The Soaked Bean

Something extraordinary happened this past Saturday. While on the train to Basel, I received a text message from my older brother with the words “wheatgrass”, “immune system” and “juicing” in it. Seeing that the brother I know (and love) gives any too-green vegetable the side-eye, as a holistic nutritionist, I was pretty darn pleased. When I received another message asking for my advice directly after, I straight-up almost fell out of my seat with joy.

You see, for some time now, my family has regarded my interest in holistic wellness with apprehension. The notion that the foods you have spent years, if not decades, eating are, not only not providing nourishment, but actually contributing to your ailments is a tougher pill to swallow than a pharmaceutical, that’s for sure.

The link between who we are and what we eat is strong. For many countries, this link is established organically: the foods you eat are the foods that have been growing in your region for centuries. For us Americans, this link has been manipulated: the foods we eat are the foods that beget the highest profit for their manufacturers and that offer their consumer convenience, economy, and instant satisfaction.

Of course, this is all changing. As it turns out, it’s a lot harder to swallow your fourth, your fifth, your sixth pharmaceutical pill of the morning than it is to shift your perspective, even by an inch, on wellness. More and more folks are looking to holistic wellness for guidance, my family included. Conveniently for them, they just so happen to have a holistic nutritionist in the family, and one who is more than eager to help at that. Perhaps even a little over-eager.

Which brings me back to my brother’s text. He’d heard wheatgrass would boost his immune system and was wondering whether a supplement would work or if he’d need to juice it himself. He has a habit of catching the flu during winter and was seeking a more holistic solution.

The short answer to his text is yes, if he were going the wheatgrass route, freshly juiced would be most beneficial. With its high content of immune-boosting nutrients like vitamin A, C and E, B vitamins (excluding, and contrary to popular belief, B12) and zinc, it would certainly be a step in the nourished direction. But in my excitement to share what I’ve learned these past few years, I was not contented with the short answer and instead wrote him an, ahem, lengthy email explaining the complexity of our immune systems and enumerating, in detail, the various factors that could positively or negatively affect its function. Sound encouraging? Didn’t think so.

Instead of simply answering his question, I realized I was trying to force him from baby step to full-bound leap. When you’ve become so enmeshed in the holistic wellness world, you can forget how long it’s taken you to make all of the positive changes for your own health. I mean, doesn’t everyone start their morning with a mug of home-made bone-broth and an egg from pasture-fed, heritage-bred chickens cooked in home-made ghee? No, no they don’t and that kind of talk can make anyone turn back to their bowl of Captain Crunch.

Baby steps. “Speed is not the way of success,” as Loulou often says. While my brother takes baby steps toward boosting his immune system, I’m taking baby steps toward being a more encouraging guide.

Instead of posting the email I sent my brother, I’m taking Loulou’s (and Dr. Leo Marvin’s) advice.

Here are some tips for boosting your immune system this winter, Baby-Steps Style:

#1. Drink water. 2 cups in the morning, 2 in the afternoon and 2 in the evening. We need 48-64oz a day, which can be hard to remember during winter, or hot chocolate/hot toddy/hot wine season.

#2. Get some sleep. At least 7, good hours of sleep each night. Try to wake at the same time every day, as this keeps our physiological clock well-oiled. If you miss out on sleep, take a power nap during the day to, as one laconic instructor of mine would say, “pay off your sleep debt.”

#3. Practice gratitude. Our immune systems are hella intertwined with our mental state. Thinking positively is a given, and I believe it’s best facilitated by taking the time every day to feel grateful for something or other. Or everything.

#4. Try sauerkraut with your meals. It’s a major player in immune health and cabbage is aplenty during these winter months. Vitamin C + beneficial bacteria that keeps your gut healthy. Healthy gut = healthy immune system.

#5. Echinacea, anyone? My favorite herbal ally is an all-around immune-strengthener. It’s effective, affordable and easy-to-find. Try it in tincture form and add a few drops to a glass of water (that you’re now drinking lots of) everyday.

I love milk and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

While some health-minded folk may beg to differ, I still believe that milk, and I mean Milk with a capital “m”: full-fat, unpasteurized (raw, alive), and brimming with all its inherent beneficial bacteria and enzymes, is a super-food. (For full milky manifesto, see here).

As raw milk is not only hard to find, but downright criminalized in most of the U.S., you can imagine my excitement when life swept me across the Atlantic to Switzerland – land of the pasture-grazing, mountain-side-roaming, behorned and, sometimes, beflowered cow. And you can imagine my disappointment when I found that, unless you’re living in a dairying village, the most widely accessible dairy foods—including butter and yogurt–have been pasteurized.

And while raw milk isn’t anywhere near illegal here, procuring it does require a bit of inventiveness.

The kind of inventiveness that found Lu & me, three buses and one long walk later, in the possession of a 10-liter plastic bucket filled to its brim with lait cru. You’re probably wondering what would possess two people to purchase such a large quantity of such a perishable foodstuff all at once. Well, quite simply, it was the smallest amount available. So what’s a couple to do when they want the benefits of raw milk in their lives but only have access to an impossible amount? Make raw-milk yogurt, of course!

Without pasteurization, the shelf life of a glass of milk is short—3-4 days, tops. This explains why, traditionally, dairy consumption revolved, not around fresh glass with cookies, but ferments: cultured butters, moldy cheeses, effervescent kefir, creamy yogurt, to name a few.

My first experience with homemade yogurt was, incidentally, in Greece. The process is simple: heat milk, add bacterial culture (or spoonful of bacteria-rich yogurt or starter) and let ferment in an incubator (or wrapped in sweaters or towels as pictured) for four-eight hours. Our notion of yogurt is much thicker, much firmer than, for example, than the dahi of India because we heat our milk past the point of pasteurization in the process. While this produces a denser, creamier product, it also destroys all the raw-some qualities of the milk.

It’s possible to make yogurt with milk that is still, technically, raw. Raw-milk yogurt’s consistency is somewhere between drinkable and eatable. We’ve been spreading ours on pancakes, making bircher muesli (overnight oats), and pouring it in mugs over a spoonful of turmeric and honey. It will keep in your fridge for weeks if well-sealed.

Raw-Milk Yogurt

#1. Heat milk to 110-115F. If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer, this is roughly halfway to boiling. (The milk should be warm, not at all hot).

Make sure to constantly stir, as any scorching at the bottom will affect the consistency of your yogurt.

#2. While milk is heating, sterilize glass jars by pouring boiling water into them.

Let water sit in the jars until milk is ready for transfer, as you want them to be warm for best fermentation results.

#3. Pour milk into warmed jars, leaving a bit of room at the top. Add spoonful of yogurt from either a yogurt starter or a commercially produced yogurt with live-bacteria cultures and stir.

If you’re using bacteria from a commercially produced yogurt, you will have to continue to do so every time you make yogurt (meaning, you can’t just use a spoonful from your last batch). If you’re able to find a starter, you’ll be able to use last batch spoons every time.

#4. Seal and wrap in sweaters or towels or use an incubator, if you have one (fancy!). Place near a heater.

#5. Ferment from 4-8 hours. Experiment with the time! Some recipes call for ferments as long as 24-hours. I usually let it ferment overnight.

#6. You just made yogurt! Enjoy! Or:

If you’d like your yogurt to be a bit thicker, and if you’d like some whey (for, perhaps, some lacto-fermented veggies) you can strain your yogurt.
Line a bowl with some cheesecloth and pour your yogurt into the cloth. Fasten cloth and let hang over an empty bowl for two or so hours. Voila: thicker yogurt!
The contents in your bowl are whey—you can store this in your fridge for up to a week and in the freezer for three months.

The Soaked Bean

Seeking Nourishment, Finding Traditions

Immune Boosting Baby Steps

Raw-Milk Yogurt