Curing, Culturing, Fermentation & Tonics

List of Culturing, Curing, Fermentation, & Tonic Articles, Recipes

See also  Condiments

Includes: 1. Culturing, etc. (About): 2. Cultured Dairy; 3. Lacto-Fermented Condiments & Beverages; 4. Cured Meats; and 5. Tonics

I am not a doctor and am not qualified to advise you on your specific health situation.

NOTE: while taking probiotic supplements is certainly helpful for good health, eating a couple bites of fermented foods daily is even more helpful (provided they have not been pasteurized or heat treated after fermentation). This is, in part, because fermented foods generally have much higher numbers of active probiotics (good bugs) than supplements; plus culturing/fermentation creates more nutrients (such as vitamin K2 in cultured dairy).

About:

Cured Meats

Curing involves the preservation of meats and other foods by use of beneficial microbes (primarily bacteria).

I am not a doctor and am not qualified to advise you on your specific health situation.

Cultured Dairy:

Generally speaking, culturing involves the action of beneficial microbes (bacteria, yeasts), including (but not limited to) lactic acid-forming bacteria on dairy or dairy-substitute products. It is a type of fermentation, but produces lactic acid rather than alcohol or other fermentation products. “Cultured” generally refers to fermented dairy products.

I am not a doctor and am not qualified to advise you on your specific health situation.

Lacto-fermentation:

Lacto-fermentation involves the action of lactic acid-forming bacteria on dairy products, fruits and vegetables.

NOTE: I’ve been using Mason jars to lacto-ferment vegetable condiments and beet kvass, and have noted they don’t always turn out as good as I would like. I recently learned that may be because of the Mason jar, which is not air-tight. Instead, there are better options. See Pickling and Lacto-Fermentation (About) for more.

For salt brine information, see also Fermentation Recipes: Measuring and Using Salt in Fermenting.

I am not a doctor and am not qualified to advise you on your specific health situation.

Lacto-fermented condiments, etc.

Lacto-fermented beverages

I am not a doctor and am not qualified to advise you on your specific health situation.

Tonics and Tinctures

Tinctures

What is a tincture? From health line:

Tinctures are concentrated herbal extracts made by soaking the bark, berries, leaves (dried or fresh), or roots from one or more plants in alcohol or vinegar.

The alcohol or vinegar pulls out the active ingredients in the plant parts, concentrating them as a liquid.

Most of my tinctures come from Swan Valley Herbs. They contain a small amount of everclear alcohol mixed with filtered water.

I have tinctures with two different size droppers (small and large), and I want to know how many ml each size can contain. Two sites* state: “One drop of ordinary water is about 0.03 – 0.05 ml, of an alcohol-containing solution is 0.02 ml.

  • The smaller size (most common) contain about 20-drops of liquid which is about 0.4 ml/dropper of alcohol-containing tincture, total.
  • The larger size contains about 38-40 drops of liquid, which is about 0.8 ml/dropper, total.

* (see geek-info.imtqy.com/articles/N6059/index.html or eng.drinkpinkonline.com/3984035-how-many-drops-in-1-ml-rules-of-counting)

Tonic Broths/Stocks, Mineral-rich 

Tonic Beverages, etc

I am not a doctor and am not qualified to advise you on your specific health situation.