Last year I embarked on my very first solo canning projects, and the first recipe I made was a simple plum syrup. I have this huge and bountiful plum tree, you see, so it only made sense. But there was something ‘not quite right’ about the flavor. I couldn’t figure it out until I did a bit of research. Apparently, the ‘problem’ was that I was growing Italian pruning plums. Score!

I love prunes. Love love love them! So this was an awesome revelation. I couldn’t wait to try my hand at pruning!




Pruning is actually reeeeally easy. It goes something like this:
Halve
Pit
Set
Wait

Seriously. It’s that easy.

Start with slightly under-ripe fruit. Not totally under-ripe – not hard and green – but not soft and sugared either. They’re going to sweeten up a lot as they dry, so you need them to start out on the tart side.

Wash the fruit and cut each plum in half. Remove the pits and throw them away (you cannot compost these, so sad).

Spread the fruit out on dehydrator trays and load up the machine. Dehydrate between 105-115º for roughly 24 hours, or until prunes are shriveled and darkened.




Alternately, prunes can be made in an oven by placing the fruit on baking trays and roasting at the lowest possible setting. Leave the oven door open a crack and set up a portable fan to circulate the air. This is not so energy efficient, but it will get the job done.

And that’s all there is to it! Store your prunes in an airtight container in the fridge. And enjoy!

Oh holy goodness you guys, these are seriously addictive.

I came across the concept a few months back when I went RAW. Kale chips are sort of ‘trending’ around the RAW food community right now. And although I could buy a local version around town, I was [of course!] determined to make my own. And I did – with my good friend Katie who has an Excalibur dehydrator (*swoon*). Remember this pic?

That’s our first batch of kale chips! They were amazing, gobbled up and gone within days, and bookmarked in the back of my brain for further tinkering. I was waiting to acquire a dehydrator of my own, which . . . sort of hasn’t happened yet.

And then last week, I just couldn’t wait any longer! I mean sure, RAW food is great and all. But these are still so good for you, whether they’re cooked or not! Kale is overflowing with calcium, lutein, iron, and vitamins A, C, and K, plus beneficial phytochemicals and antioxidants. Tahini is rich in calcium, protein, vitamin E and the B vitamins, as well as essential fatty acids. And nutritional yeast is like the vegan dream food – it’s high in protein and has B vitamins including B12, as well as folic acid and zinc. So what was I waiting for?!

***As a note, my friend Katie and I just couldn’t get enough of these. Like, it’s really hard to stop eating them. BUT, my husband can’t stand them, so maybe they’re not for everyone? Just a heads-up.

Smokey BBQ Kale Chips

Adapted from renegadehealth.

Ingredients:

2 big bunches of kale

1/2 cup tahini

1/4 cup tamari

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon onion powder

2 teaspoons BBQ spice – your favorite blend

a couple drops of liquid smoke (to taste)

water to thin as needed

Instructions:

Rinse, de-rib, and rough tear the kale into a giant bowl.

Put all of the other ingredients into a food processor or blender and mix until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the kale, and use your hands to toss it all together. Squish Squish! Get it good and covered.

Spread the kale out evenly on lined or oiled cookie sheets, glass platters, or whatever works. I think I did a cookie sheet, 2 casserole dishes, and a glass pie ‘pan’. You only want one layer of kale, so it’s going to cover a lot of space.

Now the ‘cooking’. You want this to be as ‘dehydrated’ as possible, instead of baked. Ideally, you could put your oven on the lowest setting when you’d be home for 6-8 hours or so (please don’t do this overnight, okay guys?). Otherwise, just decrease the cook time as you increase the temperature. I think I did mine at about 250º for 4 hours (ish). Every oven is different so you’ll need keep an eye on it and be your own judge. Just remember that too much heat will change the flavor. Crispy, but not crunchy. Don’t overcook them!

I promise this is easier than it sounds. It’s intuitive, and you’ll know when they’re close by what they look and smell like. Just try not to eat them all in one sitting!

Kombucha, that magical mysterious elixir, is actually quite easy to produce with a bit of kitchen chemistry. I wrote about Kombucha a few weeks back, after I’d finished my first batch. And as promised in that article, here’s your step-by-step guide to home brewing.

What You’ll Need:

• A living SCOBY + some starter tea
• A large *glass* jar (no metal, no ceramic, no plastic, etc) with a wide opening (a standard 1-gallon jar, as shown at right, is best)
• Sugar
• Caffeinated tea
• A very clean cloth + a rubber band
• A steel pot and a big metal stir spoon

Prep Work

• Most likely, the hardest part will be getting your hands on a SCOBY. You’ll just have to be creative and snoop around your city for a source. I suggest starting with Craigslist or googling ‘[your city] kombucha’. You can also try poking around your local co-op or health food store – and check the bulletin board.
• Once you’ve secured a SCOBY (and it’s alive, floating in some starter tea), you’re on your way. Make sure your workspace is clean and at least semi-sterile. Gather and clean your tools (see above).
• This is a long process, so set your schedule accordingly. Brewing is a good Sunday project; you can have it going while you’re gardening or cleaning or laying around naked with your sweetheart.

How To Brew

1)  In a large, stainless steel (non-teflon or other weird material) stock pot, boil 1 gallon of water. Keep it at a full boil for at least 10 minutes.

2)  Remove the pot from heat and add 1 1/4 cups sugar, stirring with a metal (non-plastic, non-wood) spoon. I use organic evaporated cane juice instead of white sugar. DO NOT substitute agave, honey, Splenda™, or any other sweetener. 

3)  Add the tea. Any kind, as long as it’s caffeinated. This will determine the final flavor, so if you use a cranberry green tea, you’ll get a cranberry-ish flavored kombucha. I usually use organic plain green or black tea bags. You can use bagged or loose tea, but if you use looseleaf make sure it’s in a fine-meshed infuser. You don’t want any tea leaves floating about! 

4)  Steep the tea for about 4 hours, allowing the water to cool and the tea to get nice and strong. Go ahead and garden or clean or or lay around naked. When the tea is good and strong (many hours later), take out the tea bags/infuser.  

5)  Double check that your widemouth glass jar is very clean, and then pour in the gallon of sweetened tea. A funnel can really help with this.

DON’T USE ANY METAL BEYOND THIS POINT

Metal reacts poorly with the kombucha culture. It’s not a good thing.

6)  Wash your hands thoroughly before handling the SCOBY.

7)  Open your SCOBY + starter  container, and pour the starter into the widemouth jar. There may be gooey strings or giblets – that’s just SCOBY stuff, and it’s fine.

8)  Fish out your SCOBY. Admire it’s alien oddity. Blow it a kiss. Give it a name (mine is Scoby-Doo). Notice that there’s a ’smooth side’ that is lighter, and the other side is darker. The slimy dark stuff is yeast. You’ll also notice that familiar, uniquely komucha-esque odor!

9)  Now carefully slide your SCOBY into the widemouth jar, smooth-side up.  It may sink, which is okay, but it will probably float.  

10)  Place the clean cloth over the top of the jar, pulling it taught and securing with a rubber band. Now you just need to tuck that sucker away for 2-3 weeks. It prefers a warm dark spot, like in a cupboard or closet. It does not like drafts or sunlight, so don’t brew your kombucha on a window sill!

11)  Adjust the brew time for your taste preference. The warmer it is, the faster it will brew. The more caffeinated it is, the faster it will brew. The longer you let it brew, the stronger and less sweet it will be. I like less sugar, so I ferment for at least 3 weeks. It’s not recommended that you brew a batch longer than a month.

— weeks later —

12)  First, you’ll need to remove the SCOBY. Every time you brew, the ‘mother’ (the original SCOBY)  grows a ‘baby’ (a new SCOBY). These names are misleading because the two are identical in every way, indistinguishable from one another. They’ll be stacked together, like two pancakes. You can either leave them be and keep on going with a double-thick SCOBY, or you can carefully separate them. If you do take them apart, each one can brew its own batch. Then you can stagger your batches for constant kombucha flow! Remember: each time you brew, the mother makes a baby.

13)  You’ll need a jar to hold your SCOBY while you’re not brewing.  Make sure the jar has a plastic (non-metal) lid.  With very clean hands, fish your SCOBY out of the widemouth jar and fold it into the storage jar. Then add enough of the new brew to completely cover it.  This is your starter tea for next time.  Store the SCOBY + starter tea in the refrigerator, indefinitely.

14)  Portion out your brewed kombucha into smaller storage containers.  I save glass bottles with plastic lids just for this purpose.  Store the tea in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

15)  Drink!  Experiment!  Enjoy!

Notes on Safety

• Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.
• Sometimes a culture will become contaminated.  It happens!  If your SCOBY shows anything resembling mold, TOSS IT!  If your brewed kombucha comes out smelling funny, TOSS IT!  If your kombucha ends up tasting funny, TOSS IT!  Remember, there’s only a porous rag separating your fermenting sugar water from any and all airborne bugs.  Contamination can happen, so be wise and play it ‘better safe than sorry’, okay?
• If you want to add fruit juice to your kombucha, do it after you’ve brewed.  DO NOT add fruit juice before fermentation.
• Don’t use bleach on any of your kombucha-making equipment. Vinegar is a great cleanser. The dishwasher (with a mild detergent) is also okay.
• Listen to your body!  Start by drinking a little at a time.  Home brew is A LOT stronger than the store bought stuff, and the B-vitamins can get you quite heady. So take it slow and listen to your body!

Close-up during the brewing process - you can see it bubbling away!

***DISCLAIMER – My dears, I cannot be held responsible for what you do with this information.  So please, use your big beautiful brains, and be thoughtful and be careful.***

I know there’s been a ton of interest out there, so I can’t wait to hear how this works for you guys. Make sure to report back! And LUCK!

If you hang around the ‘natural’ scene, you’re probably familiar with that funny fizzy drink they call kombucha.  It’s been gaining popularity, and the large commercial brewer, GT’s, is everywhere these days.  And it’s no wonder – the exotic bubbly tea is charming and RAW and utterly unique. But at a pricey $3 a bottle, it also costs a pretty penny for its pleasures.  

And so, I’ve done what any industrious urban homesteader would do – I did it myself!  DIY brew is pretty simple and totally economical, not to mention a boatload of fun.  And of course, I think my homemade elixir is the very best I’ve had!  

So I bet you’re thinking, ‘What is this stuff, and why would you want to drink it?’

Kombucha popped up in China over 2,000 years ago, and has been traveling the world in various incarnations ever since.  The love-child of an affair between acetic acid bacteria and yeasts, it’s as if vinegar and beer made a baby.  The yeast and bacteria co-exist in a culture called a SCOBY, which stands for ‘symbiotic colony of bacteria & yeast’.  Clever, eh?

The SCOBY – sometimes mislabeled a ‘mushroom’– devours sugar and caffeine, and ferments the fluid around it.  The resulting liquid is a complex tonic that carries all sorts of associated benefits.  The RAW, living potion is packed with active enzymes, probiotics (the ‘good’ intestinal flora), amino acids, and energizing B vitamins.  Kombucha is purported to improve digestion, increase metabolism, regulate hunger and blood sugar, detoxify the body, and strengthen the immune system.  Unfortunately, there are no scientific studies to corroborate these claims.

All I know is, I feel great when I drink it!

I've enjoyed a straight-up kombucha pint, an elegant kombucha mimosa, and a glamorous kombucha cosmopolitan!

I love my kombucha (I named it Scoby-doo!) and I want to share the love with you!  So check back soon for a complete, step-by-step guide to home brewing.  ¡Viva Kombucha! 

March 31^st marked the fabulous finale to my official RAW experiment, but my actual experience didn’t just end there!  After 31 days of ~99% RAW, I felt better than I had in ages. So even though I was excited to nibble on some of my old cooked-food favorites, I was also eager to eke out as much RAW advantage as I could.  

I remained RAW going into April, and even considered pushing through for a full 45 days.  Unfortunately, around April 3rd I developed a flu that laid me out flat: fevered and nauseated and totally pathetic.  I hadn’t been so sick in years, and for the first 24 hours all I could stomach was a single orange.  By the second day my tummy had settled a bit and I was able to think about eating again . . . but all I found appetizing was warm, hearty fare.  Following my body’s cues, I made a mild Thai curry, and man, that tofu rocked my world! 

These days I’m averaging about 75-85% RAW.  Some travel days I’ve been as low as 40%, while others I just shoot back up to 99%. But typically, I’ll eat whole raw fruits and vegetables throughout the day, and add a wee bit of cooked food in at dinnertime.  I still spend most days caffeine-free, although I’ve had some incredibly pleasurable weekend cups of coffee. The same holds true for alcohol, which has been equally as easy to abstain from and equally as delightful to indulge in.  Each day, I still start off with a big green smoothie, and I can’t imagine that changing any time soon. Overall, my body seems to know what it wants and has finally figured out how to tell me so. 

I feel so good, eating this way.  I feel energized, centered, and very healthy in every sense of the word.  Most importantly, it feels sustainable. This is a very balanced place I’ve found, and quite honestly, I’m reveling in it.

Food Journal

By way of comparison, I’ve done a rundown of a typical daily menu the way I’m eating right now. The numbers really aren’t much different than when I was RAW. Ideally, my day goes something like this: 

Averageday, xX Month 2009

• Green Smoothie -  1 medium banana, 1 medium apple, 1 lemon, 1 orange, 2 kale leafs, 1 tsp Spirulina powder
• herbal tea with agave
• 1 apple + 1 pear
• carrot sticks
• kombucha
• Giant Salad w/ red leaf lettuce, purple cabbage, grated zucchini, red bell pepper, a jalapeno, half an avocado, and slivered red onion tossed in lemon juice, red salsa, olive oil, and nutritional yeast and topped with brown rice and black beans 
• big pile of raisins
• herbal tea with agave

Total Calories: 1918

76% from carbohydrates (1462 calories)

14% from fat (273 calories)

10% from protein (182 calories)

Total Carbohydrates: 401 g

• Fiber: 65 g
• Sugar: 225 g

Total Fats: 32 g

• Saturated Fat: 4 g
• Omega-3: 686 mg
• Omega-6: 3733 mg

Total Protein: 53 g

Vitamins – I was well over my vitamin requirements *except* for these:

• Vitamin E: 38% DV

Minerals:

• Calcium: 47% DV
• Iron: 82% DV
• Magnesium: 98% DV
• Phosphorous: 80% DV
• Potassium: 144% DV
• Zinc: 77% DV
• Copper: 100% DV
• Manganese: 221% DV
• Selenium: 76% DV

Also, daily BM’s, w00t!