Crockpot Yogurt Yumminess

My favorite thermometer- perfectly designed and always available!

I once read a post that delineated the changes our habits and taste buds go through before we are ready for the very best, healthy yogurt. It is a bit of a process, so be patient. Moving slowly from sugary, chemical-laden, low-fat, neuro-toxic individual cups of yogurt (even Greek) to the real, organic, pure pro-biotic action of homemade full-fat yogurt takes some adjusting, but your brain, your gut, your wallet and the environment will thank you!

Hold up!  "Full fat"?? Isn't that a scary concept that will make you fat or cause high cholesterol?? I'll do a separate post about that another day, but the short answer to full-fat concerns includes a reminder of the metabolic truth that the fat on your waist is not made from the fats you eat, it is literally the storage of excess sugars that your body couldn't or didn't use in a timely manner (excuse the severe over simplification). Eating full fats with your carbs, simple or not, modulates the impending sugar spike that is the real villain in the fat and, more importantly, the brain equation. Sugar spikes 'tickle' the brain and make us feel better for a minute, but they also damage the brain and set the stage for all sorts of long-term neurological problems. The slow release and processing of sugars gives your body longer term fueling as well as emotional, physical and neurological peace. More another day.

Did I hear you groan about the cost of "organic" milk! Yes, it is worth the extra money to buy the organic milk, for you and your kid's sake, but no worries, you will still be able to meet your budget needs by making this simple yogurt instead of buying expensive pre-made yogurts.

So, you want to give yogurt making a go... you will need:

• A half gallon-ish of whole, organic milk with no additives (read the label!). It does not need to be raw or low-temperature pasteurized as the whole point of the process is to bring this dead milk back to life.
• A 1/4 cup yogurt start. Choose a yogurt that has four or five types of bacteria. The more varieties, the more diverse you will be making your internal biome (gut) and diversity leads to a more effective 'army' keeping the balance and fighting any 'bad' bacteria that meander through your gut. Keep a small, clean jar in the fridge for next week's batch, separate from the jars your family is eating.
• Glass jars - I use old salsa jars that have been recently through the dishwaher, but any clean jars you have and like work well.
• Two beach towels- yep, simple. I keep two cute beach towels from my kids childhood so that I get a little rush of nostalgia when I'm cooking. Yogurt and the "aww" factor make any day better.
• Your finger- clean of course. This is the high tech yogurt making tool that I'm most grateful for! 

Here's the process. It takes about ten hours over all processing, so plan your time correctly. The good news is that it takes about three minutes of actual work on your part. Five if you include washing the crock pot after.

Step 1- Put the milk in your clean crock pot and turn it on low. Use a timer for two hours of warming time. 

Step 2- At the two hour mark, unplug your crock pot. Set a timer for three hours.

Step 3- After the timer goes off, wash your hands and stick your finger in the milk to check temperature. It needs to have cooled just enough that it feels warm, but not burning on your finger. Our skin is comfortable at temperatures that don't kill bacteria (pro or not)--so don't kill your new little yogurt bacteria babies. 

Step 4- Gently whisk in your yogurt start. These are living creatures, so keep the whisking minimal. More starter isn't necessarily better because the little bugs do need room to grow. 

Step 5-Make a big plus sign + with your beach towels and set your entire crock pot system in the center. Wrap the towels around the crock for insulation and leave on the counter. Set the timer for five hours.

Step 6- Return to scoop your yogurt into clean glass jars and place in the fridge. 

Don't ask me how long it keeps because I've never had it stick around long enough to know. It takes a little forethought to find the perfect window of time in life, but that little bit of work each week provides us with three large jars of wholesome probiotic food for the cost of one half gallon of milk. What a budget booster! Recycling one milk carton versus three or four large plastic tubs, what an environmental no-brainer.  And no little plastics for the landfill, nice.

For a larger family you could easily double the recipe. It is essentially a process of growing perfect, beneficial bacteria, but it isn't a a process that demands perfection. Of course be smart so you don't grow bad bacteria inadvertently--keep things clean, don't let it sit out significantly longer than required and such--but remember that it is a very forgiving and growing life experience! (Pun intended!)

I will sometimes get a varied texture, but I've come to appreciate that anything coming from nature is supposed to be varied and not perfectly smooth. Smooth perfection and perfect consistency comes from a factory and usually via 'stabilizing' practices that destroy the greatest benefit of any real food.  

Did you know that in some Asian countries the fresh produce with holes in it sells at a higher price because the buyer knows that it is good to eat, i.e. if bugs eat it, it is safe for human consumption! I love this confidence in the natural order of things. If bugs (visible or microscopic) find our foods inhospitable, the foods will create an inhospitable biome within us--and we literally need bacteria to survive.. 

A speaker I heard yesterday pointed out that "if Dial soap did what it says it does, we would all be dead". Lol! Funny quote, yet the point is real. But I digress...

Enjoy! Add your own fruit and less-refined sweetener like maple syrup--but don't add raw honey as it is a natural anti-biotic. 

Unless, of course, you make a face mask with raw honey and real yogurt--skin smoothing synergistic perfection according to the stunning Kris Bertsch,one of my favorite naturally based beauty advisers and wellness practitioners,  

Happy Bacteria Growing! :)

Water Kefir.. the care and maintenance

After my usual rant about the evils of soda (I know, I was an addict!) one of my friends exclaimed, "Then what am I supposed to drink?" 

It is a common concern as fruit juices cause a sugar spike, milk is difficult for many people to digest, soy has hormonal consequences and water simply gets boring to many people.  To my friend I have to reply....

Water Kefir!  

It is a wonderful drinking option.



Water kefir is a wonderful way to add 'good' bacteria to your gut. There seems to be a wave of research and marketing going on right now in Western culture about the benefits of probiotics, thankfully. Here's one about mental ability and behavior  and one about arthritis from today's feed. We know that many ancient cultures made great use of fermented, probiotic-creating preservation methods, and apparently not just to preserve their food resources.

Probiotic foods, like raw probiotics, make nutrition from your food intake more easily absorbed and bioavailable.  Making your own Kombucha or Water Kefir is a cheap way to build these beneficial but tiny friends into your daily life.

Making water kefir is simple and quick and is well explained here and a great video here. These well-known bloggers did such a great job, I think I'll just pass you over...


You might notice that there are some discrepancies between these two blogger's descriptions of how to make water kefir. Does the water have to be boiled with the sugar? Or can you just swish it around in pre-boiled water?? Can you add fruit in the first ferment or not??

It sounds confusing, but in my experience, so far,  I have found that it really doesn't make a big difference. Whatever your preference, it will be OK! As one writer said, "it isn't rocket science" and she is right. This has been done for centuries and there has to be a huge range of details that have been employed... all good!

One thing that absolutely does matter is the quality and mineral content of your water. City water can have additives that will kill the good bacteria and yeast--like Chlorine for instance. Super filtered water is wonderful for you and your kefir grains, but may be lacking in the trace minerals that we both need for growth. A simple squirt of trace minerals in your water is recommended by Cultures for Health, find theirs here.  I find that my grains won't ferment as well without this addition.

But what about the care an maintenance of the kefir grains and the water kefir that is produced? 

First, kefir grains are alive and so need to continually be fed. They feed on sugar and turn it into a balance of good yeast and bacteria, so keep them active!

Secondly, they respond to temperature. The warmer the environment, the more the grains will grow and consume. So, if you go on vacation or get an overload of kefir on hand, make sure you feed them and slow their little metabolisms way down by putting them in the fridge.

Leaving them without an additional feeding for a long period of time can lead to an over/undergrowth and the balance of yeast and bacteria can get out of whack. One blogger reports that if growth slows down, then she adds a little honey to the second fermentation to get the good yeast back on track. I gather that it is more common for the bacteria to overgrow the yeast than vice versa, but you will get to know your own grains and your own colony with a little experimentation.

Don't be afraid to try new things! Here are a few rules that I've gleaned from a myriad of bloggers and retailers...

1. Don't use honey in the first fermentation. It is naturally anti-bacterial and will get things out of balance.

2. General agreement is that adding fruit juices or dried fruit in the first fermentation may damage your grains, so better to add them the second fermentation.

3. Counter time is generally 48 hours. Don't stress over this number and understand that there is flexibility. Life happens! Putting your kefir in the fridge slows the fermentation way down and holds it until you are ready to drink it...within reason.

4. Mold is a bad thing! It shows an absolute conquest of the good yeast by the bacteria or the invasion of "bad" bacteria.  If you see it, throw out your kefir. Rinse your grains well if they were involved and then try another batch with extra care for cleanliness...if the second batch is bad, get new grains.

5. Mold can happen from cross contamination. If you have yogurt or kimchi going on the same counter, both fermenting in the open air with just cloth between them, cross contamination can happen.

6. Mold can happen from too much cooking/cleaning/dust in your fermenting area. Generally the kitchen area is pretty clean, so this is usually safe, but be aware of the fermenting environment and take notice if something impacts the taste and health of  your kefir.

7. REAL FOOD ROTS, which is a good thing that makes it digestible and absorb-able, but it also makes it so it can't sit on the shelf or in the fridge indefinitely.  If your kefir gets strange floaties that taste, smell or looks suspect, throw it out.

It will cost you a quarter cup of sugar to start again! Not bad!

So...keeping those seven points in mind, try adding fruits, juices, and fun to your second ferment. The fizziness and the variety of flavors will keep you feeding your gut flora, and if you stumble on something wonderful, please share it!

Eating foods "in the season thereof" is such an important thing for gut health. Kefir is a great place to add seasonal favorites, so mix it up and have some fun!