Toxins

In the coming week I will write a series of articles about toxins:
1) toxins in the air
2) toxins in our environment
3) toxins in our food
Keep an eye out, please
:D

Wakame

Wakame or Undaria pinnatifida, is a sea vegetable, or edible seaweed. It has a subtly sweet flavour and is most often served in soups and salads. The young wakame, the kind we find nowadays the most in shops, can be cooked or just soaked and eaten raw. Sea-farmers have grown wakame for hundreds of years in Japan and Korea. Wakame lowers your bad cholesterol (LDL) and controls your blood sugar level, so is advised for diabetes. It also protects from goiter, constipation, large intestine cancer and gives you a healthy skin.
If you live in Thailand, you can buy your wakame here.

Kwas

Image via Wikipedia

Kvas (квас) is an ancient and beloved beverage from Slavic Europe. While it is basically a low-alcohol beer, it is enjoyed as a soft drink, even by small children. Factory-made versions have been available for some time and many are quite good. But homemade will always be best. 

Ingredients

• whole wheat sourdough bread, cubed -- 1 pound
• Water -- 3 quarts
• a red apple
• Raisins -- 2 tablespoons

Method

1. Bring the 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove from heat and immediately stir in the bread. Cover with a clean towel and let rest in a dark, cool place for 8 to 10 hours.
2. Pour the liquid through a fine-meshed sieve or strainer, gently pressing one the bread to get the liquid out. Don't press too hard, or your kvas will turn cloudy.
3. Pour into a 1-gallon pitcher or container. Add the raisins and pieces of apple and cover tightly with plastic wrap and a rubber band. Set in a dark, cool place for 4 or 5 days , it should bubble a bit.
4. Carefully pour off the clear liquid into a clean container or individual bottles. Chill well before serving.

Variations

• Add 2 tablespoons of fresh mint leaves with the raisins
• Some recipes substitute berry juice for 2 to 3 cups of the water, giving it a refreshing, fruity flavor.
• Kvas is often served unfiltered, with the yeast sediment. This gives it a richer flavor and boosts its vitamin content.
• The final fermentation can also take place in stoppered bottles if you like. In step five, pour the strained liquid into individual beer bottles. Add one or two raisins to each bottle and rest for 4 or 5 days. Move to a refrigerator and store chilled until consumed. CAUTION: the bottles have an alarming habit of popping open from pressure during the fermentation. So it's best if you know what you're doing.

Cool(ed) pickles

Since the 4 years I live in Thailand, I have made a lot of fermented cabbage (sauerkraut), but recently my pickle teacher (Bill Hetting from http://www.perfectpickler.com/) told me that my room temperature (30 degrees Celsius-86 degrees Fahrenheit) is too warm to pickle and it could create some less beneficial bacteries, and indeed after a while my sauerkraut gets a bit too dark and the taste is not that "sauer" anymore.
So I decided to cool my pickles during the first 4 days of fermentation to less than 25 degrees Celsius-77 degrees Fahrenheit, so I bought myself a big waste bin, filled it partially with water and ice and put my pickle pot in it, so it was cooled "bain Mare" style. After the initial 4 days I put it in the fridge, where I can keep it for at least 8 months.The pickles "bain Marie" style  gave me a much better result, thanks Bill.

My new rice cooker

After 32 years cooking my brown rice in a stainless steel pot, I finally bought myself a rice cooker.
As I did not want a cooker with aluminium interior, I bought the Supor Elegant 50YC9 ( Supor is a French brand from the SEB group, the cooker is made in China), and this cooker has a ceramic interior.

It was on promotion for 1.990 thb and has a position for brown rice.
It has positions for rice, brown rice, congee, soup and steaming.

12th International Macrobiotic Summer Conference in Europe

12th International Macrobiotic
Summer Conference
including the Art of Life School Level I, II, III and IV
July 24 - August 5 2011.

For more information, please click here.

Cashewnaise

Image via WikipediaHere another delicious recipe to replace mayonnaise.

Cashewnaise:
1 cup cashews , soaked for 2 hours and drained
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/4 cup of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
2 teaspoons of (brown) mustard
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process to a creamy consistency. If necessary, you can add some water, but not too much.
Store in refrigerator for up to a week.