Recipes
At some point we will hopefully organize some workshops or at least make a youtube video, but in the meantime here are some basic recipes needed for the GAPS diet and for maintaining overall health.
Yogurt
If you are making small amounts of yogurt (up to a litre) then you can use a yogurt maker, but if you want to make more (up to 8 litres) at a time, then follow this recipe in regards to using the oven.
1. Preheat the oven to about 150 C turn off and put the oven light on, or for some ovens the warmer setting (use common sense with this one, I used to have a warmer where the element was just underneath the actual oven so there was no risk of fire)
2. Heat up a big pot of water (stock pot works best) on the stove.
3. Prepare large jars (up to 2 litre) by putting about 4 tablespoons (about 1/10 of the jar) of yogurt and then filling the rest up with raw milk. Choose your yogurt by the one you like most and make sure it is high quality and preferably organic. For those in New Zealand the Clearwater yogurt makes a beautiful yogurt, Cyclops can be too sour for some.
4. Place the jars (as many that will fit, usually a bigger one and smaller one) in the hot water in the pot and let it warm up, stirring with an egg beater occasionally. Once the milk is warm (no hotter than you can touch, yet warmer than your finger) take it out and dry.
5. Cover the jars and wrap the individual jars in towels and put them in the warm oven.
6. Leave overnight and up to 24hrs so all the lactose ferments so that no food intolerances result (especially important for GAPS people).
7. Put in the fridge. If you can then resist eating the cream, mix up the cream into the yogurt for an overall creamy yogurt. If you want a thicker yogurt, strain through a cheese cloth after it has been refrigerated to the desired consistency.
Sauerkraut
1. Chop up cabbage into thin slices or put into a food processor.
2. Place it all into a big stock pot and add unrefined sea salt (about 2 tsp per cabbage) and about 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds (this helps with digestion).
3. Pound away using a wooden mallet, a jar full of water or you can walk on it (or get a child to).
4. Once you can press down with your hand and the juices cover it, place the cabbage into jars and press down so the juices cover the cabbage. Do not fill over 8/10 of the jar to allow the rising of the cabbage during fermentation.
5. Place the jars somewhere warm, like on the kitchen counter or next to the hot water boiler.
6. Check it every day to make sure the cabbage is underneath the juice (push the cabbage down).
7. After about 4 days the cabbage will settle down and you will have to push it down every few days or so. Leave it for a minimum of 14 days and then you can transfer to the fridge where it will last up to 6 months.
Gelatine Broth
1. Get some bones from your local butcher, the more joints and cartilage they have, the better such as chicken feet. Bone marrow is also good so ask the butcher if he/she can cut the bones up.
2. Place the bones in a stock pot and cover with water. Add some whole peppers, all spice, bay leaves and you can also add some veggies such as carrot, parsnip and or celery root. With beef, roast the bones for about 20min before putting them into the stock pot to enhance the flavour.
3. Add a splash of vinegar (any kind) to help leach the minerals from the bones.
4. Boil then simmer. For fish simmer about 4 hours, chicken 4-8 hours, beef 10 to 24 hours. .
5. When finished you can add salt and pepper to taste and drink. Or you can put into yogurt containers and freeze for later use as a base for soup and sauces.
Bone Broth
1. Collect the bones from the gelatine broth and any roast etc and keep them in a bag in the freezer.
2. When the bag gets full, put it all in a stock pot with half a cup of vinegar (any kind) and simmer for 24 hours.
3. This broth is not as tasty (it will be more tasty the more bones from roasts that you use) as the gelatine or meat broth, but very, very nutritious and can be used as a base for soup, pulses etc.