Posts by Donna Schwenk
You’ll Never Think of Fruit Salad the Same Way Again 🍓🍎
It was a warm summer day and I needed a salad, and a fruit salad was just the ticket. When I said I needed a salad this is not just because I think that it’s good for me, but rather because I needed certain nutrients that only these special foods could provide. […]
Read MoreThe Real Reason Men Need Cultured Foods
My husband was the last one in my family to try cultured foods. I experimented on my children first. My kids were sick and I wanted them to be well, so we all ate cultured food; and much to my surprise, everybody got better. […]
Read MoreTime-Lapse Video – Kombucha SCOBY Forming
This is a time-lapse video I did to show you how a SCOBY forms in your kombucha. It’s quite a beautiful thing to behold with all the bacteria and yeasts dancing around in the jar. I hope you enjoy it. […]
Read MoreWhat Are Cultured Foods? Restorative Foods for the Body
Cultured Foods and LACTO-Fermented Foods are the same thing. The “lacto” in “lacto-fermentation” comes from the bacteria “lactobacillus.” Many strains of lacto-bacteria and yeasts are involved in culturing or fermenting foods. […]
Read MoreSix Easy Ways To Store Your Cultured Foods
Having lots of fermented foods in your fridge is the same as having a medicine cabinet stocked with natural remedies. We reach for these foods not only to keep us healthy and disease free but also when we find ourselves struggling with a virus, stomach ache, or any other kind of ailment that requires extra body support. […]
Read MoreWhen Are My Kefir, Kombucha, and Veggies Done Culturing?
Do you wonder when your kefir, kombucha, and cultured vegetables are done fermenting? I have a few tips to help you understand how and when they’re at the perfect place with lots of probiotics and will taste the best. […]
Read MoreCan I Eat Probiotic Foods While Taking Antibiotics?
I routinely talk about each member of The Trilogy (Kefir, Kombucha, and Cultured Vegetables) and how each member has specific things your body needs to help you change your life. But here is even more good news about this trio. […]
Read MoreProbiotic Soup Secrets
Soup can not only comfort your mind and your gut, but soup also has secret healing modalities that perhaps you’re not aware of. I think combining soups with cultured foods can help cure what ails you in a myriad of ways, but soup can stand on its own as a powerful kitchen medicine. […]
Read MoreBest of Cultured Food Life 2016: Our Top Articles
As we close out 2016, I hope you will look to this next year as a chance to find the you that you were always meant to be – healthy and happy. This is our top content of the year that you may have missed. Below you’ll find some of our most popular blogs of the year. […]
Read MoreCultured Classes in Your Kitchen
I was taking my daughter to acting class this week, and I got a text from one of my team members. He told me to get a box of kleenex and to read the email. I stopped the car to read the email, and with tears streaming down my cheeks I was reminded once again how thankful I am for all the struggles that have brought me here. […]
Read MoreThe Foods That Made Me Change My Life
A lot of suffering in this world comes from the fear of discomfort. In my own personal life, pain has come to teach me things and get me to change. I resisted it, fought it, and finally changed when I could do nothing else. […]
Read MoreWhat Kind of Sugars Can I Use in Kombucha?
When you’re brewing kombucha, you need to feed the microbes so they can make probiotics. Sugar is the fuel source for these hungry critters. Always remember that the sugar is for those little microbes and not for you. […]
Read MoreKombucha Apple Scrap Vinegar!
Apple cider vinegar has many health benefits. Kombucha vinegar is very similar and has many of the same properties. This recipe uses the convenience of kombucha to speed up the process of making vinegar and uses apple scraps to give it that tangy apple taste. […]
Read MoreHow to Make Ginger Soda – Delicious Medicine for Your Body
The “ginger bug” has grown in popularity over the years and is a fantastic way to make soda for your family. You don’t need a starter culture or even kefir whey. A ginger bug is a mixture of sugar, ginger, and water that captures wild yeasts and beneficial bacteria. […]
Read MoreGet Dirty – Get Microbes – Be Happy!
Several years ago I found myself with much to do. With my daughter getting married and a deadline for my new book looming, not to mention the fact that both my husband and I have our own businesses . . . it was intense at our house. I started feeling the pressure and found myself in tears a lot and feeling completely overwhelmed. […]
Read MoreStarter Cultures ~ The Science Experiment
So, let’s talk about starter cultures! I would like to clear up some confusion involving starter cultures and ratios. In my first book, Cultured Food For Life, the recipe for kefir called for 1 cup of milk to 1 tablespoon of kefir grains. […]
Read MoreCoconut Oil Is Incredible!
I love, love, coconut oil for a myriad of reasons that relate to many different aspects of my health and wellness. First of all, coconut oil is a medium-chain fatty acid. This is a saturated fat that’s found in coconut and in mother’s milk. […]
Read MoreHelp! My SCOBY Is UGLY and Other Common Issues
There are a lot of common misbeliefs when it comes to SCOBYs – the wonderful SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeasts) that makes our wonderful kombucha! Here are some of the issues I get asked about the most. […]
Read MoreJun! New Culture or Honey Kombucha Hybrid?
For some of you, this culture is old news . . . for others, you may have never heard of it. Jun is a cultured food similar to kombucha but supposedly its own separate thing. It is brewed with a SCOBY culture that is light in color and is made using green tea and honey. […]
Read MoreProbiotic Mocktails! Kefir, Kombucha, and More!
A recent study, published in the journal PNAS, suggested that bacteria in the gut may play a role in alcohol addiction and the risk of relapsing after rehab. The study was done on 60 alcohol-dependent individuals. […]
Read MoreProbiotic Salads and Dressings
Everybody knows we should eat more salads, but if you make probiotic salads you quadruple the benefits. The most powerful food combo you can have is prebiotics (food for bacteria) and probiotics (cultured foods) together in a meal. These salads will do just that. When you eat a probiotic salad, you’re getting billions of probiotics.…
Read MoreWhat Kind of Tea Can I Use to Make Kombucha?
The legend goes . . . in China, 2727 BC, the Emperor Shen Nong, who was known as “the divine healer,” was boiling his water to clean out impurities. The pot was underneath a tea bush and several leaves fell into the pot. The pot had such a wonderful fragrance, color, and taste that the emperor quickly told everyone of his findings. […]
Read MoreCan You Reuse the Brine From Cultured Vegetables?
If you add a starter culture to your cultured vegetables, like Cutting Edge Cultures or another starter culture, then you’re going to have extra bacteria in your culture that are stronger than just using salt and no culture. […]
Read MoreProbiotic Pets!
This little guy in the picture is my puppy Scoby (pronounced like kombucha SCOBY) enjoying his kefir. Kefir is incredibly good for dogs and we hear many stories of how it helps them in so many ways. Did you know that your pets need probiotics, too? […]
Read MoreProbiotics and Your Skin
Face Care Products Made with Kefir and Kombucha If you have been following Cultured Food Life for a while, you know by now that cultured foods are good for your gut. But what about your skin? Did you know that what you put in your body can greatly affect your skin’s glow and health? Fermented…
Read MoreThe Secret According to Kefir Ice Cream
Somebody asked me the other day how I come up with recipes for cultured foods. Many times they come suddenly into my brain. This will often make me miss my exits while driving on the highway because I am thinking about the specifics of how to make it. […]
Read MoreFoolproof Kefir
I love kefir grains, but I didn’t start my journey making kefir using kefir grains. I started with the powder kefir and was very glad I did. I was pretty much a wreck at that time in my life and I needed something easy and foolproof or it wasn’t going to happen. […]
Read MoreMercury Needs Wisdom
I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. I felt off, kind of loopy in the head and couldn’t think straight, and not myself. I was tired and wanting to rest a lot and didn’t want to exercise. This was not like me, and it scared me. Then I got a cold. […]
Read MoreMy Grandparents Knew
They knew the grandkids were eating badly. They fussed at our parents but nobody listened, because the foods we were eating were so addictive. We reasoned that they were the older generation and they were just being cranky. They didn’t like it when we ate sugar-laden cereals for breakfast or soda pop with lunch and dinner. […]
Read MoreKombucha Treats For Your Dogs
Scoby treats 2I get an overabundance of kombucha SCOBYs (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast). Every time you make a pot of kombucha you get another SCOBY. So what to do with them? I usually just put them in my garden. The plants love the B vitamins in the kombucha SCOBYs and they seem to nurture the soil and keep the bugs away. […]
Read MoreRed, White, and Blue Smoothies
Many years ago, I was desperate to feel better. I had no one to help me get started with cultured foods. In fact, everybody I talked with told me I was crazy and not to consume them. But I had an overwhelming desire to figure it out. Little did I know they were calling me to wellness. […]
Read MoreCulture Your Broccoli – It’s Better
When I was growing up, my mom had a huge garden. She grew lots of broccoli and we would pick it for her. Even though broccoli is one of the plants least affected by pests, it is not uncommon to find worms on broccoli heads. Without a doubt, I was always the one to find those worms on my broccoli and often it was right before I put it in my mouth so I declared broccoli my least favorite vegetable. […]
Read MoreVideo – How To Make Cultured Vegetables
I am very excited about the new veggie starter culture, Cutting Edge Cultures. I decided to make a video about it and share a fun recipe. Making cultured vegetables is easy and fun. People can be intimidated by making cultured veggies and are afraid they will do it wrong and get sick. This is the wonderful thing about cultured vegetables – they preserve the foods and make them safe with billions of good bacteria that dominate and keep the pathogens out. […]
Read MoreSick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired
Why on earth am I writing about bacteria? A few years ago I was nearly non-functional. I felt terrible. I had zero energy. All food made me sick – especially healthy food. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything and was seriously thinking I would end up going on disability at work. […]
Read MoreVideo – How to Make Kombucha
Here is one of the very first videos I ever made. The first half of the video explains why I started drinking kombucha and how much it helped my family and me. The second half shows the process of how to actually make kombucha. I hope you enjoy the video and you will learn not only how to make kombucha, but why you should. It’s still my favorite beverage and I’ve been making and drinking it for 18 years. […]
Read MoreKombucha Margarita and Strawberry Too!
Last year on my thirtieth wedding anniversary we took a cruise to the Caribbean and stopped in Cozumel, Mexico. We took a Salsa Salsa class where we made lots of salsa, guacamole, and Margaritas. We had so much fun and since I don’t really drink, but loved the taste of Margaritas, I wanted a kombucha recipe to enjoy instead of all the alcohol. […]
Read MoreCultured Vegetables Made Stronger – Cutting Edge Culture
I am very excited to introduce you to Cutting Edge Cultures – Vegetable Starter. Several collaborators knowledgeable on fermentation and probiotics joined together to make the strongest vegetable starter on the market today. […]
Read MoreYour Microbes Want This Coffee
When we were healing my daughter’s Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) many years ago, I didn’t realize that, along with cultured foods, we were including a powerful addition that made a huge difference in her recovery. I actually discovered many years after she healed, and it has opened an entirely new world for me. […]
Read MoreNon-Dairy Kefir Wants a Date
Kefir grains love to eat the sugars (lactose) in milk. These sugars are the primary food for this culture. Fresh milk kefir is only 1% sugar and live kefir grains contain over 50 different types of yeast and bacteria existing in a symbiotic relationship. […]
Read MoreThe Jury Case and Carpal Tunnel
My husband was called for jury duty this week and found himself in jury selection for a case involving a very popular restaurant. The complainant was a woman who said she got carpal tunnel syndrome on the job, was treated, and then six months later was fired. My husband was picked as Juror Number Two. […]
Read MoreVideo: How to Make Kefir
A few weeks ago I had a dream about kefir. I was watching TV in my dream and heard a newscaster say that kefir had swept the world and there was now kefir in every kitchen. I woke up and carried that dream with me for weeks. If everybody drank kefir, the world would be a better place. I am convinced of this. […]
Read MoreMy New Love – Probiotic Soup!
It’s January and it’s cold here in the Midwest. All I want is hot tea and soup. It’s hard for me to want a cold smoothie when I am craving warmth and comfort, but high heat kills the probiotics in my cultured foods. […]
Read MoreIt’s Not the SCOBY That Makes Kombucha
Kombucha, pronounced kôm-bo͞o-CHA, is a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria. The good bacteria and yeasts eat the sugar out of the tea and make probiotics and then produce naturally-occurring carbonation. You don’t get tons of sugar because the bacteria eat it […]
Read MoreCashew Kefir
This is a cashew apple tree. Cashew nuts are actually the kidney-shaped seeds that adhere to the bottom of the cashew apple grown mostly in Brazil. Interesting, isn’t it? Cashews are all the rage these days and used in all kinds of health food dishes – and for good reason. They’re delicious and good for you. […]
Read MoreVideo: Is Your Kefir Separating?
Is your kefir separating into whey and curds? Is your kefir thin and runny? Most of the time this is because it is over fermenting and you need to add more milk or remove some of the grains. It also might be warm in your home and this will make it separate faster as well. […]
Read MoreFizzy Blender “Juiced” Apple Kombucha
My daughter Maci got married and moved to a farm with her husband. She has a couple of apple trees and she’s making tons of recipes with apples in them. Before her husband, the love of her life was kombucha. She has been making gallons of super fizzy apple kombucha and discovered something special. […]
Read MoreSummer Cultured Squash
One of my favorite things about summertime is the farmer’s markets and fresh veggies. Turing fresh produce into perfectly preserved cultured veggies makes me so happy, but it wasn’t always that way. […]
Read MoreFermentize This Salad!
This is a favorite summertime salad made with cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onions that are abundant in the summertime. The taste is so light and fresh that I can eat gallons of this salad. I have had this salad many, many times made with vinegar but it was never fermented. […]
Read MoreMake Cultured Veggies – But in What Kind of Jar?
I often make fermented vegetables using a canning jar with a lid, but there are many methods and vessels you can use to make cultured vegetables. Some say you should only use an airlock jar to culture vegetables. They claim that the canning jar method doesn’t seal well enough to remove the oxygen […]
Read MoreHow to Travel With Kefir and Be a Pioneer
This last month my husband and I had our 30th wedding anniversary. Ron and I and our three kids are a tribe and we’ve always done everything together. This was the first vacation we have had alone since our honeymoon which we spent on a houseboat in Lake Powell, Utah. […]
Read MoreScary Delicious Seaweed Dip
As a kid, I spent many summer vacations in Nova Scotia on a small island (Cape Sable) where my grandparents lived. Their home was right on the water and it was over 100 years old (see pictures). My great grandpa, Captain Horatio Brannen, was a sea captain and built the home there. […]
Read MoreKombucha Always Brewing Method
Kombucha is growing in popularity and for good reason. The detoxifying power of kombucha is enormous. It has been recognized for its ability to counteract liver cell toxicity. As you drink kombucha, you will notice a flushing of toxins from your body as it filters toxins through the kidneys and the bowels. […]
Read MoreThe Fairest Salad in the Land
I have been making this salad a lot lately. A while back I had my nephew, his girlfriend, and my older kids spend a few days with me due to a snow storm. I watched these five young people devour this salad and ask for more and tell me how good it was. […]
Read MoreCan Rejuvelac Help with Alcoholism?
Have you heard of the fermented probiotic drink called Rejuvelac? The first time I heard of it I was just beginning with all things fermented and this drink intrigued me. […]
Read MoreShould Babies and Children Have Cultured Foods?
Having babies is a big event. For me, it was life-threatening and life-changing. My third pregnancy was actually the catalyst for this blog, my website, and my books. My pregnancy was a scary event – things quickly went from bad to worse and they delivered my baby 7.5 weeks early to save my life and hers. […]
Read MoreCoconut Almond Kefir Ice Cream
Probiotic Ice Cream If I had to choose only one cultured food, which would it be? If I were banished to a desert island, which one would I take to live with me, leaving the others behind? I really love them all, and it kills me to think about choosing just one. But if I…
Read MoreThe End of My Culturing Career
Making Cultured Vegetables Many years ago, I had a great plan to sell cultured veggies at a health food store and they were so good they sold out again and again. This all started when I was handing out samples at my cultured food class and people were raving about them. I thought,” I’m gonna…
Read MoreSalad in a Fermenting Jar
Travel Food with Culture I spend almost all of my weekends in the spring and summer out of town at the lake. Because of this, I have to pack coolers and take food with us. I am always looking for things that are easy and ready to eat. Salad in a Fermenting Jar is my…
Read MoreWalnut Kefir & Chocolate Fig Pudding
Have you tried making your own nut milks? Walnut milk is delicious and easy to make. I have been trying a lot of different recipes using different nut milks and I am really enjoying them. Kefir is easy and fun to make using nut milk, and is a great dairy-free alternative to regular kefir. […]
Read MorePumpkin Kefir Cheese Ice Cream
Pumpkin Kefir Treat I’m in this picture, but inside my mom. My dad’s (Don) birthday is coming up in a few days. Several years ago he died suddenly. Three months before he passed, my mind was filled with loving and joyful thoughts about my dad. He died suddenly so I had no idea at the…
Read MoreSauerkraut Without a Culture
This is something special to know about sauerkraut. You don’t actually need a culture to make it. The cabbage combined with salt will make its own good bacteria. These bacteria dominate and crowd out the harmful ones and preserve the food in a safe way. You can make sauerkraut with just salt. […]
Read MorePopeye and Olive Oyl Kefir Ice Cream
This is a wonderful smoothie that can be made into kefir ice cream Popeye and Olive Oyl This is probably one of the things I make at least once a week. I love it, and so does my family. Kids will never know that this has spinach in it. I have disguised this by saying,”…
Read MoreThe Dog That Kefir Saved
Some of the best friends I have today came to me through cultured foods. I meet people who are looking to be well – they either come to one of my classes or they find me through friends to purchase kefir grains. […]
Read MoreChocolate Cherry Sourdough Bread
I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process…. It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance? Sourdough is my favorite bread to make in the fall and winter. It is loaded with Lactobacillus bacteria that transforms the wheat into incredible properties. It unlocks all the zinc and minerals…
Read MoreKefir Sourdough Waffles
I love sourdough bread. I love that it takes time to develop the bread and turn it into something warm and crusty from the oven. So many people are struggling with gluten allergies but to really understand this you need to go back in time. What if you knew the bread you were eating had…
Read MoreWhat is Kefir?
What is Kefir? “What is kefir?” You’ve probably asked yourself this before. Pronounced “KEE-fuhr,” kefir is a tangy, slightly fizzy, FANTASTIC fermented milk beverage. It can be made with all kinds of different milks, dairy and non dairy. It looks similar to yogurt, but is far superior. Click here to learn more on the difference between kefir…
Read MoreWhat is Kombucha?
What is Kombucha? So what exactly is kombucha? Kombucha (pronounced come-boo-cha) is a living health drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with the kombucha culture. It has been around for hundreds of years. If you are concerned that it is made with sugar, you needn’t be. The sugar is consumed by the culture leaving…
Read MoreHow to Make Kefir
Gather Your Materials Milk or Non-Dairy Milk Most milk types are acceptable, including whole milk, fat-reduced, non-fat, pasteurized, and homogenized. Fresh raw whole cow’s milk is delicious too and goat kefir is one of my favorites! Please don’t use ultra-pasteurized milk when making kefir. Your kefir won’t do well. Many times organic milk that you…
Read MoreNon-Dairy Milk Kefir FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions About Non-Dairy Milk Kefir Why is my non-dairy kefir is separating into whey and curds? This is actually normal for non-dairy kefir. Since most nut milks are made with mostly water it separates quite easily. This doesn’t diminish the product in any way. Stir or shake it up, or blend it into…
Read MoreSprouted Grains FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions About Sprouted Grains Can I use sprouted flour to make sourdough bread? No, you shouldn’t use sprouted flour when making sourdough bread. The bacteria in the sourdough starter wants to break down the enzyme inhibitors in the flour. This has already been accomplished when you make sprouted flour. So if you were…
Read MoreWater Kefir FAQ’s
Frequently Asked Questions About Water Kefir My water kefir has changed and smells yeasty or funny? If your water kefir has a yeasty aroma you may be over-culturing, which can cause an imbalance. Make sure to reduce the culturing time in warmer temperatures, to keep the crystals well-fed and in balance, and feed them every…
Read MoreHow to Make Kombucha
Gather Your Materials Materials Gallon Jar or non-lead-based crock. Linen or cloth napkin that will fit completely over top of jar or crock Rubber band to go around neck of jug or crock 1 cup raw sugar or white sugar — Check out these options. 4 to 5 tea bags: black or green tea, organic is best 3 quarts filtered water,…
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