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Miscellaneous Articles

2020 Holiday Gift Guide for Foodies and Fermentation Lovers

It can be tough deciding on gifts for loved ones! If you have a person on your holiday gift list who loves fermentation, gut health, microbes, and food, here’s our gift guide for foodies to help you choose a gift they will love!

Recipe Index | Miscellaneous Articles

2020 Holiday Gift Guide for Foodies and Fermentation Lovers

It can be tough deciding on gifts for loved ones! If you have a person on your holiday gift list who loves fermentation, gut health, microbes, and food, here’s our gift guide for foodies to help you choose a gift they will love!

Dutch Oven: This is a kitchen essential for any foodie or sourdough baker! It’s a high-quality kitchen gift that will last a lifetime. If the person your gifting values lifelong function and doesn’t have a dutch oven, then this is the best gift.

Ceramic Kombucha Crock: Do you have a kombucha lover on your gift list? Do they love to brew kombucha at home? Consider getting them a handmade ceramic kombucha crock! This is a more expensive gift, but love it because you can support a small business and artist, as well as give the gift of art and kombucha!

The Fermented Foods Semester Course: Want to get someone a gift that keeps on giving… seriously, this one will be a gift for a lifetime. This is a science-based, information-packed course that will empower you with the skills to confidently and consistently craft health-promoting, sustainable, affordable fermented foods, and drinks.
Our online School of Fermentation is founded on fact-based food safety science and microbiology. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned fermentation enthusiast, this course is designed to help you understand the microbes and the science of fermentation so that you can consistently provide these nourishing foods for yourself and your family!

Beer Letterpress Coaster Set & Spinner Game: Have you thought about the beer enthusiast on your gift list? Think about getting them these handmade letterpress coasters that are also a fun spinner game! The spinner features 8 beer styles & descriptions: IPA, Porter, Brandy Wine, Pilsner, Brown Ale, Stout, Wheat, and Bock. Our friends over at Blackbird Letterpress have a TON of amazing letterpress cards for Christmas and the holidays too!

Eat Local Tee: This is a must, especially if you’re beloved foodie is from Louisiana and enjoys cajun food! T-shirts make wonderful and easy gifts and stocking stuffers. Purchasing this shirt also helps support our friend, Brad over at Tim’s Garage. We love local artists and our local small business community, so show them some love this year!

Foodie Jewelry: Let’s talk about the perfect gift for the foodie on your list who also loves jewelry! This Avocado necklace, handmade here in Baton Rouge by our friend Madeline at Mimosa Handcrafted is a great idea. She has a whole jewelry line called “Harvest” that you can check out here.

a Loaf of Homemade Sourdough: On a budget and want to make something for a foodie friend who loves fermentation? Bake them a loaf of sourdough! Here’s the recipe. If you don’t already have a sourdough starter, you’ll start prepping this gift about a week in advance. I give the gift of sourdough often, and people always love it.

The Hidden Half of Nature: This is a great gift for any food on your list who loves books, microbes, gardening, growing food and eating healthy. It’s one of my favorite books of all time. It takes a look at the interconnectedness of microbes, our food system, our planet, and ourselves.

Proofing Basket Set: When I was new to baking sourdough, this would have been the BEST gift to receive. This proofing basket set has two baskets, a scraper, and a bread lame. If you have a sourdough beginner baker on your gift list, hook them up with all the right tools in this set!

Mushroom Grow Kit: If someone loves food, microbes, and fermentation… then they probably would love to grow their own mushrooms too! This is a really affordable and educational gift.

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Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist
Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.
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hey i’m kaitlynn, i’m a microbiologist and together with my husband jon we are cultured guru.

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Fermented Garlic Honey Oxymel Recipe (Safe from Botulism!)
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Fermented Garlic Honey Oxymel Recipe (Safe from Botulism!)

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Oxymel is a medicinal herbal elixir, made through Oxymel is a medicinal herbal elixir, made through the fermentation of herbs in honey and raw vinegar. 

It’s my favorite time-tested herbal remedy that’s over 2,400 years old. It originated in ancient Greece and Persia, where it was considered a gift from the gods.

Hippocrates, the famous ancient Greek physician, was a staunch advocate of oxymel and incorporated it into his medical practices. Depending on the herbs used to make it, oxymel can help with many ailments and improve health in various ways!

In a world where everyone is asking AI, I set out to learn about the best herbal combinations from real, practiced experts in herbalism.

I felt so much joy collaborating with these herbalists @openspace.center @karlytheherbalist @lilianaruizhealy and @the.brettivy to recommend the best medicinal herb combinations in this recipe!

You can get my oxymel recipe from the link in my bio!
Okay, fine, it’s not the only reason, but it’s Okay, fine, it’s not the only reason, but it’s a reaallllyy good reason to buy another pumpkin!

My new sourdough pumpkin bagel recipe is up on our blog!
https://cultured.guru

these roasted pumpkin bagels can be made savory or sweet! Both options are included in the recipe and are perfect for fall sourdough baking. 

The savory is a pumpkin, parmesan, onion (leek) flavor, and the sweet is a cinnamon brown sugar pumpkin flavor! ✨

You can also choose to use active starter or discard with yeast. It’s up to you! 

Let me know if you try baking these this weekend! 🍂🎃🥯
#bagels #pumpkin
Google “golden beet kvass recipe” and you’ll Google “golden beet kvass recipe” and you’ll see mine, it’s the first one. 🫧✨

I only like to learn fermentation from two places: from knowing the microbes and from cultural recipes passed down in families.

I originally learned how to make kvass from a Russian food blogger, named Peter. @petersfoodadventures He grew up drinking beet kvass made by his grandfather. It doesn’t get more historically/culturally accurate than that

After learning from Peter’s blog, I developed my golden beet kvass recipe, with some slight variations of my own and a secondary fermentation to carbonate it. (Peter is credited and linked in the recipe blog too, so you can check out his original beet kvass recipe!)

Anyways, beet kvass is a delicious, sweet, bubbly beverage, not a salty lacto-ferment 🤗🫧✨

#beets #fermentation
dont want to be dramatic, buttttt these sourdough dont want to be dramatic, buttttt these sourdough apple carrot muffins are the best thing I bake every fall! 🍎🥕they’re perfectly spiced, soft, sweet and moist,  and I love to top them with a little icing. If you’re looking for a fall sweet that isn’t toooo sweet and is still healthy,  the full recipe is available on my website  https://cultured.guru and linked right in my bio. happy baking!
nuance is needed in the alcohol conversation. Pe nuance is needed in the alcohol conversation. 

People in Blue Zones , particularly in Mediterranean regions, often drink 1-2 glasses of wine daily with meals and among friends, enjoying organic wines rich in antioxidants. 

This contrasts with new studies that show “no safe level of alcohol.” These new studies lump together all types of alcohol (including hard liquor) consumed in unhealthy ways, without distinction of specific lifestyle and beverage consumption environment.

I think context is key. Wine is not necessarily a reason for longevity in Blue Zones, but it is a small, supportive component of a larger lifestyle that includes a fiber-rich diet, regular physical activity, strong social connections, and a sense of purpose. Consumption is limited to about 1-2 glasses per day and is almost always enjoyed with food and in the company of friends and family. 

This turns wine into a ritual that promotes social bonds. Not a toxic coping mechanism.

And type of alcohol does matter. Many Blue Zone populations, especially in the Mediterranean, drink natural, organic, or locally grown and brewed wines, which have a much higher antioxidant content and a lower sugar, pesticide, and additive content. 

Because of all of this, I think more nuance is needed in the alcohol conversation. 

🫧Get my apple and pear hard cider recipes on my website! https://cultured.guru 
🍎You can GOOGLE “cultured guru cider” to easily get to all my cider recipes! 
🍐You can always find all my recipes in my website recipe index too!

(Disclaimer: I am very well aware of the epidemiology that states no amount of alcohol is safe. In the general population, especially in America, drinking patterns, social patters, and lifestyle are all predominately unhealthy. So yes, for the general, average population no amount of alcohol can be considered safe.)
My new pumpkin bagel recipe is up on our blog! htt My new pumpkin bagel recipe is up on our blog!
https://cultured.guru

My sourdough roasted pumpkin bagels recipe can be made savory or sweet! Both options are included in the recipe and are perfect for fall sourdough baking. 

The savory is a pumpkin parmesan onion bagel, and the sweet is a cinnamon brown sugar pumpkin bagel! ✨

You can also choose to use active starter or discard with yeast. It’s up to you! 

Let me know if you try baking these this weekend! 🍂🎃🥯
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