Lacto-fermented non dairy foods

[PennyP]

I've made ketchup and mayonaise lacto-fermented before. They tasted great, were extra healthy, and the bacteria helped act as a preservative to prolong their shelf life. But they called for whey.

If I wanted to make lacto-fermented foods with different bacterial cultures, could I add some kombucha or water kefir to the mayo or ketchup or whatever to make them lacto-fermented? Or does it only work with whey?

[tanyalynn]

You don't need to use a starter at all, at least for most ferments.  Some of the fruit ferments are different, but I've made: NT ketchup and mustard, kimchee (love it), carrots, miscellaneous veggies, and pickles without dairy or any other starter.  Bacteria from the air and/or the veggie surface are sufficient.  There are lactobacillus bacteria lots of places, they got the name by noticing and isolating them first in dairy products (thus the lacto- prefix) but the type of bacteria are common, and lots of traditional fermenting, think pickles or sauerkraut or kimchee, didn't use dairy. 

There's a long thread in this forum, Fermenting Veggies (or is it Vegetables? look for the word Fermenting and lots of replies, say > 100 replies to the thread) it discusses the whole issue a lot more thoroughly and succinctly than NT or Wild Fermentation (love WF, the thread's just quicker). 

[bluebackpacks]

Your response is so off-topic that I wonder if you are merely trying to advertise your website.

Originally Posted by JonyLeaber 

The intake of dairy calcium has a profound influence on how easily an individual gains or sheds body fat. A high intake of dairy-based calcium not only protects against body fat accumulation, it enables a person to utilize (burn) more fat for energy. The best source of calcium that provides this beneficial effect on fat metabolism is low-fat, protein-rich dairy foods.

Here's what's on my shopping list:
skim milk
low-fat yogurt
cottage cheese

If you'd like a free fat burning foods chart, I put one together that you can download for free on mcnewsletters.com. If you have any other quesitons, feel free to fire away.

[PennyP]

I do lacto-fermented veggies without whey all the time. For some reason, I thought ketchup, mayo, and mustard would need whey to lacto-ferment. If you have a good recipe for these that doesn't require whey, please fire away. I don't have access to NT (though its on my wish list for this Holiday season), so I can't just look it up.

And yes, I know dairy is good for you. There just are people who can't have dairy.

[dogmom327]

For most things you can use just salt but other things work too--for example a few water kefir grains or water kefir can work in some cases (I used water kefir a few months ago to make a LF salsa).  If you have a chance, see if you can get the book Wild Fermentation from the library--lots of recipes that don't use whey.

And just a thought on the off topic discussion...nettle infusion is an excellent source of non-dairy calcium as well as a number of other vitamins and minerals :)