How to Make Milk Kefir: 6 Steps for Making the Best Fermented Drinks
Kefir is a fermented milk beverage that contains probiotic benefits similar to yogurt.
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How to Make Kefir Cheese — Homestead Recipe Basics
Kefir cheese is one of the many different foods you can make once you start culturing with kefir. Kefir grains are the starter culture used to make a kefir beverage similar to yogurt.
How to Use Kefir to Ferment Vegetables for Your Homestead
Kefir grains, typically used in milk to create a probiotic drink, can be used to ferment vegetables. You can also use the whey left from making kefir cheese.
How to Make Coconut Kefir — 6 Steps to Make a Great Fermented Beverage
Vegans can enjoy the health benefits of kefir by culturing their grains in coconut milk. Live kefir grains will culture batch after batch of coconut milk, just as they would milk.
Health Benefits of Kefir
Kefir cultures are one of many ways to ferment milk and create a probiotic beverage. It originates from the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe where it has been used to preserve milk for centuries. Kefir cultures contain a community of beneficial bacteria and yeasts that make a cauliflower-like kefir grain.
List of Ways to Use Milk Kefir
Kefir grains are used to culture milk into a beverage that has similar probiotic benefits to yogurt. Once you begin culturing kefir, your grains will begin to multiply. You can get use out of these extra grains by making kefir cheese, butter or fermented vegetables.
How to Cook with Goji Berries
Wolfberries or goji berries are considered a superfruit with many health benefits. The berry can be added as an interesting ingredient to soups, stir-fry or sauteed greens.
How to Batter and Fry Squash Blossoms — Homestead Recipe Basics
Summer squash plants not only provide an abundance of yellow squash and zucchini, but can also be the inspiration for a delicacy. Many people aren’t aware that the flowers are edible.
How to Make Healthy Slushies — Homestead Recipe Basics
Slushies typically contain unhealthy dyes and flavorings with no nutritious value. However, you can use the drink as a way of giving your kids fruits and vegetables high in vitamins and nutrients by making homemade slushies.
How to Bake Pumpkin Seeds — Homestead Recipe Basics
Once you harvest your pumpkin patch in the fall, you may want to think about baking the pumpkin seeds you scoop from your bounty instead of letting them go to waste.
Growing Japanese Vegetables in Your Garden — Steps for the Best Garden
Japanese vegetables are fun to grow if you are looking for variety or wish to cook more Japanese dishes at mealtime. A few plants grow well in most climates, have high yields and are staples in Japanese cooking.
How to Grow Alfalfa Sprouts — Indoor Gardening Step-by-Step Guide
Alfalfa sprouts are one of the many kinds of plants you can sprout and eat. They provide a high amount of fiber, vitamin A, B, E and K.
How to Grow Bean Sprouts — Indoor Gardening Step-by-Step Guide
Bean sprouts are and easy and nutritious way for you to grow your own food. These crunchy sprouts are good raw or cooked.
Growing Sunflower Sprouts: Indoor Gardening Step-by-Step
Sunflower sprouts are a powerhouse of nutrition, and a great addition to any micro-green kitchen garden.
How to Grow Burdock Step-by-Step Guide
Burdock is mostly known as a weed throughout the United States, but is considered an important root vegetable in Asian cooking. One burdock plant can produce up to 2 feet of edible root, which makes it a great addition to a wild vegetable garden.
How to Grow Oat Sprouts — Indoor Gardening
A great way to grow fresh vegetables if you live in an apartment or have limited garden space is to grow micro-greens. Oat sprouts are micro-greens high in minerals and vitamins. Oat sprouts are also easy to grow in that they require no sunlight and minimal time and effort.
How to Grow Swiss Chard Step-by-Step Guide
Add a little extra color and nutrition to your garden by growing swiss chard this season. Swiss chard is considered a leafy green vegetable; however, the stalks may be white, yellow or red.
How to Grow Kale
Kale is a hardy growing green from the cabbage family. The plant originated form Asia Minor and the Eastern Mediterranean. Kale can tolerate both mid-summer heat and cold temperatures.
How to Grow Winter Squash
Winter squash is harvested much later in the season than summer squash. There are a wide variety of winter squash species you can choose to grow in your garden.
How to Grow Spinach Step-by-Step Guide for Best Garden Greens
Homegrown greens are not only a healthy addition to your garden, but are easy to grow. Spinach is high in vitamins A, C, K and folate. It also contains manganese, potassium, iron and phytonutrients. In the garden, spinach is a hardy plant that can be planted successively from spring to late fall. It can survive temperatures as low as 20 F degrees. Add spinach to your greens garden for a vitamin packed punch.
How to Grow Arugula
Salad greens are great to add to your garden because they are fast growing and can be grown successively throughout the season. Arugula is a salad green with a tangy, peppery taste. It is commonly found in mesclun salad mixes at the supermarket. You can grow your own arugula in your salad garden.
How to Grow Purslane
You’ve probably walked over one of the healthiest vegetables available without even knowing it. Purslane often grows in the cracks between sidewalks. It was introduced around the world from Persia and India. Until recently, purslane has been forgotten as an important vegetable and seen as a weed in the US.