Best of 2020

The Real Reasons Your Immune System Needs Cultured Foods

By Donna Schwenk / January 6, 2024

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 it would spread down through the family. […]

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How to Care For Your Einkorn Sourdough Starter

By Donna Schwenk / May 20, 2023

I usually make sourdough bread once or 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 own. […]

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Can Fermented Vegetables Help with COVID-19?

By Donna Schwenk / July 25, 2020

In my own personal experience and those whom I help through my website, we have all seen tremendous help and healing from eating fermented foods and especially when dealing with any kind of virus. […]

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My Favorite Cultured Vegetable Recipe

By Donna Schwenk / June 13, 2020

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. […]

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20 Smart Ways To Use Your Kombucha SCOBYs!

By Donna Schwenk / May 30, 2020

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 them grow! […]

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Prebiotics – As Important as Probiotics

By Donna Schwenk / May 2, 2020

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 in the large bowel or colon. […]

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How to Care For Your Sourdough Starter

By Donna Schwenk / March 28, 2020

I usually make sourdough bread once or 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 own. […]

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Tips That Nobody Else Talks About

By Donna Schwenk / February 29, 2020

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 bad this is for you?” […]

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Whey – The Liquid Gold in Kefir

By Donna Schwenk / January 25, 2020

Don’t throw out your kefir if it separates into whey and curds. Your whey, although less appealing to many individuals, is a superfood which contains a lot of healing properties. There is something known as “The Whey Cure” which was used throughout history. In fact, Hippocrates and Galen, two founding fathers of medicine, frequently recommended whey to their patients to heal them. This whey was often referred to as “liquid gold.” […]

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7 Reasons I Have Kefir Every Day

By Donna Schwenk / January 11, 2020

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. […]

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Overnight Sourdough Bread

By Donna Schwenk / March 10, 2018

I think fermentation is essential to bread making. If you don’t use the help of microbes to make the bread, you won’t get the nutrients out of the bread and gluten will become a problem. I’ve made a lot of sourdough bread and I have a new method that is working spectacularly. . .

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