Tips and Prep Work for the Future

A few months ago I came across Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and started reading it. First, this is an awesome book that everyone should own......not rent from the library, BUY IT. There's simply too much information in the book to get any real benefit from it if you don't own it. In short, Sally Fallon talks about the importance of eating a wholesome diet that is prepared in a traditional way. Nourishing Traditions starts off with a introduction section which gives detailed information about the difference components of food, i.e. fats, carbohydrates, proteins. The introduction section is the first 78 pages of the book. Pages 79 through 620 are all receipes, awesome recipes that address every aspect of cooking and eating that ANYONE, including me, could phantom. The remaining 56 pages are appendices, including a sources section, that are really helpful if you're really trying to make a change to cooking and eating in a more traditional manner. 

In the future a lot of my cooking posts/experiments are going to hail from information I found in this book as well as a few traditional cooking blogs. Having said all that, if you would like to experiment along with me you need to know about an important bit of information that I found out recently and do some prep work. 

Important Information

While reading The Healthy Home Economist blog, I recently came across a post entitled "Whole Grains Cause Cavities?" The blog's author, Sarah, attended the 2010 Wise Traditions Conference, where author Remi Nagel presented. During the presentation, Mr. Nagel made an observation about traditional cultures that had been somewhat overlooked in the past: Traditional cultures typically do not use the entire grain, they remove the bran. He suggests that bran from wheat, spelt, rye, kamut, barley, corn, millet and oats be removed through sifting or sieving. Rami Nagel also suggests that whole grains MUST  be soured first to significantly reduce phytic acid. Phytic acid, aside from hindering the absorption of mineral in grains, is a major cause of why whole grains cause cavities. According to Sarah,  Mr. Nagel states the best method for souring grains, thus significantly reducing phytic acid is to soak grains in a mixture of filtered water and liquid whey. The ratio is 1 cup of grains to 1 cup of filtered water plus 1 tablespoon of liquid whey. 

Prep Work

All that information lead to your prep work. Sarah did a great step-by-step post and video of how to make liquid whey (yes, you have to make it yourself). Please watch that and complete the steps. 

Also, grind and sift your grains. Put them in the freezer when done. 

Lastly you're going to need some sort of fabric bowl cover. As soon as my camera is done charging I'm going to do a tutorial on how to make awesome reuseable bowl covers and we will be all set to start on start preparing food in a traditional manner. 

Until next time, 

Kellan

P.S. I'm SUPER excited about this!!!!!!!