According to the Weston Price Foundation, “Ferments boost the immune system, protect against disease, and aid digestion.” If a person is unable to source raw milk, culturing pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) milk can restore many of the enzymes destroyed during pasteurization including lactase, which helps digest lactose or milk sugar, and numerous enzymes, which help the body absorb calcium and other minerals. When milk is fermented both vitamin B and vitamin C content of the milk will increase and the lactose will be broken down. Casein, one of the hardest proteins to digest will be predigested in the fermentation process.

There are many fermented products on the market, but unfortunately, they all have undesirable ingredients, because they need to sit on the shelf and look and taste exactly the same. You will notice that if you start making your own ferments that they will tend to sour a lot more quickly, but they will be so much healthier. Some of the fermented products that our family enjoys are sour cream, buttermilk, and yogurt. We also like to strain off our buttermilk or yogurt and make cream cheese and whey. The cream cheese is great for cherry cheesecake, ranch dips, and so much more. The liquid that drips off of this (they whey) is great for making other ferments like beet kvass, ginger ale, cultured vegetables, and so much more. Traditional diets are loaded with beneficial bacteria and enzymes, and fermented dairy is a great place to start. A great resource I use a lot is Nourishing Traditions, The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon. I will be sharing some of the ways we ferment and use dairy this week.

Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, get rid of the distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. If you are working toward a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was get your salt right, week 2 was get your sleep right, weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were get your fats right, we had several weeks about seasonings and herbs, some important discussion about natural sweeteners, talked about Forgiveness, hopefully we got our eggs right, learned about the benefits of pastured, clean meats, considered getting mercury removed, we got the toxins out of our mouth, skin, and hair, made some changes in our cleaning routines, we talked about raw milk, and this week we are talking about fermented dairy. Join us next Tuesday for Get Your . . . Right.