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Natural Year Challenge: Food - Month Ten

Burger with CondimentsMake a Cultured Condiment

Welcome to the final step in our Natural Year Challenge! It's not easy to change the way we eat and prepare our food, is it? Whether you've made big changes or small ones, no doubt you've experienced some of the rewards of healthier eating and been encouraged on your journey toward a more naturally nutritious, flavorful diet!

In our final month together, we take one more look at cultured foods. Lacto-fermented condiments make a wonderful addition to any meal, offering a nice probiotic boost as well as extra flavor! From pickles to hot sauce to guacamole, cultured condiments add important friendly microorganisms to help the digestive process. We'll explore three options here, with special emphasis on lacto-fermented mayonnaise.

  1. Ketchup

    Enjoy this flavorful alternative to sugar-laden, processed ketchup. Add a little honey, apple cider vinegar, and a few spices. (If homemade tomato paste is not an option, consider Bionaturae tomato paste.)

    • 2 c. tomato paste
    • 2-3 tbsp. raw honey, molasses, or unrefined sugar
    • 1/4 c. fresh whey (see our Month Six Food Challenge: Make Whey)
    • 2 tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
    • 1 tsp. sea salt
    • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
    • 1/4 tsp. allspice
    • 1/4 tsp. cloves
    • 1/4 tsp. cayenne (optional)

    Combine above ingredients with whisk. Pour into mason jar and cover with cloth or lid. Allow to sit at room temperature for 48 hours. Move to fridge.

  2. Mustard

    If using mustard powder, consider this Lacto-Fermented Honey Dill Mustard recipe from GNOWFGLINS. If using mustard seeds, consider the following recipe using both brown and yellow mustard seeds. Yellow seeds offer a milder flavor, so adjust the amounts of seeds to taste.

    • 1/4 c. whole yellow mustard seeds
    • 1/4 c. whole brown mustard seeds
    • 1/3 c. filtered water
    • 2 tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
    • 2 tbsp. fresh whey
    • 1 tsp. sea salt
    • Optional: 2 garlic cloves, lemon juice

    Soak mustard seeds in water overnight. The next day, blend all ingredients in food processor or high-powered blender. Add more water if needed. Transfer to mason jar and cover with lid. Ferment for 48 hours and move to fridge.

  3. Mayonnaise

    This recipe adapts well to any oil. However, a blend of sesame, olive, and coconut oil makes a wonderfully flavorful mayonnaise. This recipe is adapted from the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig.

    • 1 whole egg at room temperature
    • 1 egg yolk at room temperature
    • 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar or 1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
    • 1 tbsp. fresh whey
    • 1 tsp. Dijon mustard (optional)
    • Sea salt and pepper to taste
    • 3/4 c. oil blend (Mary's blend: 1/4 c. olive oil, 1/4 c. sesame oil, 1/4 c. coconut oil)

    Blend all but oil in jar with immersion blender or food processor. Slowly add oil and lift immersion blender as you are blending oil with egg mixture. If using a food processor, be sure to add the oil drop by drop. Blend until desired consistency.

    Transfer to jar (or simply cover the jar if using immersion blender). Cover jar lightly and allow to sit at room temperature for 7-8 hours. Transfer to refrigerator.

For more outstanding condiment recipes, see the Cultures for Health website.


In this video Andrea demonstrates the above mayonnaise recipe,
using the immersion blender technique to blend the oil into the egg/whey mixture.

Quotes

"My daughter has had many blood samples taken to test for everything imaginable and her doctor just seems puzzled. Everything comes back normal."

– Anonymous

"I'm new at this, but today I cleaned my bathroom with baking soda and vinegar. It's much better not having those strong chemical smells afterwards."

– Anonymous

"My daughter started having digestive problems... heart palpitations... coughing episodes... muscle/joint pain... asthma/allergies... Her doctor finally advised me to check for mold in our home."

– Anonymous

"I started finding myself sitting on the floor in rooms of my house and not remembering how I got there, what I was doing before, or how long I had been there."

– Brenda

"The entire time we lived in our (mold-infested) house the kitchen sponge would get musty smelling within 3-4 days. It was so strange. I had to buy a pack of sponges nearly every week."

– Anonymous

"I had been struggling with headaches, head fog, breathing difficulties (unable to get a full breath), constant scalp tingling, migraines, nausea, feeling spacey/detached, and severe itchy skin."

– Anonymous

"The ERMI mold test as well as your helpful articles and Toxic Talk Tuesday programs have helped us avoid a terrible mistake in purchasing a new home."

– Angela

"Our family has been out of our home for 9 months due to mold... I am so scared and weak from all of this. We have lost friends; family members don't understand."

– Anonymous

"I was skeptical at first that these (natural cleaning) products would work, but they work better than the stuff I buy at the store! We will soon be moving to the personal care products as well!"

– Jennifer

"My symptoms persisted and eventually turned into lethargy and depression. At the age of 26, I required a nap every evening after work."

– Jennifer

"I have been sick for almost 6 months now and doctors were not able to figure out why. I finally put it all together after going away for vacation for a week and suddenly my symptoms were going away."

– Anonymous

"I've been living in a mold-infested home for 13 months... I was going CRAZY! Finally figured it out... Just a few days of recovering in a mold-free home and I feel AMAZING!!!"

– Lauren

"I knew it was mold, but doctors kept telling me I had anxiety. I was sitting in my office and could not remember who I was talking to, or what we were talking about."

– Brenda

"In my moldy home if I left the wet clothes in the washer they would get musty very quickly and I'd have to re-wash... Sometimes I'd run a load, go to work, and they'd be musty when I returned that evening."

– Anonymous

"Both of my sons went downhill quickly and coughed for months... They both lost their ability to read, had profound vision disturbances, and had phenomenal gastric issues."

– Lee

"...at age 35 or 36 I started to become allergic to everything, and I got asthma at age 36... I went to doctor after doctor after doctor and was desperate for help, but nobody could help me."

– Mia

"We had some water leaks in our home... we never thought we needed to clean out and remove the floor, the ceiling, or the drywall... my two small children and I have remained constantly sick for years in this home."

– Mia

"We were having a lot of health problems and had been to the doctor countless times... we had large circles of slimy greenish-black mold on the bathroom ceiling, where it had caved in a few months before."

– C.

"We all suffered from headaches, hormonal body temperature fluctuations, brain fog, fatigue, difficulty breathing, thrush, rashes, and yeast infections... we vacated our home two weeks ago."

– Anonymous

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