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We Love Green Smoothies

17 Jan

For many years now, us Organic Garden Bloggers have been drinking green smoothies every day. Besides making us feel bright and happy, it has given us tremendous health benefits.

We are happy to share with you  our daily elixir … well, one gardener is protesting and wants to call it a panacea – for “dancing water” in arabic:

Organic Garden Blog’s Green Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Orange Juice (unpasturised or fresh squeezed)
  • 2 Cups Water (use more or less to adjust consistency to your taste)
  • 3 Large Kale Leaves, diced (we like Organic Dinosaur Kale a.k.a. Black Kale)
  • 1 Cup Greens (sunflower sprouts, cilantro, collard – anything fresh from the garden)
  • 1 Banana (fresh or frozen)
  • 1/2 Cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen, wild or domestic)
  • 1 Cup Mixed Tropical Fruits (we like Wawona brand with Papaya, Pineapple, Mango, and Strawberry)
  • 1 Tsp Fresh Ginger, diced (leave the skin on)
  • 1 Lemon, Chopped (rind, seeds and all)
  • 2 TBSP Udo’s Oil
  • 1/2 Tsp Kelp Granules
  • 2 Tbsp Ground Flax Seed
  • 1 Tbsp Turmeric
  • 1/8 Tsp Black Pepper
  • 1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

Directions

Blenderize until smooth. Cheers!

Related Quibbits

Did You Know?

A chlorophyll and Haemoglobin (human blood) are almost identical.
The only actual difference between clorophyll and human blood molecules is one
metallic atom element.
The metallic atom is iron in Haemoglobin, while in Chlorophyll the metallic atom is magnesium.

Since Chlorophyll and Haemoglobin are so much alike in atom structure, Chlorophyll is absorbed quickly into the blood stream.
Chlorophyll as medicine

  • Anemia -Chlorophyll aids in rebuilding the bloodstream.
  • Deodorant – when chlorophyll is taken internally in adequate quantities, it reduces or eliminates offensive body and breath odors.
  • Skin problems – chlorophyll ointments are very beneficial in treating various skin diseases including weeping & dry eczema, insect bites and infections.

Look good, smell good; what more could you ask for ( except for world peace, a winning lottery ticket and immortality)

Eggs and Milk for Health

20 Apr

This Post is dedicated to our happy hens.

We Raise Happy, Healthy Chickens, bonded to us at birth.
Our chickens are Beyond Organic, They live in a large organic garden area, and are nourished every day with Wheatgrass
Our EGGS have deep orange yolks. Beyond Delicious, Yum!

Food as Medicine:

Eggs And Milk

The average physician, when he has an anemic patient, pre-scribes iron as a tonic. In theory, this is correct because the patient is deficient in iron; practically, it is incorrect because the iron he prescribes is inorganic, and as the system of man has no power to absorb and make use of inorganic substances, as has the plant, there can be no direct benefit from the use of inorganic iron, though there may be an indirect action, through its affinity to organic iron.

The food scientist, knowing that the system of an anemic person. is in need of iron, does not prescribe an inorganic substance of questionable value, but prescribes food known to contain an abundance of organic iron, which may be absorbed by the system, and a gradual improvement will commence and ultimate recovery assured through rebuilding the system and supplying it with the lacking elements. One of the foods most dearly indicated in such cases, and containing the greatest amount of iron, is the apple; this may be taken in any style; raw between meals, stewed or baked at bed time, but without sugar or cream.

Spinach also contains much iron and may be boiled and served with the regular noon or evening meals as a vegetable. Other food rich in cell salts, such as whole wheat bread, milk, eggs, fish etc. should be served with it.

As previously stated, one of the most important medicines indicated in both anemic and tubercular cases, is iron; the vegetables in which this is found in its highest organic form are, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and in some slight degree, in cabbage. We also find this mineral element in some form in the potato, but to get its benefit the potato must be eaten as a whole because the mineral is found in the outer covering.

The anemic is not deficient only in the iron element as so generally believed by the medical profession, he is even more lacking in phosphoric acid; it is this deficiency which so often causes a gradual weakening of the lungs; this may, and often does, develop into tuberculosis.

In the treatment of these cases dietetically we are liable to fail if we consider all milk under one classification, there is milk and milk, one rich in phosphoric acid while another is decidedly poor. Milk may pass the official test for germ life and still be low in its phosphoric acid content. In fact, some milk is as low as .12 per cent while good milk may be as rich as .48 per cent in phosphoric acid.

Likewise with eggs; to all appearance they may be fresh and rich in food value, while as an actual fact they are almost worthless as a food in these cases where a richness in mineral elements is required.

Why is this?

Experiments carried on at our farm have demonstrated the reason. The cow to be healthy, should have as its feed: fresh grass in Summer and as late in Fall as possible. This is always rich in all the organic mineral elements so essential to the health of the cow, and in the production of milk with a full quota of these elements; this green food must be reinforced with other feed, consisting of a combination of corn, wheat bran, whole oats, sugar feed and oil meal.

It must be remembered that unlike the food to which man is accustomed, it is not the inner, fine, starchy matter that can be fed the cow but the whole of the grain, including all of the outer covering which is full of the organic elements. These grains, rich in the life principle or vitamine, nuclein and mineral elements are the basic food of the animal, while the grasses, equally rich in vitamin and organic elements, serve as vegetables.

Food of this nature given the animal will produce a milk high in the contents of vitamin, organic salts, phosphoric acid etc. and when this is prescribed for sufferers from anemia or tuberculosis, there will be an immediate absorption of these necessary elements and a gradual improvement will commence, provided, of course, common sense is exercised in bathing, breathing, and physical exertion.

The organic salts, vitamin and phosphorus are actual, vital, energetic medicines in the true sense, and not mere substitutes such as are inorganic iron, salts and phosphorus usually prescribed.

There is another side to this question and one which vitally concerns not only the Dietitian, but all physicians who treat cases of this nature and who have the welfare of the people at heart. This has to do with the class of milk, passed by inspectors as of good quality but actually possessing very little food value.

We have considered the healthy milk and the reason for it; consideration will now be given to the other kind, milk which has failed to nourish those greatly in need of super-nourishment, as well as the means of indirectly causing countless deaths.

The average owner of cows, looking only to the profit he can derive from his stock, and totally ignorant of the results follow-ing the use of milk deficient in the food elements, or possibly caring little if he did know, will not go to the expense of buying the high priced, carefully balanced basic foods, but purchases the by-products from breweries, which can be obtained so abundantly and cheaply.

These grains have gone through a process of fermentation and thereby have been robbed of practically all the food value, of the vitamin, nuclein and mineral elements.

Once the brewer has extracted all the elements he can, it becomes so much waste to him and he must rid himself of it, he is therefore willing to sell very cheaply. The large feed houses throughout the country buy this material and in turn sell it to retail houses and mills, these again sell it to the farmer. The farmer finds it a cheap food, one that actually increases his milk supply, thereby giving him a better profit on his investments. His milk passes both the butter fat and germ test and is labelled as healthy milk, fit as food for both the sick and the well.

Herein is the secret why milk often fails as a builder in those diseases where it is indicated as the proper food and correct medicine. The cows being fed on feed which has been robbed of practically all its vital or organic salts, cannot by any stretch of the imagination, be supposed able to give milk containing the necessary elements, hence such who take the milk with the expectation of being built up, or rejuvenated, through its use, are sadly disappointed.

This is not a theory, it is fact; personally demonstrated on our farms, in this manner: Buying the finest Guernsey cows, we had them on test for Advance Registration, fed them on brewer’s grain and hay, and our milk not only passed the test as to the necessary amount of fat, but also as to quantity of milk. In other words, the milk was considered healthy, a desirable food, and all the difference that could be noted was, the cows did not show as healthy a condition as under correctly balanced rations. That is, though healthy in so far as tests could demonstrate, they were not as lively as when fed whole grain food.

Noting this, we changed the food, gave them either hay in Winter, or pasture in Summer, and instead of the deficient brewer’s grain, a mixture of the whole corn (ground), bran, oats, sugar feed and oil meal, and the sleek appearance gradually returned and more life shown. However, under test the milk did not show any great increase in butter fat content, nor any considerably greater amount of milk.

Thus, under the two feedings and under the present method of testing, one kind of milk was as desirable as the other for food, though actually one class of milk was totally unfit, barely passable as a drink, and would have been a detriment to either an anemic or consumptive, because it gave the system much labor to digest it, without adding much building material; while the other milk was a true food, builder and medicine.

This is the reason so many sufferers have taken quantities of milk daily without the least improvement in their condition. These being facts, immediate changes should be made in the system of testing milk, whereby we may learn whether it is rich in butter fat, vitamin and the mineral contents. Unless we do this we will continue to add countless victims to our list of those resulting from taking food which adds the burden of digestion and elimination to the system without giving commensurate nourishment in return.

Normal milk, that is, milk containing all the elements it should, is the most perfectly balanced building food known to man; because it contains all of the seventeen organic mineral elements in their correct proportion, all the elements of food required by man; and at the same time is a neutralizer to an acid system.

Normal milk contains rather more of the elements of potassium and calcium than necessary to the fully matured and healthy man, and because of this and to offset it, the use of fruits deficient in these elements, should be eaten in conjunction with the taking of milk, though these must not be eaten with the milk, but between the taking of it.

Consumptives should eat plenty of apples and oranges between the drinking of milk, and vegetables rich in iron and nervines with the meals.

Although we have mentioned milk only in connection with the rebuilding of anemics and consumptives, it is indicated in many other conditions, especially in those where starved brain and nerves and where weakened generative organs are the cause of the trouble.

Eggs, like milk, are both food and medicine. They contain, in the white, an almost pure albumen; while the yolk, fat, phosphorus and sulphur.

All these are medicines to the weakened system; the fats and albumen are builders while the phosphorus is an absolute essential in the treatment of anemia, tuberculosis, all wasting diseases and neurasthenic conditions.

The sulphur is essential in the treatment of tuberculosis and in all other conditions where the cause is supposed to be found in germ life.

In the use of eggs either as a food or medicine certain results must be guarded against; these are the danger of creating sulphuric and sulphorous acid as well as phosphoric acid. These, in limited quantities, are curative in their nature, but if they accumulate beyond the normal amount they become dangerous to health. This accumulation may be avoided if the counter acids be supplied in the form of fruits and vegetables.

The rules governing the use of eggs in the dietary are like those which regulate the taking of milk; all fruits between the eating of the eggs, all vegetables served with them. Fruit to be eaten before retiring and on arising.

In all conditions where the stomach is found much weakened and the digestive power below the average, the egg diet must be started very gradually, otherwise there is a tendency to create gas, distending the stomach and intestines, this in turn creating other digestive and assimilative trouble. When gas accumulates after the eating of eggs it must be dispelled by eating plenty of fruit.

Much of the trouble may be avoided by eating no eggs before they are at least three days old, and never after they are three weeks. Before they are three days old, their mineral contents are not fully organized. After three weeks, these elements begin to disorganize.

In all conditions where the digestive power is extremely weak, but one yolk should be taken with every six whites and even then the whites should be well beaten. The stomach may also be prepared to receive and digest them by giving it a few leaves of crisp lettuce on which has been added a little good apple vinegar, one-half hour before the eggs are served.

Like milk, eggs are of two classes;
those forming good food, and those unfit for use.

The Horrendous Truth about Eggs
About 95 percent of the nation’s eggs are produced at caged-hen egg farms. ALERT to the public, to a practice that is cruel and neglectful. 100,000’s of chickens confined to small wire cages.
Hen corpses lying in cages with live hens, many had fallen into deep manure pits or others with their heads apparently caught in wire cages.

During the war we were told to save all scraps and feed them to chickens, that any food fit for human consumption should not be fed to them. If these instructions were carried out, the farmer fed only waste scraps, unfit for table use, to his fowls and this may have been one of the reasons why the fearful epidemic raged during. the latter period of the war.

All who have experimented with poultry know it is utterly impossible to raise chickens, and just as futile to maintain the health of the flock, if the food given them is not clean and fresh enough for human consumption.

Time and again the test has been made of feeding fowls principally on stale white bread. This tends to fatten fowls for a time, but gradually a breaking down process results and the fowls become what may be termed consumptives.

Unless the food supplied chickens is in correct proportion, disease results, moreover, it is utterly impossible for the eggs to contain the correct elements of food if the material containing these be not fed the fowls in like proportion. The result is, if we rob the fowl of its correct and healthy food, we will most assuredly rob the egg of the nutriment and proper constituents, and instead of it being a splendid building food it actually is a source of danger, because it will be un-healthy, unbalanced, deficient in nutriment, containing too much of the acid and gas forming material.

Because of this the egg has found so much disfavor among those who should consider it their best food, and considering the universal system of wrong feeding of both cows and fowls, we should not wonder why these foods, so necessary in the treatment of wasting diseases, fail to do that which chemistry says they should.

The greatest reason for failure in the treatment of tuberculosis, anemia and like diseases with diet, is because of food not containing the elements which it is supposed to, and should contain; in the wrong combination of these with other foods, principally the fruits, and in not recognizing the danger line in prescribing food medicines.

Milk is nature’s most potent medicine for all wasting diseases, but if it is robbed of its medicinal elements it cannot bring good results any more than one would expect to see any great improvement in a case where the physician prescribed Hydrastis for some abnormal condition of the stomach and the patient, instead of taking the number of drops indicated, were simply to flavor the water with a few drops and take this dilution instead of the full strength of the medicine.
Milk without its full quota of nutriment and vital content is just like the diluted medicine except it requires greater effort on the part of the digestive and eliminating organism to take care of it.

Milk consists of carbohydrates in the form of milk sugar, hydrocarbons in the form of fat, protein in the form of casein (the most powerful nerve and brain builder known to science), the mineral elements, principally potassium, iron, sodium, lime, magnesium and other salts. Of these salts the iron and phos-phorus are of greatest importance. Besides the food and the mineral elements which we term super-food elements, milk and all dairy products are rich in the life principle vitamin.

That the benefit of the vitamin, albumen and casein be obtained, it should be taken in the natural, unboiled state. Cook-ing, even slightly heating, will partly destroy the vitamine in milk, eggs and dairy products.

In all wasting diseases and those conditions which cannot be classed as wasting, but in which there is a low state of vitality, it is the iron, phosphorus and potassium which acts as builders in helping to rebuild the wasted tissues and restore the vital power. Unless we can accomplish this rebuilding, we cannot establish an equilibrium, and a normal, healthy, virile state is impossible. Milk Contains all of these necessary elements, therefore is the natural, logical remedy.

People universally believe tuberculosis a germ disease, instead of what it actually is; a condition, a low state of vitality being the base. They cannot yet comprehend that when the system is fortified with vital power, and the correct amount of true foods consumed, supplying the system with all the necessary elements, no amount of germs will be able to make any headway against such.

Neither germs or bacteria are the actual cause of disease, but on the contrary, a low state of vitality will allow the resisting forces to become so weak that germs which in health are natural, become the enemies and invade the system, producing disease.

In the body of man there are millions of valiant soldiers ever ready to battle against any enemy that may attempt an attack; these soldiers are the corpuscles in the blood, and the power behind them is the organic phosphoric compound which we call nuclein.

When these little soldiers are fully supplied with the phosphorus compound they are able to resist any attack of the enemy disease, and invasion is impossible. It is because of this that men and women have been able to be in the midst of the world’s worst plagues and pass through them in safety. If these little soldier-workers are not supplied with sufficient phosphorus, then like the ill-fed army that has to fight against a well nourished one, they wage a losing battle.

Let all clearly understand the enemy is always at hand. Examine the throat of a healthy man, woman or child and one will find the germs of Diphtheria, but of this nothing is thought, it is, actually a normal state because these germs act as scavengers. But the the moment the vital forces fall below a certain stage the instant the phosphoric contents of the blood corpuscles is below normal, that moment these scavengers may become the enemy invaders and produce the disease. In other words, the Hun on the outlet who may be a willing worker while the master is strong, becomes the invader, conqueror and destroyer when the master loses his strength.

Contrary to what one might suppose, it is not difficult to supply the necessary mineral elements; the phosphorus, iron and potassium. All we need to do is to compose the menu of healthy, natural, complete foods, and refuse to partake of those which have been robbed of their vitalizing principles.

Every time we buy white bread, buns and sweet cakes, every time we accept white rice, polished barley and denatured corn meal, we act the traitor to this army of little soldiers; we give them a stone when they ask for bread, and then expect them to fight the invading enemy. We give them starch when they ask for food that contains phosphorus, potassium, iron and the fourteen other cell salts essential to their life and energy.

Every time a cook boils a vegetable and throws aside the water in which they are boiled, she wastes the actual food which these workers require in their fight to maintain health and strength.

Whenever a potato is peeled and the peelings thrown away or fed to the hogs, the hogs are fed and the army of workers starved.

When we boil milk or eggs, we coagulate the albumen and destroy the vitamine, thus robbing the workers of the food which would give them vital power.

In feeding hogs on brewer’s grain and other offal, instead of sour milk and grain feeds, we perpetuate a robbery on society, because we sell the hogs as good food when in fact it is not fit for human consumption, the necessary food elements being lacking.

When the skin is removed from the apple, pear or other fruit and discarded as unfit to eat, we rob ourselves of the active food value which is essential to health and vital energy.

The chemist who would take an herb and macerate it, filter it and throw away the tincture, keeping the dregs as medicine, would be considered ignorant and unfit to serve his vocation, but throughout the world countless housewives are daily stewing fruits, vegetables and all manner of other foods, draining the water wherein boiled and throwing it away as of no value, keeping the refuse or waste and serving it as food.

To be continued…

Links From The Thinking Person’s Guide to Perfect Health

  • Nutritional Medicine-The Standardized Allopathic Approach : The practice of standardized allopathic medicine involves diagnosis and suppression of disease with specific “cures,” when they are available. Standardized allopathic medicine does not attempt to actually cure disease, but rather to simply suppress the expression of disease symptoms
  • Slowing and Reversing the Effects of Aging We live in an age of expansion in all areas of human knowledge. The total amount of information which is available doubles every five years. Medicine is no exception. The average doctor completed training fifteen years ago. That means the amount of information a person needs to know to be a top-flight medical expert has doubled three times since then.

Italian Breakfast of Champions

13 Apr

This page is a testament of Love to my Mother, Netta.
“May the lamp of all souls shine her light upon us”

Every morning before school, my Grandfather would take me by the hand and walk me to the chicken coop at the back of his garden. His eyes would twinkle as he handed me the freshest egg from a nest. I carried this warm present in my hands very carefully past the grape vines and fig tree to Grandfathers wine cellar.

In the cellar, he opened a bottle of his homemade wine and poured some into a little glass. I handed him my egg to which he broke the shell and let the egg fall into the glass of wine. Then, he instructed me to drink this down quickly. After I drank his elixir, I felt rosy warm glow come to my cheeks.

This was our custom every day. Nobody in the rest of my family even knew we were doing this. To this day, I credit my Abbruzzese Grandfather with helping me on maintaining my health and wellbeing.

I have never heard of anyone with a similar life story until I found this wonderful article which I post here for you today.

Salute’!

Italian Breakfast

Benefits and tradition are in a glass of red wine (and a fresh raw egg)

From: L’Italo Americano

Grandparents knew value of good red wine for everyday celebration.

As we raised our glasses high, Papa’s words sang out over the dining table, “Saluté per chinto Anno,” his deep, rich voice as hardy and pure as the red wine he held in his glass.

“Good luck, for a hundred years,” his dinner guests echoed back.

I remember how Papa’s face beamed with pride at these joyous occasions and how our meal never began until each family member had repeated the traditional dinner toast and sipped from our small glasses of red wine.

Wine was always a part of our family’s holiday meal. I was introduced to its flavor, as well as its medicinal benefits, at an early age. As each family milestone occurred–baptisms, first holy communions, confirmations, birthdays, graduations and marriages–another bottle of Papa’s homemade red wine was uncorked. Bottles were also poured on Sundays, holy days of obligation and all national holidays–there was always cause for celebration in Papa’s house.

Grandma often put the benefits of red wine to good use as a medicinal cure. It was administered in moderation as a remedy for arthritis and to purify the blood, cure anemia, alleviate stomach cramps and prevent infection. During World War II, when cases of trench mouth and whooping cough reached epidemic levels in the U.S., Grandma administered the rich red wine to each grandchild as a preventative mouthwash and gargle. It must have worked because none of us ever contracted either disease. We did, however, develop a profound liking, in later years, for chianti, cabernet sauvignon and merlot.

Grandpa often walked me to the chicken house to get my fresh egg. He then cracked the egg in a glass, poured in his wine and watched happily as I drank my breakfast. Can you imagine a child today going to school with the smell of hearty burgundy on his or her breath? I shudder to think of the consequences.

As a teenager, I recall the looks of astonishment on the faces of my non-Italian friends as they watched Papa fill my dinner glass with wine. To those who objected, Papa would simply say, “Wine is served in church at the communion rail, is it not? And it was served at the Last Supper.” End of discussion.

Papa’s house was a peaceful one and a place where he felt happiest. He eliminated the extraneous and engaged in living a simple and satisfying lifestyle. His home was well-balanced, filled with the practical things he needed and the people he loved. He had his own quiet corner to which he retreated after a robust meal. It was his belief that the soul sighs after eating a large, traditional dinner and that one should spend time in contemplation and reflection. Papa reflected at least an hour after every meal–the sound of his snoring vibrated though the house.

October has always been my favorite time of the year, when the air is brisk and leaves turn a vibrant rainbow of colors. Papa looked forward to this autumn month, too, but for a different reason. October is the traditional time of year for winemaking. It was then that he assembled paraphernalia and ingredients for the making of his hearty burgundy.

Winemakers on the East Coast had to wait for good winemaking grapes like malaga and zinfandel to come in by rail car from California. But this valley’s winemakers, like Papa, were lucky enough to have the plentiful grapes of the Napa and Almaden valleys practically in their back yards. They only had to arrive in their pick-ups to local vineyards to buy boxes of the finest grapes. Some old-timers nurtured their own tiny grape vineyards for the express purpose of making homemade red wine.

Devoted winemakers, like Papa, usually owned their own grape-crushers, while others rented or borrowed one each fall. After the crush was finished, the juice was poured by funnel into the huge oak barrels that had been cured with sulfur smoke.

Here’s where the talent for good winemaking would come in. One mistake and the winemaker’s barrels would be filled with vinegar instead of wine. But, like Papa, most winemakers had inherited their skills from the Old Country and rarely made a bad batch.

My favorite memory of winemaking was how the family gathered together at the ranch house to help Papa make the wine. The hub of activity was usually in Grandma’s kitchen, where the ladies were hard at work making homemade pastas, sausages, raviolis and hot tomato ketchup, in preparation for a grand October feast. The aroma of roasted bell peppers wafted through the air from Grandma’s hot oven every fall, filling our nostrils with their wonderfully pungent smell.

In the fall, the men in the family gathered in the cellar to cure the wine barrels and to help Papa set up his wine press. Some of the men helped Papa haul in the grapes, others set up the grape-crusher and some cured the oak barrels.

As a child, I remember hearing Papa and Nonna speak of the renowned vineyards of Brolio Castle, the baronial estate of the Ricasoli family, an area famed for its chianti. It is said that wine has been made in this region of Italy since 1000 CE. It was this revered standard of chianti that Papa tried his best to clone.

Years ago, Mama and Papa never had to call in a baby-sitter to watch the kids. There was always an older family member available for this chore. One of my favorite of these family baby-sitters was my great-grandpa, Vincenci. When it was his turn to watch the kids, he’d begin by telling us a long, colorful story of his days as a Cavalry soldier in the Italian army. Along with Granddad’s story, we were also treated to a hot wine drink, similar to zabaione. To keep us occupied after supper, grandpa gathered us all around a crackling fireplace, and as he told his story, he handed us each a large cup. In the cup he placed a raw egg and a teaspoon of sugar. We were then instructed to whip the egg until it was very frothy. By the end of great-grandpa’s exciting tale, our eggs were ready for the boiling water and jigger of marsala wine. After drinking down this rich zabaione toddy, we kids–and great-grandpa–were all ready for a good night’s sleep.

Today, America is having a love affair with wine. And authorities tell us that drinking a glass of red wine a day can increase longevity. But Papa and Nonna, who lived well into their 90s, knew of these benefits early on.

H2O2 – Many Uses of Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide

21 Jan

H2O2 - Hydrogen PeroxideAfter 20 something years of using food grade Hydrogen Peroxide, we are still constantly amazed over its many uses…

Where to buy food grade H2O2
Garden of Eden

Store food grade H2O2 in a labeled UV protected bottle and place in a cool, dark, and safe place away from pets and children. H2O2 reduces in strength less than 1/2 of 1% per month when stored in a refrigerator (but not in a freezer!).

To make a 3% Solution, mix 1 oz. of 35% food grade Hydrogen Peroxide with 11 oz. of Distilled Water.

Some of the many uses of food grade Hydrogen Peroxide

Garden

  • Sprouting Seeds: Add 1 ounce of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide into 1 pint of water and soak the seeds overnight. Add the SAME amount of Hydrogen Peroxide when you rinse the seeds. (Some people have reported 3/4 inch Sprouts in 24 hours!)
  • Plants & Flowers: Add 1 oz. of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide in 1 quart of water to water or mist plants. (This will enhance the growing environment)
  • Insecticide Spray: Add 8 ounces white sugar and 4 – 8 ounces 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to 1 gallon of water.

Food and Water Storage

  • Salad: Add 1 Tbsp. of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to 1/2 cup of water and spray the top of the salad before covering and refrigerating.
  • Vegetable Soak: Add 1/4 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide into a gallon of cold water. Soak light/thin vegetables (Lettuce, etc.) for 20 minutes. For thicker skinned vegetables (like Cucumbers) for 30 minutes. Drain and dry (they’ll keep longer). If time is an issue, you can spray vegetables with straight 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, let stand for a couple of minutes, rinse and dry.
  • Milk: Add 2 drops of 35% Hydrogen Peroxide (full strength) per gallon of milk. This extends the expiration date considerably (works great for us!).
  • Water Storage (For two months or more): Add 30-50 drops of 35% Hydrogen Peroxide in 1 gallon of water.

Cleaning House

  • Sparkly Clean Glassware: Add 2 oz. of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to your regular dishwasher washing formula.
  • Kitchen: Keep a Spray Bottle of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide in the kitchen. Use it to wipe clean counter tops, inside your refrigerator and appliances.
  • Washing/Laundry: Add 8 oz. of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to your wash instead of Bleach .

Health and Hygiene

  • Bath: Add 1/2 to 1 pint of 35% Hydrogen Peroxide to a full bathtub. ( Try not to use this close to your bedtime as the increased oxygen absorption may keep you awake.)
  • Mouth and Teeth: Add enough 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to baking soda to make a toothpaste. Use 3% Hydrogen Peroxide as a mouthwash.
  • Humidifiers/Steamers: Use 1 pint of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide to 1 gallon of water.

** This page is updated often.

Please check this page again for more information about the many uses of food grade Hydrogen Peroxide.

Coffee – Grounds for Joy

4 Nov

Fresh Roasted Harar CoffeeA fig for partridges and quails,
ye dainties I know nothing of ye;
But on the highest mount in Wales
Would choose in peace to drink my coffee.
~Jonathon Swift

Our coffee adventure began when we called up our local coffee roasters to order some of our favorite Mexican coffee and they said that they didn’t roast those beans anymore. So we decided to see what other coffee options were out there.

After reading a lot of info on the internet and tasting many coffees that were roasted by local companies we decided to search for green beans and roast our own.

Home roasting turns out to be a cost-effective luxury; you always get the optimum fresh cup that makes coffee drinking such a profound joy. Having fresh roasted coffee is also a benefit to your health – the roasted coffee you get in stores have been sitting for who knows how long and the beans go rancid after about a week… not good to ingest.

Here are a few tips and insights we have gathered through our coffee learning experience.

Our Favorite Coffee Bean

The beans we love are called Harar Longberry, named after a region where coffee arabica is indigenous and first domesticated, and comes from some of the highest grown bushes in the world (up to 2600m.).It’s one of the world’s most ancient commercially traded coffee, yet still grown and processed exactly as it was five hundred years ago when it first seduced the world. Harrar Longberry is known as the best highland grown Ethiopian Arabica coffee. It has a medium acidity, full body, and winey, gamey, berry flavors …as the roast gets darker, a chocolate flavor comes out.

The coffee bushes are allowed to grow wild and although it doesn’t say so on the sacks, no fertilizer or pesticides are used. The Harar coffee is hand/dry processed. This means that when the beans are ripe, they are picked by hand, dried in the sun and carried to market, where the dried fruit husks are removed by the millstone and the chaff winnowed from the beans by hand. Most commercial plantations use a water method of soaking the beans to loosen the husk and this makes the bean ferment, ultimately making the coffee less tasteful and healthy.

Coffee processing: Dry Vs Wet

The coffee cherry matures for about 5-6 months on the branch.
The cherry must be ripe when picked. At any given time a branch contains ripe and unripe fruit simultaneously. Good quality coffee is hand picked with continuous passes on the same trees.

Dry-process:
The whole ripe coffee cherries are laid out on patios to sun-dry. Then the seed is milled out of the cherry once the moisture content is down to about 12%. This simple ancient method produces a tastier and healthier coffee.

Wet-process:
First the beans are dumped in water tanks. Any overripe cherries, leaves, sticks etc float to the top and are skimmed off. Next the beans travel down a water slide to be de-skinned. Then the seeds, still covered with their pulp, go into tanks to ferment. Then they are once again sent down a water channel to remove the now soft pulp. Now the bean can be dried and packaged.

Roasting

Years ago we found a great home roaster: the Home Innovations Precision Roaster.
We drilled an extra large hole in the lid so we could insert a high temp thermometer to see precisely what temps we preferred for roasting. We found that our favorite roasts are Full City+ (454 f) and Vienna (465 f).
When our roaster finally died we bought Hearthware iRoast2 and it does a great job.

Brewing Methods

We highly recommend using a French press. If you don’t have one, the next best brewer would be either the espresso pot (moka pot) or to make cowboy coffee.

French Press

It’s a cylindrical glass pot that has a plunger attached to the lid so that when you push down on the top of the plunger, it forces a fine wire mesh through to the bottom. You put the ground coffee into the pot, add hot water, and cover with the lid. After the coffee steeps for two minutes, push the plunger down, forcing the grounds to the bottom of the pot while the brewed coffee remains above.

For the French Press, you want a grind that is as fine as possible without letting sediment past the screen. This usually works out to be a tad coarser than filter-drip grind.

Cowboy Coffee

It’s just like the French press method, but without the press. In a pot, boil your water, shut off the heat, take a long breath (or whistle for the cows) and then add the coffee grounds (you may need to add slightly more grounds than usual). After two minutes, pour through a fine strainer and drink.

* French Press and Cowboy coffee methods leave some sediment in the final cup which is unattractive to some folks, but the pay off is you get a much more flavor. If you really dislike sediment, pour the brew through a fine strainer before drinking.

Espresso/Moka Pot

These stovetop brewers produce a dense cup that’s something between espresso and Turkish coffee. The grounds are put into a filter between the lower chamber (that you fill with water) and the upper chamber that will contain the finished beverage after brewing. Since the water is forced through the cake of coffee by pressure, the process bears more resemblance to espresso extraction than gravity-based (infusion) brewing. Use a low to medium flame, which also helps avoid blackening the brewer itself. If you invest in one of these, be sure it is made of stainless steel.

Don’t be a Drip

PLEASE DON’T !!!…
put the coffee in a regular auto-drip coffee maker; due to it’s inability to get the water to the correct brewing temperature (195-200 degrees), it will obliterate the multi-layered flavors that make this kind of coffee a special treat.

Test the Water

We are lucky to have ultra clean well water that’s on the hard side because it makes for an ideal brew. Soft water can make coffee taste dull, muting the good bright flavors in a cup. So, its always safe to use bottled spring water if you have soft water at home or when you are traveling.

To prevent scalding the grounds, boiling water should never come in contact with fresh ground coffee. The ideal brewing temperature, regardless of method, is about 195 – 200 degrees F.

Grounds for Joy

2 heaping tablespoons of ground coffee for each 10 to 12 oz. of water (for each regular mug). This is our preferred measurement, you may find that you like your coffee stronger or weaker than this.
* There is a standard coffee measure scoop used by the Specialty Coffee Association. It is 1 Level scoop that approximates 7.25 grams coffee. Use 1 Scoop per 6-8 oz water.

Drinking Tips

Fresh brewed coffee tastes best within the first 10 minutes.

As you can tell, we really love our coffee. If you are interested in home roasting, We’d be happy to relay any tips we learned through our own roasting experiments.

Happy day to you.
We hope you will have a moment to sit quietly outside and enjoy this special coffee treat.

More Info

Sweet Maria’s
We order beans and bought our Roasters from Sweet Maria’s. They also supply roasters, grinders and all sorts of coffee paraphernalia as well as provide valuable info for coffee lovers and home roasters.

Homeroaster.com

Pictorial Guide to the Roast Process

Tweaking Coffee’s Flavor Chemistry

The Coffee FAQ

A morning without coffee is like sleep. ~Author Unknown