traditional nutrition Archives : The Research & Writings of ALISON D. GILBERT

November 27, 2015 No Comments

Welcome to The ALISON D. GILBERT Blog. This blog serves as both a reflection of past entrepreneurial ventures as well as an exploration and investigation into new ideas, interests and passions. The Alison D. Gilbert Blog post categories focus on the following disciplines:

• The ALISON D. GILBERT BLOG Exploring ART & DESIGN and MUSIC | FOOD & HEALING JOURNEY | SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING | RAISING SOCIAL AWARENESS | THE ECONOMY & THE ENVIRONMENT. (Each title below links directly to the blog post category).

• PASSIONS of ART & DESIGN AND MUSIC
Exploring passions of ART & DESIGN created by me and other 2 and 3 dimensional artist. Passions of American music from the 1930’s to the 1960’s focusing on the multiplicity of indigenous styles of music from those decades.

• FOOD & HEALING JOURNEY
The joy of FOOD and the journey to HEALING are parallel. Discover HEALTH and HEALING technology with traditional nutrition as well as Eastern and Western healing modalities.

• SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social Media Marketing has become the new means of marketing communicating for the creation of brand awareness, products and services offerings and stimulation of return business.

• RAISING SOCIAL AWARENESS
Raising social awareness of human conditions means having the consciousness to eliminate hunger, poverty, homelessness and establish a sustainable environment.

• THE ECONOMY & ENVIRONMENT
Man’s use of the earth for material gain impacts both the ecological balance and our survival. Our environment needs to be respected stabilized in order for us to survive.

FOOD & HEALING JOURNEY

Traditional Fermented Ginger Ale: Introduction

March 17, 2015 No Comments

traditional-fermented-ginger-ale

FERMENTING AGENTS

Traditional fermented ginger ale is the only drink I make that is in a similar category to Homemade Organic Fermented Lemonade or Limeade. These drinks are kissing cousins because they can use the same fermenting agent, whey. But for ginger ale, a ‘ginger bug’ is my preferred fermenting agent.

Whey
Using whey in making ginger ale does make it ferment faster. But I prefer not to add it and let the ginger ale ‘slow brew’. In addition, for people who are sensitive to dairy or are vegan, whey needs to be avoided since it comes from dairy.

Ginger Bug, No Whey
So we won’t be going into detail about the use of whey as our fermenting agent today. Instead, our focus will be on making a ‘ginger bug’.

Be Persistent More Than Consistent
Keep in mind that my first effort failed. So don’t give up. Over time, I have used various recipes as my template for guidance. It is amazing how recipes can vary. That is because fermenting is as much an art as it is a science. There is no exclusive way to make this. The only one that matters is the one that works. And based on all kinds of environmental and other input, the same recipe may not work consistently.

Ginger
Let’s start with the ginger itself. I only use fresh ginger. If it is organic, I just rinse it. If it is not organic, I peel it. Either way, the ginger should be nice and plump, not wrinkled or moldy. Ginger is available in Asian food stores, in health food markets and often in supermarkets.

Recipe One
There are two recipes that I used at the start. The first is from Wellnessmama.com calling for a small amount of ginger, sugar and water added daily.

Recipe Two
The second is from Nourished Traditions and is fairly similar to the wellnessmama.com recipe.

Ginger Bug Care
I am not sure if I found a recipe for this or if I started doing it on my own. I am admittedly overwhelmed sometimes with caring for all my fermented beverages and food. Daily attention to my ‘ginger bug’ become difficult. So I started weekly feeding of my continuous culture, you never use it up but always save some to start the next one.

Varieties of Sugar
It worked. And what works even better is using muscovado sugar. It is very dark because it has a substantial amount of molasses left in it. It tastes almost taste more like ginger beer than ginger ale. My original bug is made with a lighter sugar called demerara with less molasses so it is not as potent.

Ginger Wort
The next step in making traditional fermented ginger ale is preparing a ginger wort’. The recipe for that will appear in the next blog post, Traditional Fermented Ginger Ale: ‘Ginger Wort’. Following steps will appear on additional blog posts throughout the coming week.

SOURCES & RESOURCES

Ginger Bug Recipe from Wellness Mama

Ginger Bug from Nourished Kitchen

This blog post details information discussed by Alison D. Gilbert, Healthy Living Consultant, on A.M. News on Renegade 101.3 FM. If you wish to share it, please give credit where credit is due. Photography is by the author unless otherwise indicated by scanning your mouse over the image. Thank you.

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Traditional Fermented Ginger Ale: Introduction

FERMENTING AGENTS

Traditional fermented ginger ale is the only drink I make that is in a similar category to Homemade Organic Fermented Lemonade or Limeade. These drinks are kissing cousins because they can use the same fermenting agent, whey. But for ginger ale, a ‘ginger bug’ is my preferred fermenting agent.

Whey Using whey in making ginger ale does make it ferment faster. But I prefer not to add it and let the ginger ale ‘slow brew’. In addition, for people who are sensitive to dairy or are vegan, whey needs to be avoided since it comes from dairy.

Ginger Bug, No Whey So we won’t be going into detail about the use of whey as our fermenting agent today. Instead, our focus will be on making a ‘ginger bug’.

Recipe One There are two recipes that I used at the start. The first is from Wellnessmama.com calling for a small amount of ginger, sugar and water added daily.

Recipe Two The second is from Nourished Traditions and is fairly similar to the wellnessmama.com recipe.

Ginger Wort The next step in making traditional fermented ginger ale is preparing a ginger wort’. The recipe for that will appear in the next blog post, Traditional Fermented Ginger Ale: ‘Ginger Wort’. Following steps will appear on additional blog posts throughout the coming week.