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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Homemade Fermented Olive Black Vinegar & Recipe


Black vinegar is commonly used by Chinese traditional healthy diet for confinement in flavor boost. There are variety of black vinegars in the market. Black vinegar is made from whole grains like barley, wheat, millet and sorghum.

Drinking vinegar is beneficial to health. For easy to drink combined black vinegar with honey. It is recommend diluting vinegar and water with ratio of 1: 3 parts of water. What about adding some fruit flavor into black vinegar? Fresh Olive Black Vinegar is the best choice for you.... harvest season is the right moment for preparing pickle and ferment of raw Black Olives. Try to make your own homemade Olive Black Vinegar now. 


Olive has the monounsaturated fats, polyphenols and vitamin E that help to nourishing the skin to support for healthy skin and mucus membrane, the olive black vinegar is good source of health foods and drink to women going through menopause, it helps to reduce hot flashes, also a beauty maintenance and healthy diet drink.

My home made fermented Olive Black Vinegar has the rich taste of black olive in sweet vinegar. I love the fermented Olive Black Vinegar added in my cooking series also my favorite seasonings, and thereafter, the fermented black olive is the healthy dietary snack. It is also widely used in traditional confinement recipe particularly Chinese cuisine, like pork leg or chicken feet serve in black vinegar with ginger. The acetic acid of black vinegar beneficial in improves blood circulation to remove stagnate blood in uterus after birth, it has blood thinning properties, to lower cholesterol level, that also increase energy level help in recovery and build and restore the energy in post-natal delicious healthy diet. 

 
Simply Senz fermented Olive Black Vinegar

As raw or fresh olives can not be eaten right away and it is slightly bitter in taste. Fresh olives contain active phytonutrient compounds - oleuropein and phenol compound which also known as carbolic acid and organic acid. Oleuropein has the antioxidant effect. Olive is rich in Vitamin E, it also has the anti-inflammatory properties, which help to lower the risk of inflammation, and help in healing the damage wounds especially after birth delivery. It contains the nutrients of iron, dietary fiber, copper, fatty acids, amino acids and more nutrients to maintain good health for good energy source. 

Although I am a Hakka heritage, and mixed with Teochew was my upbringing, at least I learned a few of other varieties of Teochew pickles, raw Olives are used as pickle or fermented olives black vinegar for the traditional postnatal confinement food in Teochew style too.

My previous blog topic of how to cure fresh olives with salt-curing, the simple recipe of making healthy Olive snack, simply add in soy sauce and brown sugar to accelerate the process in few minutes to turn raw Olives into delicious food (read here). 

Making of fermented from the fresh olives into sweetened black vinegar, instead of using brown rice vinegar is quite simple to make it your own. Which is aged, fermented for at least 3 months, but I prefer to keep them for longer period of 6 months or longer. It produces excellent sweet aroma flavor in my home made Olive black vinegar. Ideal for cooking pork leg, chicken and dipping sauce for dumplings, a sweet and sour snack of fermented olive black vinegar for an extra dash of flavor, pickle olives or fermentation make the fresh olives more palatable.


How to make Fresh Olive Black Vinegar


Ingredients:

1 kg of Fresh Olives
1 bottle Black Vinegar
1 cup of brown rice vinegar
½ cup of malt sugar
3 tbs. of salt (for salt-curing purpose)


The preparation:

1. Wash fresh olives with running water thoroughly.
2. Soak fresh olives in the cold water with 3 tbs. of salt till it is slightly soften. (do not soak too long, approx. about 5 to 10 minutes, if not, the fresh olives will be too soft), throw away the salt water, rinse well.
3. Let it totally air dried.
4. Place all salt-cured fresh olives into a sterilize glass jar and fill with sweetened black vinegar, brown rice vinegar, malt sugar or honey to cover the whole olives.
5. Keep the lid closed.
6. Period of fermentation at least 3 months for making vinegar. The longer the ferment period is much better.

Take Note:
During fermentation process the lid need to be opened once a week at the start, to allow the oxygen to flow to enable the gases of fermentation should be able to escape. 

Drinking Olive Black Vinegar:
Take about 1/3 cup of fermented Olive Black Vinegar, diluted with water. Drink it. If you prefer to add sweet taste, just add honey into it.



Teochow style of Cooking Olive Black Vinegar ginger chicken



Ingredients: 

  • 1 chicken drumstick - chopped
  • 2 cups of Olive black vinegar
  • 10 fermented olives
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
  • 2 tbs. honey
  • 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 100g ginger slice
  • 3 pips garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tbs of olive oil
  • 2 tbs of rice wine
Preparation: 

1. Wash Clean chicken drumstick, remove skin. Chopped in small pieces.
2. Remove skin of ginger and cut in thin slices.

Cooking Method: 

1. Heat pot; add 4 tablespoons cooking oil to preheat.
2. When oil is hot, add in minced garlic and ginger slices, stir-fry for 15 seconds til light brown in color;
3. Add in the chicken, stir fry for 3 minutes.
4. Add in light soy sauce, olive black vinegar, fermented olives, salt and sugar, stir and cook till the sauce lightly reduced.
5. Simmer in low heat cooking until the chicken is cooked.
6. Stir in rice wine and cook for 1 minute. 
7. Remove from heat. Done and serve. 






Saturday, October 02, 2010

Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Milk Kefir DIY



The milk immersion with Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Kefir grains ~ 雪莲花乳酸菌 or mother culture is quite similar to the traditional milk kefir, it is the lactobacillus bacteria and yeast formation like kefir we made. It is said this can treat various illnesses. Although this maybe only the rumor as claimed, but this folk alternative prescription has been cultured for centuries in Tibet.

Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Kefir Grains 雪莲花乳酸菌母


According to the experts and scientific researches on this Tibetan Kefir Grains have made the appraisals and tested that this is one kind of Lactobacillus Acidophilus bacteria, at present can only extrapolate this kind of friendly bacillus bacteria, and actually is like yogurt Lactobacillus. This friendly bacterial also the microflora is found in fermented daily product which profits lives bacteria through fermentation process and turn dairy milk into yogurt or kefir. This Tibetan Kefir has a greater number of live microflora and beneficial yeasts than yogurt and common kefir.

Before I move on further, making of Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Milk kefir is quite simple. You do not need any yogurt maker or warm water in making this Tibetan Milk Kefir

The taste is very mild, slightly sour, compare to Yogurt and Kefir. 
The longer the period it turns sourer like yogurt.
 It is rich in protein, calcium, vitamin B12, thiamine B1 , niacin, and folic acid.


Things to prepare:

  • Fresh Milk
  • Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Kefir Grains     
  • Glass Jar


The making of Xua Lian Hua Milk Kefir version:


How to culture Tibetan Milk Kefir:

Ingredients:
  • 2 spoons of Xue Lian Hua Kefir grains
  • 1 small bottle of fresh milk
  • Glass jar
  • Clean cloth or Gauze

Method:

  1. Rinse the kefir grains, Use a glass container and fill in the Xue Lian Hua kefir grains into the glass jar or container.
  2. Fill in fresh milk (Not powder form).
  3. Use a clean cloth or cling film lightly covers loosely, to allow the air flow and avoids dust. Do not cover completely.
  4. Keep in temperature of 18º - 28º C is good; about 25º is optimal. It turns into kefir drink within 24 hours.
  5. Strain the Tibetan Kefir grains; use a mesh strainer to sieve the Milk Kefir into the glass or container, sieve to retain the kefir grains for next use.
  6. Drink it or store remaining drink in refrigerator for not more than 2 days. (it becomes more sour if keeping too long) 
  7. Repeat No. 1 to 6 to make another milk kefir.

* Do not wash the Milk Kefir grains for the next use.

Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Milk Kefir is Done.  雪莲花乳酸菌




Take Note:

  • If you want to make 2 Tablespoons full of Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Milk Kefir grains, the fermentation period is within 24 hours.
  • If you need more to prepare like more than 1 gallon of Milk kefir grains, your culturing period maybe longer than 24 hours to set. 
  • Timing to set faster, it depends on the ration of grains and milk
Example: 

  • 2 spoons of grains + 1 cup of milk will be ready within 12 hours
  • 1 spoon of grains + 2 cups of milk, the kefir will be ready within 36 hours.
The ratio:
  • Tibetan Kefir grains-to-fresh milk ratio of 1: 10 should be achievable.


Culturing temperatures:
at room temperature or between 65ºF – 80ºF.


The Tibetan Kefir grains will continue to grow and multiplying more.
If you are lactose intolerant people, try to use soy milk to make Tibetan Soy Milk kefir. It grows well in soy milk.

You can keep it in frozen or give it to somebody who needs it. Anyway, the kefir grains can be eaten or mixed them into the cooked food.

The choice of making this Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Milk Kefir into delicious pro-biotic beverage, if you don't like the plain taste milk kefir, you can add some honey, or mix in the blender with the fruits of your choice to make into smoothies or yogurt drink. 

Tibetan Xue Lian Hua Milk Kefir with honey and banana.

There are many benefits of taking it, to help boost your mood, it’s feel-good beverage, to coat your intestinal lining with beneficial microflora to populate your intestinal system for health. If you are Yogurt or Kefir lover for sure you can tolerate with this similar sour taste of fermenting milk drink.

In fact the Tibetan Kefir's lactobacillus enhanced by omni-directional protection to the body is complete. It boosts your stomach to improve your digestive system, then the effect is naturally simple, it has the advantage to intestinal and stomach gastric system by adjust in the human body intestinal tract's microorganism balance, which may eliminate the intestinal tract's toxin, this kind of effect to those who contracts with chronic stomach trouble is helpful, which is harmless to the human body, while immune system is stronger, this will naturally given enormous help to all chronic illness by improves the immune system and enhancement consolidated viscera.