up in our front yard on the 4th of July one year, I begged to keep them. They had knocked their fence down after being scared off by fireworks and they came to the…(Read More)
Do you want to get started eating cultured foods? Then you need to try a smoothie. Do you think that cultured foods are hard to make? Then you need to make a smoothie. Do you want to change your health and start craving healthier foods? Then you need to drink a smoothie. Many years ago…(Read More)
Captain Cook was one of the first people to make cultured sauerkraut a healing modality. When he took his first vessel and crew on a long voyage in 1768, a violent storm arose. The waves tossed the ship about violently, and many crewmen were injured. To save the men from gangrene, the ship’s doctor…(Read More)
When I was growing up, my mom had a huge garden. She grew lots of broccoli and we would pick it for her. Even though broccoli is one of the plants least affected by pests, it is not uncommon to find worms on broccoli heads. Without a doubt, I was always the one to find…(Read More)
I am very excited about the new veggie starter culture, Cutting Edge Cultures. I decided to make a video about it and share a fun recipe. Making cultured vegetables is easy and fun. People can be intimidated by making cultured veggies and are afraid they will do it wrong and get sick. This is the…(Read More)
This is a guest blog by – Shelley Hanna. Shelley came to one of my classes and found tremendous help from cultured foods. She has become one of my dearest friends and greatest supporters. She strongly encouraged me to write my first book when I didn’t think I could, made the graphic pots you see…(Read More)
Apple Kraut
by
The reason I like to add fruit to my cultured vegetables is that many of these are prebiotics. Prebiotics allow the bacteria to proliferate and make more probiotics. Lemon and orange peel, apples, and berries, along with many vegetables such as onions, carrots, and garlic are all prebiotics. The more cultured foods you eat along…(Read More)
Here is one of the very first videos I ever made. The first half of the video explains why I started drinking kombucha and how much it helped my family and me. The second half shows the process of how to actually make kombucha. I hope you enjoy the video and you will learn not…(Read More)
Last year on my thirtieth wedding anniversary we took a cruise to the Caribbean and stopped in Cozumel, Mexico. We took a Salsa Salsa class where we made lots of salsa, guacamole, and Margaritas. We had so much fun and since I don’t really drink, but loved the taste of Margaritas, I wanted a…(Read More)
To culture your own food you must love and respect microbes. Turning that love into a product puts you on the Cutting Edge. I am very excited to introduce you to Cutting Edge Cultures – Vegetable Starter. Several collaborators knowledgeable on fermentation and probiotics joined together to make the strongest vegetable starter on the market today…(Read More)
I’m excited to be a part of the Hay House World Summit 2015. Before I ever started my business, I spent several years learning from the many authors and teachers at Hay House. I did this by reading books and attending online courses like the Hay House Summit. This allowed me to write a…(Read More)
People have the mistaken idea that I only eat cultured foods all day long. Although there are a lot of days that I do eat only cultured foods, this is not the norm. I mostly eat them because they’re easy for me to prepare and are what I call healthy fast food. You…(Read More)
When we were healing my daughter’s Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) many years ago, I didn’t realize that, along with cultured foods, we were including a powerful addition that made a huge difference in her recovery. I actually just discovered this in the past year, and it has opened an entirely new world for…(Read More)
Kefir grains love to eat the sugars (lactose) in milk. These sugars are the primary food for this culture. Fresh milk kefir is only 1% sugar and live kefir grains contain over 50 different types of yeast and bacteria existing in a symbiotic relationship. (Click to see which types) The powerful microbes in the kefir…(Read More)
Whenever I feel discouraged there is a special quote by JFK that my husband Ron repeats to me quite often. “A rising tide lifts all boats.” I want so much to uplift others that just saying the words will knock out any discouragement I am feeling. Ron has told me many times that as I…(Read More)
Ginger is powerful medicine! I have been consuming ginger every day and found it to be very effective in helping with any kind of inflammation – especially hay fever in the springtime. Ginger is anti-viral and anti-inflammatory as well as being a powerful antiseptic and antihistamine. They say it works powerfully on allergies to…(Read More)
True Confessions My childhood nickname was “Tiger.” I always hated that name and got teased about it quite often. Then this year on Valentine’s Day, my husband wrote me a sweet card and in it he told me that he tells everybody I am a force to be reckoned with. We had just come…(Read More)
I usually make sourdough bread twice a week. I make sourdough more than sprouted bread as my family likes it better and I enjoy making it so much. There is nothing as special as having a sourdough starter that has your own unique yeasts from your kitchen and hometown – that makes it uniquely your…(Read More)
Have you heard of Dr. Max Gerson, the health pioneer ? His story is something straight out of a movie, but his treatment for disease is pretty impressive. Max Gerson (1881-1959) was a German physician who fled to the United States during Hitler’s holocaust. Barely escaping, he came to the United states in 1936…(Read More)
My husband was called for jury duty this week and found himself in jury selection for a case involving a very popular restaurant. The complainant was a woman who said she got carpal tunnel syndrome on the job, was treated, and then six months later was fired. My husband was picked as Juror Number Two…(Read More)
Laura Ingalls Wilder – wrote her first book when she was 65. She was depleted of resources by the great depression and friends encouraged her to write down her experiences and stories. That first book led to many others and would turn into the popular TV series, “Little House on the Prairie.” Sister Marion Irvine –…(Read More)
This is the bread I make at least two or three times a week. As my business has been growing and I found myself with less time, this bread recipe has become the bread I make most often. It only has four ingredients and takes about 5 minutes to throw together. Then I let it…(Read More)
A few weeks ago I had a dream about kefir. I was watching TV in my dream and heard a newscaster say that kefir had swept the world and there was now kefir in every kitchen. I woke up and carried that dream with me for weeks. If everybody drank kefir, the world would be…(Read More)
Your body’s ability to heal is greater than anyone has permitted you to believe. My husband is used to my crazy new ideas and has become accustomed to my enthusiasm for whatever happens to be my latest discovery. He goes along for the ride but never jumps in with both feet until coaxed. Kombucha…(Read More)
It’s January and it’s cold here in the Midwest. All I want is hot tea and soup. It’s hard for me to want a cold smoothie when I am craving warmth and comfort, but high heat kills the probiotics in my cultured foods. Well, not all is lost because I have found…(Read More)
Kombucha, pronounced kôm-bo͞o-CHA, is a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria. The good bacteria and yeasts eat the sugar out of the tea and make probiotics and then produce a naturally-occurring carbonation. You don’t get tons of sugar because the bacteria eats…(Read More)
It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m writing my blog and reflecting on 2014. I experienced so many changes in my life and business, blessings that I count every day, but mostly it was my own body that once again has taught me the most. I am always wanting to be better and…(Read More)
This has been a busy year at Cultured Food Life. I don’t do this alone and I have a wonderful team helping me. Many thanks to Ron, Chris, Jane, and Maci for all the support and strength they give me. I couldn’t do it without you nor would I want to. You’re…(Read More)
I made a series of videos for my Biotic Pro Members called The 12 Days of Kefir. These 12 videos are all about making holiday Christmas recipes with kefir. It was super fun (and crazy) trying to film it all in a couple of days. It was so intense filming these videos that my video…(Read More)
These are recipes that I make and create during the holidays. Eat probiotic foods during the holiday and they will help you stay in balance. Remember – the probiotics in cultured foods eat the sugars in the food. Then they eat them in you when you consume them. This creates more balance in the body…(Read More)
Several years ago I taught a Cultured Food Christmas Class where we had all kinds of cultured food Christmas dishes. One of them was Coconut Kefir Eggnog. We had tons of samples, but when we passed around the samples of Coconut Kefir Eggnog people began to moan and ask for more. Eggnog was an early…(Read More)
Dear past, thank you for all the lessons. Dear future, I am ready. ~Donna I was twelve years old and taking a school field trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the largest battle of the American Civil War as well as the largest battle ever fought in North America, took place. Little did I know that…(Read More)
Cashew Kefir
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The tallest tree in the forest was once just a little nut that held its ground. This is a cashew apple tree. Cashew nuts are actually the kidney-shaped seeds that adhere to the bottom of the cashew apple grown mostly in Brazil. Interesting, isn’t it? Cashews are all the rage these days and…(Read More)
Try to understand your kefir. If you pay really close attention, the billions of organisms will transform your food and then transform you. Is your kefir separating into whey and curds? Is your kefir thin and runny? Most of the time this is because it is over fermenting and you need to add more milk…(Read More)
All the forces in the world are not so powerful as wisdom that has been discovered by someone who needs it. I had no idea just exactly what I was making when I created this recipe several years ago. I just thought the combination tasted good and seemed to give me spectacular results during…(Read More)
People often ask me about water kefir and milk kefir and which type of kefir I think is more beneficial. Water kefir is a nondairy kefir that is gaining in popularity. Many people start with this method of making kefir because it’s so easy and fun and they want a nondairy option. It…(Read More)
Wisdom Kraut
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this is an excerpt…(Read More)
The bubbly kombucha wasn’t opened yet. But there was an audience to watch I assure you. This is the process at my house. My daughter Maci got married and moved to a farm with her husband. She has a couple apple trees and she’s making tons of recipes with apples in them. Before…(Read More)
Meet the new Superfoods that can heal you when nothing else works. I am excited to be going back to New York to teach – The Trilogy, three foods that changed my life and can change yours too. This will be the most extensive class I have ever taught. This is a crucial time…(Read More)
It was early 2002 and my sixteen year old daughter climbed out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen. “How do you feel this morning?” I asked. Her response broke me. “I never feel good anymore mom. I feel bad all the time. My stomach hurts after everything I eat.” What had happened to my…(Read More)
Every year I plant my garden, anxious for my fruits and veggies. But each year I don’t plant cucumbers because each year they come back anyway. They will sprout in different places in my garden, always in a place where they can have lots of room. It just makes me laugh and excites me…(Read More)
It was 12:30 am and once again I found myself wide awake. It is an interesting phenomenon that has been happening to me this summer. It seems that I am needing less and less sleep. The older I get, the younger I feel. “What is up with this?” I said to myself that particular…(Read More)
Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Donna. She lived at the edge of the Cultured Food Forest with her family. One morning, Donna went deep into the forest to gather berries for her Kefir Breakfast Pudding. It wasn’t long before she lost her way. Donna wasn’t scared though, and…(Read More)
Many years ago I was addicted to diet cola. I know, I know. It is terrible for you. But still, I couldn’t stop drinking it. I had drunk it for years and when I first started eating cultured foods they made me want to conquer my addiction. But try as I might, I couldn…(Read More)
Do you feel alive each day? When your feet hit the ground in the morning are you pumped about the day? Do you feel appreciation and love for others? Do you have energy that will last all day? Did you know that you are supposed to feel this way? It is not something that is…(Read More)
Happiness often sneaks in a door you did not think was open. One of my favorite things about summertime is the farmers markets and fresh veggies. Turing fresh produce into perfectly preserved cultured veggies makes me so happy, but it wasn’t always that way. When I was growing up, every summer my mom and…(Read More)
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. This is a favorite summertime salad made with cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onions that are abundant in the summertime. The taste is so light and fresh that I can eat gallons of this salad. I have had this…(Read More)
A few weeks ago my daughter, Maci, came to me asking for cultured food at her bridal shower. She was wanting some cultured veggies and the next thing I knew I had a whole bunch of cultured foods to make. I don’t know why I do these things to myself; but after all, I…(Read More)
I often make fermented vegetables using a canning jar with a lid, but there are many methods and vessels you can use to make cultured vegetables. Some say you should only use an airlock jar to culture vegetables. They claim that the canning jar method doesn’t seal well enough to remove the oxygen (removing…(Read More)
It’s time to make Delicious Cultured Veggies! People ask me all the time what I use and how I culture my veggies. DO YOU NEED A STARTER CULTURE TO MAKE CULTURED VEGGIES? No, you do not need a starter culture to make cultured veggies. However, by using a starter you will receive more probiotics…(Read More)
How did I get here? I was a new mother at 41 years old, falling apart, and paralyzed with fear. I was sick with diabetes and suffered from high blood pressure. I also had a brand new premature baby girl in my lap. I knew that I was in trouble and I desperately needed help…(Read More)
