Baked Beans for Dinner July 6, 2008

Kate’s dinner: Leftover baked beans mixed with some organic grass-fed beef and beef liver.

I modifed the Nourishing Traditions baked beans recipe. I soaked the beans for 48 hours (just because I was busy and didn’t have time to make them sooner). I used chicken fat instead of butter and olive oil — just because that’s what I had on hand. Instead of water, I used homemade chicken stock to make the beans more nutrient dense. And I added ham hocks for extra flavor and nutrition.

She would have loved some sauerkraut with this dish — but I’m fresh out. I have a couple of quarts fermenting in the cupboard. I need to make more pickles soon, too. Kate loves pickles.

Potato Cheese May 31, 2008

It’s funny — when you’re single, sitting at home on a Saturday night is the worst thing you can imagine. And then you become a mom. And you’re always doing doing doing for everyone else. And the idea of having some time to yourself is so fabulous, you don’t care what night it is.

Seth announced that he had to go out to a business thing and I got so excited that I was going to get to stay home, put my feet up, and do my own thing. I don’t even have to cook dinner! I can eat cheese and some almond bread if I get hungry.

So I got Kate down (so easy, she goes down every night and every nap with no crying, no fussing) then I did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and watered my seedlings. Then I poured a glass of wine, dimmed the lights, and am now happily watching Oprah and House Hunters and Martha Stewart and Iron Chef America.

I’m also making “Potato Cheese”, a fermented potato dish (for Kate — we can’t eat potatoes on GAPS). I don’t like the name. Hopefully the recipe comes out better than the name.

I really like to try to serve fermented foods to Kate at at least one meal a day. Ideally, it would be every meal… but once a day is great. If I do more than that, all the better. She really loves sauerkraut and kefir and fermented yams and homemade lacto-fermented ketchup and dill pickles. Today she had some dill pickle relish in her tunafish for lunch, and this evening she had fermented yams with liver and ground beef stew for dinner.

Anyway, I got the Potato Cheese recipe from Nourishing Traditions. Well, it’s in Nourishing Traditions, but it was originally published in 1833, in a book called The American Frugal Housewife.

You cook 4 pounds of potatoes (I baked mine), then peel them, then throw them in the food processor with 2 cups of kefir or piima milk (I’m using kefir). Let that sit out at room temperature in a bowl (covered with a dish towel) for 2 days. Then you strain it the same way you do when you strain the whey when making cheese. When done, transfer to an airtight container and put it in the fridge.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Fermented Yams May 22, 2008

A few of you have asked for this so here you go!

This recipe is from the Fermented Taro Root (also known as Poi) recipe in “Nourishing Traditions”. I couldn’t find taro root so I used yams. This makes a very yummy and super-nutritious baby food. It’s also really good as a side dish.

2 pounds yams (or sweet potatoes)
1 TBS sea salt
4 TBS whey (homemade whey from raw milk or yogurt — recipe on page 87 of “Nourishing Tradtions”)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Stab the yams with a fork. Stick them in the oven and bake for 2 hours or until soft. Let cool, then peel and mash with salt and whey (a sauerkraut pounder or meat tenderizer works great). Leave this mixture in a bowl and leave out at room temperature, covered with a dishtowel, for 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Beet Greens for Lunch May 13, 2008

Kate and I just had the yummiest lunch! It’s fun now because we can eat together (she’s eating finger foods instead of purees — and she can eat pretty much everything — of course, we’re not eating any grains yet).

Anyway, I put some bacon grease in a pan, then threw in some of the leftover Chicken Cacciatore with the chicken stock and tomato sauce. I also tore up some beet greens from the garden. I thickened up the sauce with a little arrowroot, and we ate it. It was even better with the bacon grease and beet greens! Really delicious. I served it with the purple sauerkraut and goat yogurt cream cheese. We had cantaloupe for dessert.

I also just got the best call from my sister in Seattle.

Some background: She got her family on raw milk over the Christmas holidays. After she grilled me about it (”What’s this obsession you have with raw milk?”) and I gave her the summary of “The Untold Story of Milk” by Dr. Ron Schmid. (If you haven’t read that book, do so. It’s fantastic.) They now get raw milk delivered from a local farm. They also joined a local CSA for organic produce.

Then she read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” a few weeks ago and decided that she wanted to buy half a cow. She told me she wanted to get her family off of all “CAFOs” (she pronounces it “kay-fos” — like “queso” with an F). CAFO stands for Confined Animal Feeding Operation.

Today she called and told me that she’s reading “Animal Vegetable Miracle”. She just got back from a trip to my mother’s in Dallas (related to our family emergency). She said she was so struck by how fake everything was — the tract homes and the fake food and the CAFO meat and milk everywhere. And Wal-Mart and McDonalds and malls full of clothes made by kids in sweatshops in third world countries. She said, “Everyone’s so alone and cut off.”

She said she got home from the trip and her husband had bought a new 42″ screen TV. They had discussed getting it before, and she had agreed to it. But when she stepped off the plane and saw that thing and the kids sitting in front of it eating their dinner (as they do every night), that was the last straw.

“That’s it,” she said. “No more TV with dinner. We’re doing family meals from now on.”

“Whoa,” I breathed. This from my sister who works 12-hour days and generally does not get home from work until 8 or 9 pm.

“Yep,” she said. “That’s it. We’re going to eat together every night. I can make some lentils and salmon and grow some vegetables in the garden. Actually before I left for this trip, the girls and I did all the planting — our spring vegetable garden is in.”

She then said something that really blew me away. She said that she’s decided that she wants to move her family to a farm and grow her own food. She wants to raise her kids in a way that is more aligned with nature. She doesn’t like the values her girls are growing up with. She wants a chance to give them a better “imprint” before they grow up and leave the nest.

She said (I’m paraphrasing), “I’m tired of all the fake shit. I want real food and a real life.”

This, from my sister. An executive at a major multinational corporation.

I almost squealed with delight. “Me too! Me too! Me too!” (Or as Seth, says, in a low Old Man River voice, “MEEEEEEEEEEEE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”

I said, “Let’s do it together!”

She said, “Okay. I’ve been looking at properties. I just found two 10-acre parcels right next to each other.” She said her husband already told her he’d be willing to do it.

I said, “Now you know why I keep talking about wanting a farm with some chickens.”

She said, “I get it.”

Seth said he would be willing to do it, too. He doesn’t understand it — but he’s willing if it would make me happy. My sister said, “Make him read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle!”

She asked me what to do to help her kids eat healthier. I am going to order her a copy of “Nourishing Traditions” today.

She said her husband is going out of town for the weekend to go on a trip with friends. She said, “While he’s gone, I’m going through that kitchen and I’m going to get rid of all the CAFOs and processed fake food.”

It’s amazing how ideas from books and blogs and people can spread — isn’t it incredible how we impact each other so deeply? Funny thing is, it was my mom who first read “Animal Vegetable Miracle” last summer. Then I read it, now my sister.

How amazing would it be to live next to my sister and her family? How amazing would it be for the cousins to grow up as neighbors? Instead of having to fly a few times a year to see each other?

You know what I think? I think it is this family crisis that is bringing us closer together. It used to be that families — extended families — lived just down the road. You watched each other’s kids, looked out for each other when you were sick or going through a tough time. Now we are all so spread out and so cut off, like my sister said.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Why live far apart when we don’t have to?

I love my sister so much. She is truly one of the most amazing people I know. She’s intelligent and driven. But it’s more than that. She traveled all over Europe on her own, then got a PhD, built an award-winning modern home, had kids, became a successful executive, taught herself gourmet cooking. She can figure anything out — and when she decides to do something, she just does it. I love that in a person.

And I love and admire her.

I am so happy right now. And so excited for the future.

Gotta go do some things — need to wash dishes and shower and water my seedlings and figure out what I’m going to make for dinner — before Kate wakes up from her nap!

GAPS Diet: Day 15 May 11, 2008

I have been reading through the papers Dr. Cowan gave us, and reading the GAPS book.

It says that we can eat squash. So I’m going to pick up some at the market — a good substitute for potatoes or pasta. It says that we can eat lentils and white navy beans — but not in the beginning. I think we will wait a while on that.

It says that you can move through the stages as quickly as you are able to. Seth and I have stopped having diarrhea. And Seth says he is not feeling any gut pain.

So I think we are ready to progress to the next stage.

I am going to start giving Seth kefir — a tiny bit to start and more each day. I want him to get to the point where he can drink a few glasses a day. I’m also going to give him some clarified butter this week and see how he does with that. Dr. Campbell McBride says that it is very digestible for most people.

We’ll see how that goes. I’ll give him a little Hollandaise sauce with his eggs — see if he has any reactions.

After the clarified butter, we’ll try regular butter. If he is OK with that, we’ll wait a few days and then try a little cheddar cheese and see how he reacts.

I asked him and he thinks he will do OK with butter and small amounts of cheese. He also thinks he does OK on kefir. He just can’t do milk or cream. I guess in time he will be able to drink milk and cream — but it could be a while.

We can also see how he does with some of the nut butters and ground nut flours. We can see how he reacts to peanut butter (homemade) and also bread made from homemade almond flour and coconut flour. I can also use this flour to make muffins, pies,

After we get through all of that, I want to see if he continues pain-free and has normal stools for at least a week. If so, we will move from the Introduction Diet to the Full Diet. There are no grains on the full diet, and no starches either.

But there are some recipes that look fun — pizza made with nut flour (without cheese unless it is tolerated).

Oh, and I noticed in the papers that I am supposed to be giving him liver twice a week. He hates liver. I have been giving him dessicated liver tablets… however I think we need to do more than that. So he agreed to start drinking the Pottenger Liver Cocktail in “Nourishing Traditions” twice a week (or more if I can make it more often). It’s basically tomato juice and calf’s liver. A very nutritious virgin Bloody Mary.

Scallops, Spaghetti Squash, and Starting GAPS April 26, 2008

I’m relaxing in our “outdoor living room” in the backyard with a glass of Viognier. Seth is putting the baby down. It was hot today, but now it’s pleasantly cool. I can smell someone barbecuing in the distance.

Tonight’s dinner will be easy. I got a dozen fresh scallops at the farmer’s market today. So fresh, they are still alive! They gave them to me in bags of salt water.

I’ll probably braise them in a little butter. Then we will have some kielbasa and sauerkraut, some spaghetti squash with butter, and a green salad with sliced apple.

Tomorrow night I will make pulled pork. I’ve never made it before but Rocky Canyon had a nice pork butt at the market today. I think I’ll soak it in brine overnight, then slow cook it in the crock pot all day.

Seth had his phone consultation with Dr. Cowan on Thursday (which also happened to be his birthday — Seth’s, not Dr. Cowan’s).

Dr. Cowan recommended the GAPS diet. I knew he was going to say that, but the biggest reason we did the consultation was to convince Seth. He needed to hear it from someone other than me. Better yet, a doctor. I’ve been trying to get him to do the GAPS diet for months. Of course, he just thought it was some wacky think I read on the internet.

The good news is, he’s willing to do it now.

Let me back up — the GAPS Diet was formulated by neurologist and nutritionist, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. GAPS stands for “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”. The idea is that most of the psychological disorders we have are due to digestive disorders. Click here for an overview of the book.

I’m excited because Seth has suffered from anxiety and depression for years. He has also had digestive problems since he was a kid. He said he can remember being constipated when he was a small child, and said the depression started when he was 17. And I have noticed that his anxiety/depression is always worse when he has intestinal pain. Whenever he gets really cranky or anxious, he always says his guts hurt.

Dr. Cowan mentioned a book called “The Second Brain”. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with the author that may shed some light on this for you:

Ever get a gut feeling about someone, or I anxious butterflies in your stomach? That’s because you have a second brain in your bowel, according to Michael Gershon, M.D., author of The Second Brain (HarperCollins, 1999), and a neurobiologist at New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Gershon recently explained to Psychology Today how an independent network of over 100 billion neurons in the gut not only signals our bodies to stress but causes illness.

Q Why do we need a second brain?

A Most importantly, to control digestion. It also works with the immune system to protect us from hostile bacteria.

Q Does it use neurotransmitters?

A Actually, 95% of all serotonin in the body is in the gut, where it triggers digestion. Nerve cells in the gut also use serotonin to signal back to the brain. This information can train us not to eat certain foods by communicating pain, gas and other terrible feelings.

Q Does the brain in our heads influence the “second brain”?

A Yes. Butterflies in the stomach arise when the brain sends a message of anxiety to the gut, which sends messages back to the brain that it’s unhappy. But the gut can also work in isolation.

Q How does this brain influence irritable bowel syndrome (lBS), which many believe is a psychological problem?

A Irritable bowel syndrome, whose symptoms include abdominal pain accompanied by loose stool, affects 20% of Americans. But doctors often dismiss its severity, attributing IBS to psychoneurosis because they don’t know exactly what it is. I propose that the second brain is the cause. Antidepressants like SSRIs, when used in doses too low to treat depression, are effective immediately in IBS patients. Prozac takes weeks to kick in. This suggests that the drugs work not on the brains of people with IBS, but in the bowel. Source

Anyway… the idea is if you heal the digestive tract, you will alleviate mental/emotional disorders. Dr. Campbell McBride has had much success with this program in her practice in England where she has been reversing autism, ADD, etc. in children.

So here’s the plan:

He has to drink about a quart of bone broth a day, plus 4-8 ounces freshly juiced fruits and vegetables 3-5 times a day. I’m going to give it to him mixed with beet kvass at least twice a day.

In addition to that, he can have meats, fish, non-starchy vegetables, and fruit. No grains. No dairy. He also has to take cod liver oil and a couple of other supplements (including Dr. Campbell-McBride’s probiotic, BioKult, plus plenty of fermented foods (sauerkraut, homemade pickles, kefir soda pop, etc.).

After anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (depending on how it goes), we will start to introduce dairy foods — one at a time. Starting with ghee (clarified butter), then kefir, yogurt, etc. Not sure about the exact order — I have the list Dr. Cowan sent in my purse.

In a matter of weeks or months, we can start to introduce soaked beans, soaked grains, etc. Ultimately, Dr. Cowan says, Seth should eat a “Nourishing Traditions” diet.

Dr. Cowan says he thinks Seth can heal in a couple of months. But he said the longer he stays on the diet, the better, and that it can take up to two years.

I’m going to have to have a stock pot of broth going all the time. And I’m going to have to be juicing all the damn time too. And for any of you out there who have juiced, it is messy. You have to clean that thing every time you make juice.

But it’s okay. I’m just grateful he’s finally doing this. I just know this is going to help him!

So I guess we’re starting tomorrow…

Coffee and Raw Honey Sweetened Lemonade March 26, 2008

I’ve been trying to cut back on coffee. No, not trying. I have been cutting back. I’m pretty proud of myself!

Sally Fallon said that cutting out coffee was the hardest thing she ever did. I’m not trying to cut it out completely (yet) but I am trying to cut back. For the sake of my adrenal gland. Drinking a lot of coffee and eating a lot of sugar is really bad for your adrenal gland. Most people have adrenal exhaustion due to constant stress, and too much coffee and sugar.

You can heal your adrenal gland. I just listened to a lecture about it from the WAPF 2007 seminar. The guy said that it can take anywhere from a few months to a few years. He said to take a multiglandular (like the ones Standard Process sells), vitamin B complex (I’m taking nutritional yeast, blackstrap molasses, and lots of fermented foods for my Bs), and a few others… I’ll have to look at the list I wrote down. He said it can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years to heal your adrenal exhaustion — depending on how severe it is.

Adrenal exhuastion is part of the thyroid puzzle. You can’t really heal your thyroid unless you fix the adrenal too.

So anyway, I used to drink 2-3 cups per day. Now I’m drinking just 1 cup a day. With raw milk and blackstrap molasses. I have heard that blackstrap molasses helps with grey hair. (I’m starting to get some — and I’ve stopped highlighting my hair.) This was from Donna Wild of Standard Process, the nutritional supplements company (not just something I read on the internet!).

It hasn’t been that hard, cutting back on the coffee. I think, instead of cutting it out all the way, I’ll just keep cutting back to less and less. Go to half a cup a day, then a quarter cup.

It will be nice not to have to drink coffee. Drinking it here and there is one thing — but when you have to drink it that is an addiction, and that’s something I’d like not to have.

Meanwhile, Yensi has been making homemade lemonade for us. It’s delicious! And you would never know that it does not have any sugar!

Here’s her recipe for homemade lemonade:

Juice of one lemon
Raw honey to taste (she said she only uses about a tablespoon)
Pinch of sea salt
Fill pitcher with filtered water

It’s so wonderful to be able to drink homemade lemonade with nutritious raw honey — instead of Diet Coke or other soft drinks like we used to do. The lemons come from our tree in the backyard!

Michael Pollan on Butter March 21, 2008

Here’s an interesting 10 minute video with Michael Pollan defending real food:

Watch video

I agree with everything he is saying.

Except for when he says that you shouldn’t eat a lot of butter. Sally Fallon says butter is a health food. She said she eats half a stick of butter on her oatmeal every day — 4 full tablespoons. She actually said that she thinks vegetables are just a vehicle for good fats. I love that!

One thing Pollan says in this video is that we should look to history and tradition when making choices about food and nutrition.

Hence, the traditional foods movement — eat real foods that have not been contaminated, adulterated or processed: butter, raw milk, raw milk cheese, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, naturally leavened breads, fermented foods, soaked and sprouted grains and nuts.

Traditonally, people have been eating butter. For centuries. LOTS of butter. Read any French cookbook from a hundred years ago and the amount of butter and heavy cream will blow your mind. Heck, just read Julia Child’s recipes!

So why does he say we should not eat very much of it? Why does he say it is not a health food? What is his evidence for that claim?

I also disagree with Pollan’s wacky assertion that we should, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

WTF?! Plants? Mostly plants?

Many radically healthy traditional populations lived on animal foods as the bulk of their diet. Traditional Swiss villagers lived almost exclusively on dairy — raw milk, butter, cream, and cheese — with naturally leavened bread and small amounts of meat and vegetables. Other cultures lived mainly on the meat from animals (the native American Indians and many African tribes) and still others lived mainly on fish (Polynesian tribes, Eskimos, Scottish fishermen). All of these people lived on a diet high in saturated animal fats — over 50%. The Eskimos ate about 80% saturated fats.

I can’t think of a single healthy traditional culture that lived on mostly plants. Can you? I challenge you to name one.

I wish Pollan would do his research on traditional diets and the health benefits of saturated animal fats. I agree with Sally Fallon — Pollan is in a position of power and he really should study more about nutrition so he can speak intelligently about it.

Here’s Sally Fallon’s Open Letter to Michael Pollan.

Take the Olive Oil Challenge! March 20, 2008

Last fall my sister told me that she had read an article in the New Yorker exposing the fact that most olive oils on the market are fake. I was shocked and horrified. I had been cooking with olive oil for years and using it to make my own salad dressing. I was trying to avoid trans fats.

When I first started eating a WAPF diet 6 months ago, one of the first things I did was buy real (WAPF approved) olive oil. One of the brands they recommend is Bariani. A little more expensive, but worth it considering it’s real! I also buy Adam’s Ranch at Rawesome, my local buying club.

And Sally Fallon says that, for making salad dressing, even if you use the finest, most expensive ingredients, it still comes out the same cost-wise as if you are buying ready-made salad dressings.

Yesterday I was listening to a lecture by Sally Fallon (an mp3 from the WAPF 2007 conference). She said that you can tell if your olive oil is real by putting it in the fridge. If it turns hard, it’s real. If not, it’s fake.

Last night I put 3 bottles of olive oil in the fridge. One was my bottle of Adam’s Ranch unrefined olive oil. I also put in a bottle of Santini from Trader Joe’s and a bottle of Fillippo Berio I bought at Albertson’s. Both of these are the olive oils I used to buy before I got into WAPF.

Guess what? The Adam’s Ranch is the real thing. And the other two — FAKE!

See how the Adam’s Ranch is hard and cream colored? You can turn it on its side and it is absolutely solid. The other two oils are totally liquid.

This really pisses me off! I cooked with that shit for years, thinking I was using a healthy oil. I was trying to avoid trans fats — and here I was ingesting them unknowingly.

And those douchebags at Filippo Berio have the nerve to put a page on their website about “Tradition”. It says:

When you buy Filippo Berio olive oils, you’re buying olive oil steeped in expert tradition — oils with the same flavor as those Filippo Berio produced over 150 years ago.

Today, these award-winning oils are made using the latest technology, but the traditional flavors remain — thanks to painstaking attention to detail and a deep commitment to excellence. Filippo Berio olive oils have been produced by our family-owned and operated business since the mid-1800s, with hands-on family direction and expertise to ensure unsurpassed quality and unequalled taste in every bottle.

Notice that it doesn’t say anywhere that this is 100% olive oil. It just says that the “flavors” are the same.

Which means they are adulterating the olive oil with cheap oils (vegetable and soy, most likely) and adding olive oil flavor.

Try it with your olive oil and post the results on your blog — comment if you do it. I want to compile a list of real and fake olive oils.

Genetically Modified Masa Harina March 18, 2008

Yensi cooked us some Guatemalan food for dinner. It was SO GOOD!

We had:

Chicken sauteed in butter with grilled onions and red bell pepper (I added some salsa on top)
Brown rice cooked with chicken broth, chopped carrots and red bell pepper
Black beans with avocado slices and a dollop of yogurt “cream cheese” (yogurt curds without the whey — I used this in place of sour cream)
Salad with red leaf lettuce, strawberries and blood oranges (all from our CSA box) with vinaigrette

We are drinking a very yummy biodynamic (organic) wine I found at Whole Foods called Côtes du Lubéron Blanc Château La Canorgue.

I put the dry black beans in a saucepan (with a lid) last night. I covered them with filtered water and added a couple of TBS of whey (homemade, from yogurt). They soaked for about 17 or 18 hours before she cooked them. We also soaked the rice all day.

Yensi wanted to make homemade tortillas, but we couldn’t find organic (non-GMO) masa harina. I called six stores!

Masa harina is basically pre-soaked corn meal. They soak it in lime water. This is the traditional method Yensi said they use in Guatemala. They soak the cornmeal (which they grind fresh) in lime water for two weeks.

Sally Fallon says in “Nourishing Traditions” that it’s best to make masa harina from scratch, because the masa harina you buy in the store is usually rancid (like most flour — it goes rancid quickly after grinding). Maybe we will get to that one day. In the meantime, the organic masa harina will have to do.

Yensi said has been been buying the Maseca brand of masa harina that she gets at her local store. Problem is, we looked it up and it’s not only not organic, but it is also genetically modified. They publicly denied that their products used genetically modified ingredients a few years back, but I know that is bullshit because they are owned by Archer Daniels Midland, makers of that shitty inedible “GE (genetically engineered) corn”.

I’m sure Maseca was a good company at one time, and they probably made good products. But big agribusiness corporations ruin everything they touch.

In the movie “King Corn” (see it if you haven’t), they tried to eat some of the genetically engineered corn they grew — they spit it out it was so bad. This corn is designed to be used for high fructose corn syrup. They make it by soaking the inedible corn in battery acid.

Yep, here we go:

Longstanding Mexican government regulation of corn supply and prices, support for small corn growers, and price subsidies for corn tortillas for Mexican consumers have been eliminated, all at the behest of Cargill, ADM, and ADM’s powerful Mexican partner, Gruma/Maseca. The end result of this globalization process is that small and medium-sized farmers, both North and South of the border, can’t make a living, while ADM and Cargill (and their preferred customers such as McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Tyson, Smithfield) make a killing. Meanwhile, consumers, who have been promised that Free Trade would result in lower prices, are paying more for food every year. Corn tortillas, the main staple of the Mexican diet, have risen in price 300% since NAFTA came into effect.

Source

I was trying to explain to Yensi why the Maseca masa harina is bad. Try to explain “genetically modified” to someone for whom English is their second language. I basically said that not only is it not organic, but that the pesticide is actually INSIDE the corn. Not exactly true, and a very simplistic way of explaining it. I tried.

Anyway, I think we’re going to order the masa harina from the Bob’s Red Mill website — then we can have tortillas next week!

That was one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. Yensi is a fabulous cook!

And it was really wonderful to be able to just make the salad and not have to scurry around putting a whole meal together after I worked all day. Whew!

Yensi said she is going to put the leftover beans in the blender and then she will fry them in a skillet. Another Guatemalan specialty. I think we’ll have that Friday night with some ground beef tacos (we’ll use sprouted tortillas from Whole Foods since we can’t have homemade). Sounds great to me!

Another Science Experiment: Kefir Soda Pop February 16, 2008

The other day, an envelope from Northern California appeared in my mailbox. It was full of dehydrated water kefir grains (sent by Claire, a WAPF member I met on the Yahoo Discussing NT mailing list — thanks, Claire!).

I put the grains in some distilled water and BOOM they tripled in size within an hour or so. Then I drained them and put them in jars with more distilled water, Rapadura (unrefined sugar), and egg shell. I guess the egg shell adds minerals.

It’s starting to ferment. I can tell because it is getting bubbly. Whee! Isn’t that exciting? (By the way, that’s regular milk kefir on the left.)

Once it’s done fermenting, I’ll strain the grains, put them in more sugar water in the fridge to store them, and then I’ll add some flavors to my fermented kefir water will make kefir soda pop.

You can make ginger ale or limeade or lemonade or root beer or cream soda. The recipes are in the book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig.

I think I’m going to start with cream soda — it’s made with vanilla and lemon. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

What We Can Learn From Saving Trash February 15, 2008

I can’t stop thinking about the guy who saved his trash for a year.

I read about him a while back but it didn’t really gel with me until now. I guess because all of this stuff is cumulative. You do one thing and it leads to another and another. It’s actually become a hobby for me now. Okay, not just a hobby. An obsession. (But it’s a good obsession!)

I want to respond to his post on what he learned from saving his trash for a year:

1. The vast vast vast majority of trash comes from food packaging. Packaged food is less nutritious, on the whole, than fresh food. Packaged food, ounce for ounce, is often more expensive than fresh food. I’ve learned that making less trash, by consuming less packaged food actually makes me healthier and wealthier. I’m in the best shape of my life right now and I can see first hand that it is related to changes in my diet that have come from this project.

I have noticed that we have a lot less trash since I have been cooking traditional foods. We stopped eating most packaged foods thanks to Sally Fallon and the WAPF — for health reasons. Avoiding packaged foods also helps the environment.

Some examples:

I used to buy yogurt. Now I make filmjolk and kefir. Just add milk and leave it on the counter. No more plastic yogurt containers.

I used to buy iced tea and soda. Now I make kombucha and beet kvass. No more cans and bottles. I’m also starting to make kefir soda pop (more on that in a future post).

I used to buy most of our vegetables from the grocery store. Now I buy most of it at the farmer’s market. They fill a plastic bin, which I carry home with me and then bring it back the following week. There are no plastic bags on any of the produce.

I’ve been making pickles, sauerkraut, and mayonnaise from scratch, reusing glass jars. I am going to learn how to make ketchup, salsa, naturally fermented soy sauce, and mustard. (By the way, ALL of these recipes are in Sally Fallon’s cookbook, “Nourishing Traditions”.)

Seth still likes fancy Italian mineral water. I’m looking into buying one of those seltzer makers. However, he is drinking a lot less since we started drinking kombucha.

We are also still buying distiled water. Soon we will buy a water filtration system and eliminate the need for this.

I still have to buy milk in plastic jugs. That is the way they come from Organic Pastures. It would be nice if they could someday go to a delivery service with reusable glass containers. Maybe I will write a letter to them to ask about the feasibility of this.

We are using less paper towels. A cloth rag works fine.

2. When I ask people to put prepared food in my own containers it disrupts their flow and makes them think. Some people like this. They enjoy the momentary distraction from monotony and the novelty of the experience. Others get pissed off. It makes they have to pay attention, it takes more energy. I don’t know what to do with this information yet I just know I’ve learned this.

I have noticed this, too, when I bring my cloth bags to stores like Target. I usually get a whiff of frustration. I’ve noticed it even when I don’t have a cloth bag and just tell them I don’t need a bag. They usually look at me like I’m crazy and try to foist a bag on me anyway.

I had to actually INSIST that I did not want a bag recently at Office Max. The guy REALLY wanted me to have that bag — even though I kept telling him I didn’t want one. “I’m trying to save the planet!” I said.

I have also had to stop people at Whole Foods from putting paper bags on my wine bottles so they don’t break in the cloth bags. “It’s fine!” I say, giving them back their bags. “I’ll be careful. I’m not going very far.”

3. Saving trash leads to increased consciousness of what I consume. I cannot purchase a single thing without wondering about all of the energy that went into manufacturing it, the resources use to ship, how far its component parts traveled until it was assembled, how far it then traveled to get to the store where I purchased it, the thousands of miles it may travel before finding its ultimate home in a pile of other unwanted manufactured souls.

I am thinking about this, too. If I have to buy foods and other products that come in packages, I would rather buy things that come in packages that can be composted.

Example: Buying detergent that comes in cardboard boxes (they can be composted) instead of plastic containers. This is an easy switch!

Another example: When I buy meat from Whole Foods it often (not always) comes wrapped in compostable paper. Unlike at Trader Joe’s where it is wrapped in plastic.

Another example: I am using my egg crates to start seeds. I can reuse them for this more than once — or compost them.

4. Recycling sucks. There, I said it. Of course recycling is a powerful first step in becoming more aware of what one consumes and it’s better to recreate something out of something than it is to gather up more raw materials to make something new. That said, recycling still sucks. It takes enormous amounts of energy and clean water to produce plastic bottles and containers, glass bottles and jars and cans of all kinds. It take enormous amounts of energy to collect these items at curbsides and ship them to recycling facilities. It take enormous energy to recycle items and ship them somewhere to be remanufactured. Almost all recyclable materials come from food or health and beauty products – both unnecessary items we have grown addicted to in our modern world. Less recycling also means fresher food. Health and beauty products is another conversation and I’m not sure we’re all ready for it yet :o)

I’m ready for it!

I stopped wearing deodorant. Corn starch (which comes in a cellulose bag) works GREAT!

Many of you know of my “no poo” experiment. I have been using Terressentials hair wash but after one of my readers (thanks, Rachel) suggested trying a little baking soda mixed with bentonite clay (I got some from Mountain Rose Herbs), I find that it works great on my hair. I’ve been using a little vinegar in my rinse.

I’ve stopped using moisturizer on my face; I use coconut oil now.

I’ve stopped using makeup (never really used much anyway — I put a little powder on on occasion). I just can’t be bothered.

I’ve stopped using tampons and now use the Diva cup and a natural sea sponge. Cloth pads and the Japanese toilet seat are next. (Shhh don’t tell Seth about the Japanese toilet seat.)

I’ve stopped using disposable diapers and now use cloth. Cloth wipes are next.

As for the recycling issue, I agree! If we can avoid buying these packaged foods and other products in the first place, that is the ideal scenario.

5. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference. If I can do this, someone else can do this. If two people reduce their consumption radically, 4 people can do it to, so can 8 people, 16 people, 32 people, and so on. Change is much easier and much more readily available than most of us are taught to think and lead to believe.

This is so true! It’s all the little things that add up. And if we all try to do little things, it will add up to making a big difference!

6. Trash sucks. 100 years ago most of the trash we produce now did not even exist. It did not even exist. Now it is at the center of a worldwide economic system that is lopsidedly built upon mass consumption to create huge profits for the few at the physical and environmental expense of the many many many. This makes me sad.

It makes me sad, too. Let’s change it!!!! If we stop buying it, they will have to stop selling it. The power really is in our hands.

7. Changing is fun, much more fun than it is stressful.

I agree!

People keep telling me that they are impressed that I am doing all of this stuff.

The truth: I can’t help it! It’s so much fun. It’s actually addictive.

8. Cleaning out food packaging takes time and is necessary to get rid of odors and to ensure bugs and rodents are not attracted to it.

I’d rather reuse glass jars and stick in the dishwasher. Or compost paper. I hate buying anything in plastic.

I also want to say this:

Blogging and the internet has really spurred me on in this endeavor. I have learned so much from people online — all the wonderful people on the Discussing NT Yahoo list and from blogs like Save Your Trash and These Days in French Life (just to name a couple).

Thanks, everyone. Let’s keep encouraging each other!

All-Day Beef Stew February 2, 2008

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, a bit of tomato paste, and some spices. Then I’ll let it cook all day.

I made the beef stock (my first time making beef stock) with roasted oxtails and marrow bones which simmered in the crock pot for two whole days. I can’t believe I’ve lived this long and have never made beef stock before.

After I let the beef stock cool overnight in the fridge, I scraped the fat off the top and put it in a container. We can use that later for cooking. Maybe I’ll use it to make homemade French fries.

That will make 3 dishes I can make out of one package of marrow bones:

Marrow on toast (which we ate last week with leftover Chicken and White Bean Chili)
Beef Stew (the bones made the stock)
French Fries (cooked with the fat from the stock)

It’s amazing how far food goes when you know how to cook it.

I’m so fascinated at how much I am learning from this one cookbook. Kombucha and marrow bones and kefir and chicken stock and curds and whey… so many things I have learned.

I have two nannies now (Alla and Yensi) and one housekeeper (Carla). Alla, who is Russian, who comes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Yensi, from Guatemala, is here Tuesdays and Thursdays. Carla, our housekeeper, comes every Monday. She is from Honduras.

All three women, on separate occasions, have expressed amazement that I cook the way their mothers and grandmothers used to cook in their native lands.

Alla was stunned when she realized that I was making kombucha — what she calls “mushroom tea”. “Oh my god!” she said. “I drank this all my life in Russia!” Same with the kefir. “We drank it every day. We used to put it in our hair.”

Yensi pointed to the kefir that I was straining into curds and whey (I use the whey for Kate’s baby formula, for homemade mayonnaise, for beet kvass, for sauerkraut, etc.). She said, “We make cheese like this in Guatemala! And we always make this soup,” she said, pointing to the beef stock.

She also said that her whole life in Guatemala, she always drank raw milk, never pasteurized. (Did I mention that she has perfect teeth?)

Carla, too, said her family always boiled bones in Honduras. “We use the chicken necks, too,” she said, smiling.

But back to tomorrow’s beef stew…

At the end of the day, you add some sliced carrots and potatoes to the stew. I might add some parsnips too, which the recipe doesn’t call for. And fresh parsley from my garden. Whatever we don’t eat, I’ll freeze. It will make a good meal on a night that I don’t feel like cooking. And great lunches for Kate.

And we might eat the last few pieces of the sourdough spelt bread I baked last week — which I froze. That will be yummy slathered with raw butter.

Time to bake another loaf…

By the way, speaking of homemade sourdough bread. Once you’ve tasted this bread, you can never go back to storebought. It’s that good.

Homemade Sourdough January 20, 2008

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 it one last time and then mixed it into a dough. Using the recipe from “Nourishing Traditions”, I used spelt flour (whole grain, organic, also frozen — to retain freshness). I kneaded it for a good 15-20 minutes. Then I poured it into a Le Creuset stoneware loaf pan, slashed it with a knife, and let it rest in a warm oven.

Within about 5 hours, it had doubled in size! It looked like a proper loaf of bread, albeit unbaked.

By then it was 8:30 pm, and we had already given up and ordered take-out sushi (I had sashimi and ONE piece of sushi — since I’m low-carbing).

So I punched it down again and put it back to bed.

I’ll bake it in the morning.

I’m really excited! How silly to be so excited over a loaf of bread. But it’s more than that. There is something so comforting about baking real sourdough bread. It takes you back to your ancestors. This is the way people have been doing it for centuries.

I hope it tastes good. I’ll eat one slice only — since I’m low-carbing. I’ve decided to allow myself bread once a week. That’s reasonable! If it slows my weight loss, so be it. I may get hit by a bus tomorrow, and I want to eat some bread before that happens.

And yes, I’m going to put LOTS of butter on it. Or some good raw cheese. I just bought 3 French varieties from Whole Foods. And maybe some honey (a tiny bit — since I’m low-carbing). RAW honey, mais bien sur.

UPDATE: My sourdough bread came out great!

I know, there’s a big hole in the bottom. That’s because when I took it out of the loaf pan, some of it got stuck to the bottom.

I made it with spelt, so it’s denser than the typical loaf. We are used to that, though, since we love German pumpernickel and rye breads. I loved the sour, nutty flavor of my bread. It was so delicious slathered with butter. It would be good, too with cheese or liverwurst (and more butter).

I was good and only ate once slice. I promptly sliced it and stuck it in the freezer. I’ll have another piece next week.

Drinking Pasteurized Milk is Dangerous January 9, 2008

The Associated Press reports:

Dairy Linked to 3 Deaths, Miscarriage

By DENISE LAVOIE – 1 day ago

BOSTON (AP) — At Whittier Farms dairy, the fifth-generation owners brag of the quality of their Holstein cows and still deliver milk right to your door, in glass bottles. Customers like the products because they are a hormone-free taste of old New England.

But health officials now say three elderly men have died and at least one pregnant woman has miscarried since last June after drinking bacteria-contaminated milk from the dairy’s plant in Shrewsbury, about 35 miles west of Boston.

All were infected with listeria, which is extremely rare in pasteurized milk. It is more often found in raw foods, such as uncooked meat and vegetables, and processed foods such as soft cheeses and cold cuts.

The outbreak is believed to be only the third time listeria has ever been linked to pasteurized milk in the United States, said Dr. Alfred DeMaria, state director of communicable disease control.

“We know something is going on; we just don’t know what it is,” DeMaria said. “We just need to find out how the bacteria is getting into the milk.”

Listeria bacteria are often present in manure and are commonly found in soil and water. Pasteurization is supposed to kill listeria.

Sally Fallon compiled a list of U.S. government documented outbreaks of food-borne illness from pasteurized milk for Ted Elkins, Deputy Director for Maryland’s Office of Food Protection and Consumer Health Services.

Here is that list:

1945—1,492 cases for the year in the US
1945—1 outbreak, 300 cases in Phoenix, Arizona.
1945—Several outbreaks, 468 cases of gastroenteritis, 9 deaths, in Great Bend, Kansas
1976—Outbreak of Yersinia enterocolitica in 36 children, 16 of whom had appendectomies, due to pasteurized chocolate milk
1978—1 outbreak, 68 cases in Arizona
1982—over 17,000 cases of Yersinia enterocolitica in Memphis, TN
1982—172 cases, with over 100 hospitalized from a three-Southern-state area.
1983—1 outbreak, 49 cases of Listeriosis in Massachusetts
1984—August, 1 outbreak S. typhimurium, approximately 200 cases, at one plant in Melrose Park, IL
1984—November, 1 outbreak S. typhimurium, at same plant in Melrose Park, IL
1985—March, 1 outbreak, 16,284 confirmed cases, at same plant in Melrose Park, IL
1985—197,000 cases of antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella infections from one dairy in California
1985—1,500+ cases, Salmonella culture confirmed, in Northern Illinois
1987—Massive outbreak of over 16,000 culture-confirmed cases of antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella typhimurium traced to pasteurized milk in Georgia
1993—2 outbreaks statewide, 28 cases Salmonella infection
1994—3 outbreaks, 105 cases, E. Coli & Listeria in California
1993-1994—outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis in over 200 due to pasteurized ice cream in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin
1995—1 outbreak, 3 cases in California
1995—outbreak of Yersinia enterocolitica in 10 children, 3 hospitalized due to post-pasteurization contamination
1996—2 outbreaks Campylobactor and Salmonella, 48 cases in California
1997—2 outbreaks, 28 cases Salmonella in California

That’s a whole lot of outbreaks from supposedly safe pasteurized milk!

Could it have anything to do with the fact that these animals are kept in confinement and fed a diet of grain that makes them sick?

Studies show that factory-farmed cattle have 300 times more pathogenic bacteria in their digestive tracts than cattle that are allowed to openly graze in pastures.

Peck, John E. “Spinach Crisis Reflects Need For Smaller Farms,” — The Capital Times, A8, October 2, 2006

Now let’s talk about raw milk.

According to the Weston Price Foundation:

Pathogens Can Multiply in Pasteurized Milk and Other Foods but Not in Raw Milk

Campylobacter in chilled raw milk (4o C):
Day 0 = 13,000,000/ml
Day 9 = less than 10/ml (1)

Campylobacter in body temperature raw milk (37o C):

Bovine strains decreased by 100 cells/ml in 48 hrs
Poultry strains decreased by 10,000 cells/ml in 48 hrs (2)

Note that the protective components work more quickly to reduce levels of pathogens in warm milk than in chilled milk.

1. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 1982;44(5):1154-58
2. Mikrobiyolji Bul,1987:21(3):200-5

And yet…

Raw milk is often blamed for causing infection with Listeria Monocytogenes, a deadly food pathogen that can cause severe illness and fetal death, premature birth or neonatal illness and death.

Let’s look at the facts:

In a 2003 USDA/FDA report:

Deli meats caused 515 times more illness from listeria than raw milk
Pasteurized milk caused 29 times more illness from listeria than raw milk

On a PER-SERVING BASIS, deli meats were TEN times more likely to cause illness than raw milk.

FDA: “Raw milk is inherently dangerous and should not be consumed”

Where are the FDA’s charges that deli meats are “inherently dangerous and should not be consumed? Where is the FDA’s exhortation to “everyone charged with protecting the publish health” to “prevent the sale of deli meats to consumers”?

In a response to a Freedom of Information request, the Centers for Disease Control provided data on raw milk outbreaks 1993-2005—a 23-year period.

In this report, CDC listed NO cases of foodborne illness from raw milk caused by listeria during the period.

Let me repeat that:

The CDC listed NO cases of foodborne illness from raw milk caused by listeria for the past 23 years.

Recently the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has suspended sales of several dairies and issued inflammatory press releases, claiming listeria monocytogenes in the milk.

Independent tests have shown NO listeria in the milk and in all cases sales were resumed. There were no illnesses.

Is the PDA trying to falsely build a case that listeria is a problem in raw milk?

Raw Milk Safety in California

Since 1999:

40 million servings of Organic Pastures raw milk, not one reported illness; in 1,300 tests, no human pathogens ever found in the milk, or even in the manure on the farm.

19 recalls of pasteurized milk products during the same period.

Sally Fallon on Fats and Why They are Essential December 21, 2007

Fascinating interview with Sally Fallon, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation on essential fatty acids and why saturated fats are critical to good health.

Also how good saturated fats like butter, lard, duck and goose fat, and coconut and palm oil were driven out of the marketplace by corporations profiting off of soybean oil:

http://www.metrofarm.com/assets/podcasts/2007-12-01_567dfat.mp3

Help save raw milk in California! December 3, 2007

As it stands, there will be no more raw milk allowed in California next month. I'm really upset about this because I drink raw milk every day and use it to make my baby’s homemade baby formula.

More and more dairies are going by the wayside across the country due to pressure from lobbyists from big money dairy factory farms. We can't let this happen in California, where raw milk has always been legal and available in stores.

I've posted before about Monsanto milk and their slimy “Milk is Milk” campaign. This is real, people. Freedoms are not taken away all at once. They are taken away one at a time.

Here's what happened… a couple of months ago, they slipped a few sentences into an amendment of the California food code. It was signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger — even though he probably didn't even know what he was signing.

Here's the press release from Organic Pastures Dairy: http://www.organicpastures.com/pdfs/ab1735_press_release.pdf

Sally Fallon says, “The legislation is obviously aimed at getting rid of raw milk in California using standards that are unnecessary or impossible to meet.”

If you live in California and you want the right to buy raw milk and dairy products, please read the following and do what you can to help. Even if you don't currently drink raw milk, please do what you can to fight for these organic dairy farms where the cows are allowed to be on pasture and eat grass all year long. If they get away with this, who knows what they will do next?

In fact, it was just announced that the USDA wants to start doing the same thing — imposing ridiculous unattainable federal regulations on small growers and family farms — for all leafy greens!!!

http://cornucopia.org/index.php/protect-fresh-leafy-greens-and-family-farms/

Pasteurization kills enzymes, folks. Enzymes are the building blocks for the absorption of nutrients. Without enzymes, we can't absorb vitamins and minerals.

Furthermore, pasteurization kills probiotics, or good bacteria. We need this bacteria in our digestive tracts in order to build immunity. Why do you think so many kids are allergic to EVERYTHING these days? They've been raised on pasteurized foods, most notably pasteurized milk.

The guy that sells us our milk at the Organic Pastures hub store said that his first-born son was sick all the time and had eczema for five years. His eczema cleared up in TWO weeks after they switched to raw milk.

Here is the page on what you can do (I am writing a letter to Nicole Parra and sending photos of our family with Kate drinking raw milk):

http://www.organicpastures.com/ab_1735_letter4.html

Write or fax letters (no emails) to Nicole Parra, Chair of the Agriculture Committee in the Assembly. Make it personal and real by including a picture of you and your family holding raw milk containers. Tell her to introduce new legislation that will let raw milk continue to flow freely in California.

Assemblymember Nicole Parra
Capitol Office
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0030
(916) 319 - 2030
(916) 319 - 2130 Fax

Also write your assembly members or better yet make an appointment and plead your case directly.

Please, please do what you can to help. Write a letter today. Not just for babies, but for the cows! And for the right to continue to buy healthy food in California.

Please forward this post via email or blog. (If you post on your blog, please send me the link so I can send it to Organic Pastures — they will post it on their site.)

Nina Planck, Pickles & Sauerkraut November 4, 2007

A short interview with food writer, Nina Planck:

I'm going to buy her book.

We are going to the farmer's market today in Hollywood. I want to find a good local source for organic pastured eggs, plus I want to buy some pickling cucumbers to make my own pickles. At the Weston Price chapter meeting last week, we had a fermented foods potluck and our chapter leader brought pickles she had canned herself. They were the BEST pickles I ever tasted!!! I did a taste test with hers against Bubbe's Pickles. There was no comparison. The Bubbe's Pickles were really rubbery and tasted weird. The homemade pickles were crunchy, tart and delicious. Like no storebought pickles I've ever tasted.

She said that she got the recipe from a book called “Joy of Pickling”. She also said that grape leaves are the secret. When asked where she gets her fresh grape leaves, she said that you can get them at the farmer's market from certain vendors. They don't advertise — you have to ask.

On the National Center for Food Preservation website, it says:

Grape leaves contain a substance that inhibits the enzymes that make pickles soft. However, removing the blossom ends (the source of undesirable enzymes) will make the addition of grape leaves unnecessary

Interesting! I will have to try that and see if it actually works. A lot easier than finding organic grape leaves.

Other than the addition of grape leaves, she used the recipe from Sally Fallon's “Nourishing Traditions”:

4-5 organic pickling cucumbers
1 TBS mustard seeds
2 TBS fresh organic dill
1 TBS sea salt
4 TBS homemade whey
1 cup filtered water

All you do is wash the cucumbers and put everything in a wide-mouth mason jar, add filtered water as necessary — liquid should be at least one inch from the top of the jar. Cover and let sit unrefridgerated for 3 days — then move to fridge.

Nourishing Traditions says it takes 3 days a month to make pickles but my chapter leader said it takes a month for pickles and at least a week for sauerkraut. I'm going to start my sauerkraut today, and if I get the stuff for pickles, I'll start them too.

Not incidentally, it is important to use real homemade whey. Lots of people make pickles with just salt or with vinegar.

“Regular” pickles are soaked in vinegar and sealed in sterile jars via a hot-water bath. The vinegar, heat and resulting vacuum seal kill off potentially dangerous bacteria and keep the contents safe against new growth. Those who enjoy working under pressure can also preserve produce — minus the vinegar — in a pressure canner. The pressure causes mass germicide by bringing the container's temperature above the boiling point.

(From http://www.sevendaysvt.com/food/food-features/2007/totally-pickled.html)

It is much better to make “lacto-fermeted” pickles and sauerkraut with real homemade whey (the recipe for making whey and cream cheese is also in Nourishing Traditions — you can also search my blog; I posted it). Homemade whey (*not* whey powder from health food stores) made from yogurt or raw milk contains probiotics which not only aid digestion and promote immunity, they also, amazingly, INCREASE the vitamins in food.

I think fermentation with salt (regardless of whey) increases vitamins, but I think using the whey includes the live cultures which are good for the gut and promote immunity (the “good” bacteria that kill of the “bad” bacteria in your intestines).

Here are some excerpts from an article about the benefits of fermenting foods:

The process probably first arose as a way to preserve foods. In the 18th century, the English explorer Captain Cook loaded 60 barrels of sauerkraut onto his ship for a 27-month voyage, and not one sailor came down with scurvy, an ascorbic acid (vitamin C) deficiency in which the muscles become weak and the gums turn soft and spongy. It turns out that fermentation increases cabbage's already naturally high content of vitamin C.

The primary benefit of fermentation comes from nutrients created by the active bacteria. For example, bacteria in the gut regularly synthesize vitamin K, which is important for blood clotting. When milk is fermented, lactic acid bacteria synthesize folate, an important B vitamin, and the lactobacilli also produce healthy short-chain fatty acids, essential for immune-system function.

“These nutrients promote the health of the entire digestive system,” says Richard Sarnat, M.D., co-author of The Life Bridge: The Way to Longevity With Probiotic Nutrients. “It's the process of fermentation that unlocks all these wonderful nutrients.”

Perhaps the greatest advantage of fermentation comes from those foods that are “alive”–that is, foods that are still teeming with the lactic-acid bacteria that fermented them in the first place. Heating cultured food kills these bacteria.

“Live-culture foods are the true probiotics,” explains Fallon. Probiotic bacteria are those that have a positive effect on the body. For example, women who suffered from recurrent candidal vaginitis had three times fewer infections during the six months they ate daily portions of live-culture yogurt, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers at the Juntendo University School of Medicine in Japan found that subjects who drank fermented milk for three weeks had a significant increase in natural immune cell activity that lasted three weeks after they stopped consumption. And a study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that goat's milk fermented with a special strain of lactobacillus increased antioxidant activity.

(From http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NAH/is_4_34/ai_114783531)