How to make Vanilla

Moving to a new place is usually a bit disorienting, especially when it's the other side of the world.

Being accustomed to a variety of health food stores, and even great finds at regular grocery stores, moving to a place with very little resources of this type took some adjusting.

One of these adjustments was trying to find something as simple as vanilla. Everywhere I looked there was fake vanilla flavoured junk. Yes - junk, really. Coumarin (a known toxic substance banned in the US since the 1950s, a derivative of this substance is warfarin - rat poison) was originally used for an artificial vanilla flavour (1880s) but for obvious reasons it is now banned. However artificial vanilla bought from Mexico or the Caribbean can still contain this substance. Since then, vanilla has been made from guaiacol (a petrochemical) or from lignin (waste by product of the sulfite pulping process to make wood pulp into paper - yum!). Most vanilla now is made from former of the two. (You may remember from my xenoestrogen post that petrochemicals are estrogen mimickers.) Needless to say, I'm not too keen about consuming any of that stuff.

Next I try to find natural, real vanilla, made with real vanilla beans. In Canada, our favourite vanilla was alcohol free, I didn't have such hopes in finding anything like that here. However, I was hoping to find some real vanilla. I had no idea how hard that could be. Even the health food store (the one and only) in the town closest to us had no vanilla (at all) and in another town where I found some, to my dismay, sugar was on the list of ingredients - in a health food store. Now I know that a lot of things found in health food stores are not actually healthy, but come on - sugar?

Ok. So here is where I decided to take matters into my own hands. Sure, vanilla is not a necessity but it is sure nice, especially when you don't use sugar or an excess of other sweeteners.

 Vanilla is said to the be second most expensive spice, the first being saffron. (Vanilla, however, is used way more than saffron.) When it comes down to it though, you can make your own vanilla for much cheaper than buying if from the stores.

The first thing to do is find vanilla beans. There are different grades of vanilla beans.
-Grade A or Gourmet - whole beans, with no dents or tears, most plump with a higher moisture content, the best choice when using the bean itself in baking
-Grade B -  whole or split beans, can be smaller than Grade A, not as plump, may be split (this means that they were allowed to ripen longer and have more flavour) better for making extract
-Grade C - beans that may have been unripe at picking, tears or damaged, used for non-food related items (soaps, candles, etc.)

Depending on where you buy your beans, sometimes the only difference between Grade A and Grade B is the length, it depends on the source of your beans. Grade B will be cheaper and is generally the preferred Grade for extract.

Vanilla beans are also labeled by which region they come from; Madagascar, Tahitian, Bourbon, Indonesian, etc. They are slightly different varieties with slight differences in taste, etc. The type of bean, in this instance, in really one of preference.

Now for your alcohol. The vanilla bean will be extracted into the alcohol itself, and some people like to mix their medium a bit. Typically vodka is used (and it's the cheapest). You can also add a mix with rum or brandy for a "richer" taste. I have only done vodka myself. You will pay twice as much for the "rich" effect. I found the alcohol is the most expensive part of this process.


It really doesn't matter how much you want to make. Just keep in mind this proportion: 6 vanilla beans for every cup of alcohol. I've found a lot of recipes that have less, we want vanilla extract not vanilla scented alcohol.

Cut your beans in half, and then slit lengthwise. Scrape out the inside.

You can then cut each half again, to make quarters. This is what I do, but it's not necessary. It would be advisable if you have a smaller bottle, you don't want half of the vanilla sticking out of the alcohol.

Stuff all the beans, insides, outsides and all into a coloured glass bottle. You don't want too much light to get to your vanilla.

Fill with alcohol, according to how many beans you put in. (Hint: it helps to count out how many vanilla beans you will cut up before you start everything, instead of counting as you go.) You will want to use 1 cup alcohol (whatever variety) for every 6 beans. You can always include more beans, but if you want a good vanilla, don't use less.

For the at least the first week you will want to shake the bottle quite well every day.

On weeks 2 - 4 be sure to shake it a few times each week.

By week 5 you are technically able to start using your vanilla. Top the bottle up with more alcohol if the beans get exposed. If you can wait and not use the vanilla at this point it would be best. The vanilla will get more mature as time goes on.

After 6 months, (yes, that's a long time) you can filter out the beans. Lots of people like to then add the used beans to sugar to make vanilla sugar, but we don't eat sugar. You can also reuse them in your next batch, but continue with the recipe as if you didn't. I just reused mine, as I hate wasting food, especially something as good as vanilla. I may attempt to make vanilla coconut sugar at some time, but we'll see, I have a few months to go on my current batch of vanilla. (Hint: label the bottle with the date. I labeled it on my calendar, then the year changed and we threw the calendar out.)

We didn't really have much vanilla left after 6 month (we used all but a couple inches of it), but my next batch I made twice as much. Apparently the vanilla will continue to mature indefinitely. It will not get old either. So you can make a lot all at once and keep it around, knowing that it will only get better, like wine, with time.

30 Days to a Food Revolution

I thought that this would be interesting.

For 30 days, (April 26 - June 4) there will be featured 30 ways to eat real food, hosted by 30 different blogs.

Clink the "Real Food" button on the side bar for more information.

My Version of lacto-fermented Ketchup

Originally my quest was to simply find a good ketchup recipe that I could make. In Canada, there was one ketchup made with agave that we could have (and BBQ sauce too) by Organic Ville, and so we just bought it. But here resources are limited so if I want ketchup, I'm going to have to come up with something.

I had recently purchased Nourishing Traditions and started getting into making some recipes, but the Ketchup recipe called for fish sauce, but my husband is allergic to fish. So I did some researching on the Internet to find if people have tried it without the fish sauce, and found some alterations of the NT recipe. I then altered it a bit further, and made it more complete by including the making of the tomato paste as part of the recipe. I wanted to make it as fresh as possible, especially since we have many tomatoes all over. These are mainly cherry tomatoes as they literally grew on their own - our own pig manure in the garden. You can easily use the bigger tomatoes in their place.

First I prepared as many cherry tomatoes as I could fit on a pan. I removed the stem and cut them in half. If using large tomatoes cut into a few slices approx as thick as the sliced cherry tomatoes. You really don't have to be too picky on this, it's okay if some get more dried out then others. Sprinkle liberally with Herbamare and dried basil. Dehydrate on a low setting in the oven. I try to keep it under 100 F so that most of the nutrients are preserved. If you have a dehydrator that really is the best way to go. My oven has a fan on it, so I can set the oven pretty low and the fan goes along way in helping things to dehydrate nicely.

Dehydrate until they are about halfway dried. This will also depend on your preference. The more dry the tomatoes are, the thicker the ketchup will be (unless you water it down). The more moist the tomatoes, the more liquidy the ketchup will be and this is harder to thicken up. I make mine pretty thick.

Once they are done place in a bowl if you you have a stick blender or a blender if you have one. Add half a cup of olive oil and 5 cloves garlic. Blend well. This is your tomato paste.











I have worked it out so that I know how many pans of tomatoes I need to make the amount of paste I need. So you will have to experiment with this. This tomato paste is great on it's own too, so don't worry if you have too much. You will want three cups of the tomato paste.



Here's where we make the ketchup part.

3 cups tomato paste
2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup molasses, maple syrup or agave
1/4 cup whey (raw, real from a cow or goat - no store bought powder stuff)
1/4 cup Braggs

Hint: the molasses/sweetener slides out great if you use the same measuring cup you used above for the olive oil. Blend well.

Feel free to add other spices as you desire. (Cayenne, oregano, extra garlic...this can really become any tomato sauce you prefer).

After it is well blended (since I make mine thick, it is often kind-of chunky), scoop the ketchup into a clean mason jar. Place the lid on fairly securely. Let sit for 2 - 3 days on your counter (or wherever is room). This allows for the ketchup to ferment. After a few days transfer to your refrigerator for long term storage. It really doesn't need to be in the fridge, just somewhere cool (approx 4 C), so if you have a place like that, great. The fridge is just the easiest way for me. It is also not so picky as other refrigerated things. It would fair well for camping and picnics.

The fermenting process not only adds extra goodness (extra vitamins, easier digestion, and beneficial bacteria) but it is also the thing that preserves what you ferment. No boiling to keep these veggies fresh. I'm not sure of the expiration date on this ketchup, but it is in the way of months. I hoping to make my ketchup (of numerous batches) last a year - till we get fresh tomatoes again - but there's a good chance it will be consumed well before then.

A word on Baking Powder

I started making my own baking powder for the last couple months. I found a recipe and was always unsure of the baking powder ingredients as I knew you could get "aluminium free" baking powder and was concerned about those with aluminium. Also I knew you can get "gluten free" baking powder and that left me to wonder again about what was actually in the baking powder.

I'm glad I did get into the habit of making my own. This week we discovered in the community kitchen the ingredients for baking powder did indeed have wheat. Good thing I used my own stuff at home. Now we'll just need to supply some for the main kitchen.

So how do I do it? It's just another one of the great recipes from "Nourishing Traditions."

I use 1 part Baking Soda, 2 parts Cream of Tartar and 2 parts Arrowroot (you can use corn starch, I did once, but didn't really like the thought of it since a lot of corn is genetically modified, and then I found out our corn starch here has wheat in it - go figure). Shake well.

It works best if you add it to your goods right before baking. (For those who soak their grain goods).

Raspberries

Who would have thought that in the middle of December we'd be up to our ears in raspberries?

Well if you live in Tasmania....

I was very excited to find out that there are raspberry bushes in our garden when we first moved here and now we are in the depth of raspberry season. Picking everyday for at least 1 or 2 hours we only cover half the patch, and then someone will call out, "OK, close your eyes, we're done!"
(Although some will still mention that there are still "heaps" of ripe berries that were missed in the first go-through). The past couple pickings were the most yet, with 155 punnets, then 170...we appear to be in the peak right now. Good thing too, because we are selling lots to the veggie markets and IGA because people like them for Christmas. We're also selling them off the road here too. This is one thing that is much more expensive here than in Canada. Oh well, I've sure had more of my fill of them, and then some.


Just a quick Google search revealed that raspberries are rich in ellagic acid (antioxidant), quercetin, and have antimicrobial properties to prevent the overgrowth of some bacteria and fungi including the ever popular Candida-albicans. They contain B vitamins, C vitamin, manganese, riboflaven, folate, niacin, magnesium, potassium and copper. It is also suggested that raspberries contain anti-cancer properties. Funny that phrase is becoming more and more common with simple foods. Is it maybe that eating properly (naturally) will not only prevent but also help overcome cancer? (This statement is meant to be read with a slightly sarcastic tone).

Herbamare

In my opinion cinnamon is the spice of life - everything tastes better with cinnamon. However, one thing we've really been missing lately is Herbamare.

Yesterday Joey and I were able to take the van and go do some exploring in Bernie for Health food. It was kind-of a sad trip in terms of Health food stores - nothing like what we're used to in Canada. There are simply not enough people around these parts for larger availability, it seems like the hub on the island is in Hobart (5 hour drive away). There's a bit to sacrifice for being out in the country. (Thankfully we have the internet and will thus have to order a few things - like Agave Nectar, Coconut oil, etc. and it's surprising how hard it is to find a simple thing like Vanilla without sugar in it! I may just end up getting pods and making extract myself.)

Anyways, the one thing we did manage to find was our long missed Herbamare! Supper tasted a little better last night, and lunch today did too, and popcorn will later...

Don't underestimate this little bottle of herb infused salt, we have really gotten used to having it in a vast number of things. I only use plain sea salt now for baking, everything else gets Herbamare. Eggs, salad dressings, popcorn, rice...Herbamare.

What Can't I Eat?

I guess I should explain some of the reasons for the question, "What do I eat?"

First and foremost, why do any of us eat?

Most would say, "Because we need to in order to live."

Others would say, "Because it's fun."



In regards to the first answer, we do need food to survive. But we need good, meaning nutritious, food to live. There are some basics that everyone should follow if you want to live a healthy life. And the excuse that you can eat anything and still be fine will not sit well with you when the effects eventually do catch up with you. If they don't now, they will later.

For me specifically, I have a disease called Endometriosis (stage IV) and part of controlling this disease (i.e. not being in pain with my hot water bottle all day) is in restraining from certain foods.

These foods include;
dairy, sugar (including honey), red meat (although now I can have organic, grass fed occasionally which is apparently 3 times a week - more than I did regularly anyways. I will have more to say on the importance of red meat in the diet hopefully later.), and wheat and glutenous grains.

So, hence the question that has been asked so often, "What does Andrea eat?" or the popular, "So...what can you have?"


As to the second answer, (Because it's fun), I am very glad that I enjoy cooking and creating, because this diet can be very monotonous if all you eat is rice and carrot sticks (often my choice at potlucks). Rice and carrot sticks are quite good at times, but not everyday. So this blog will become my record of what I eat...to live...and for fun, because it's great when food is enjoyable as well as healthy.


A quick warning to those who are not used to eating like this. This food may not be so enjoyable to you at first. That is because your taste buds are currently conditioned to whatever foods you are eating right now, which is probably white wheat flour and sugar. Let me say right now that these are B-A-D for you. Your body will need to get off of these foods, and it will not like you while you are going through withdrawn (not even exaggerating, sugar is addictive). Also you will need to get used not eating every sweet. Everything tastes bland if you are used to sweet all the time. You will need a nice long break from sweet in order to start truly tasting again. Then, after that things will be so much more flavourful!


That's my diet in a nutshell. I will have more in depth posts to come periodically about this stuff and the bad stuff you should avoid. Until then, start by trying to avoid white stuff. It's easy to remember, just eat nothing white (cauliflower is okay though). What I mean is no white sugar, no white flour, no white rice even. (Am I scaring you?) Start with what you can. It doesn't help to try and do something all at once if you can't follow through. Start with the flour and sugar and you will be well on your way.