Food, Essentials Chantal Khoury Food, Essentials Chantal Khoury

Easy Sauerkraut Recipe

Sauerkraut really is one of the easiest fermented foods to make, not to mention superior and far cheaper than store bought options. It has been popular through out central Europe for hundreds of years.

Benefits of Sauerkraut:

  1. Supplies live beneficial bacteria

  2. Improves immune function

  3. Reduces allergies and inflammation

  4. Supports cognitive health and mood

  5. Provides lots of antioxidants

Sauerkraut Recipe:

The options here are endless, but it can easily start with just 2 ingredients, i.e. cabbage and salt!!! That is it. In fact, I suggest you start here, nail the process and then experiment from there with different flavours.

cabbage.jpg

Ingredients

  • 1 medium cabbage

  • 1 tsp real salt

  • vegetable starter (optional)

  • Optional ingredients to flavour the kraut:

  • carrot

  • apple

  • pear

  • onions

  • garlic

  • herbs

  • ginger

  • etc…..the options are endless

Method:

  1. Chop cabbage

  2. Add salt

  3. Knead with your clean hands until juice is released from cabbage, approx 10 min

  4. Pack tightly into a fermenting jar so that the veggies are under the liquid. If you need more juice, you can either keep pounding with a rolling pin until more juice is released or top up with a brine solution of salt and water until veggies under the liquid

  5. Weight down with rolled cabbage leave to ensure veggies stay underneath the liquid. We do not want to come into contact with the vegetables

  6. Tightly secure the lid and sit at room temperature for a minimum of 5 days, ideally 2-3 weeks so that it can go through the full fermentation phases.

NOTES:

  • Around day 2-5, excess liquid may come pouring out the sides, this is the height of the fermentation process, so ensure your jar is placed either on a plate or in a bowl to prevent mess

  • Regularly burb your ferment, by just opening and closing, this allows the excess gases to escape

  • Ensure all utensils are sterilised before commencing

  • If you notice the liquid is diminishing during the fermentation process, then top again with a brine mix until the veggies are covered.

WARNING:

- Fermented food is incredibly powerful and highly detoxing, so you want to start off VERY SLOWLY. If you feel that you or your child is a sensitive individual you want to go gradually. So start off with adding a little of the juice to your food, then 1/2 tsp, 1tsp etc and slowly build up to roughly a 1/4 of a cup with your food.

If you need help incorporating healing into your nutrition, then reach out to me or check my work with me page.

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Easy Peasy Gut Healing Gummies

Gummies are a great way of getting some healing collagen into our children's bodies and know that it is helping rather than driving dis-ease.

You could also add collagen gelatine to recipes such as:

·         Panacotta

·         Jellies

·         Pudding

·         Marshmallows

·         Cheesecakes

·         And the list goes on, basically anything that needs a bit of firming

There are quite a few brands of collagen gelatine on the market now, so please ensure they are from a pastured source. Brands I've used before and happy with are Great Lakes that can be sourced from Iherb and Gelpro.

I used to use 1 cup of liquid and found that it just made too many gummies. My kids would then be sick of the flavour half way through, which meant half of them wasted! Apparently they can be frozen, can't say I've tried that myself, but feel free to give it a go. So I’ve halved the amount and this yields just enough for them to have over the course of a week.

EASY PEASY Gut healing probiotic gummies:

Ingredients:

  1. ½ cup of the best juice you can find. Also ensure it is cold pressed and organic if possible.

  2. ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice (optional)

  3. 4-6 tablespoons of grass-fed gelatine. My kids tend to like it on the firmer side, so I use 5 tablespoons. Best to experiment and see what texture your little ones like

  4. 1 tablespoon raw honey, this is enough for us, increase if you feel the need

  5. 2-3 probiotic capsules

Method:

  1. Add the juice to a saucepan

  2. Sprinkle the gelatine slowly into the juice until it starts to soak up the liquid

  3. Heat gently on the stove and stiruntil the gelatine dissolves and then remove from the heat

  4. Once the liquid mixture has cooled down slightly, add the honey and probiotic capsules and be sure to mix thoroughly. You don’t want the liquid too warm otherwise it will destroy the amazing properties of the raw honey and kill the beautiful bacteria in the probiotics

  5. Pour into molds of your choice

  6. Place in the fridge to set for 20min – 1hr

  7. Once set, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days

Too easy xx

 

 

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