Dairy allergies and fermented foods

I was very excited to start fermenting foods after reading Nourishing Traditions. The health benefits really seemed to be just what my family needed. But, having a daughter with serious dairy allergy, I was concerned about using whey to ferment foods. I learned three things that helped me finally take the step and try fermenting.

1) Whey is not a required ingredient unless fermenting fruit. While it does give fermentation a head start, it is not necessary for vegetables. Most foods can be fermented using only sea salt and filtered water. The “lacto” part of lacto-fermentation refers to the lactobacilli that are present in great number on fruits and vegetables; and the lactic acid which is produced when the bacilli do their work preserving the food. It does not refer to lactose, the sugar in milk.

2) Raw, whole milk is made up of several components. (Caution: Never attempt the following with storebought, homogenized, pasteurized milk. All you will get is a slimy, smelly mess that should NOT be consumed.) When you first get a gallon of fresh, raw milk all the components are held in suspension. The first group to break down is the butterfat, that’s why within several hours of undisturbed rest, you will see cream float to the top of your milk. If you skim off the cream, it can further be broken down into butterfat, or butter as we call it, and traditional buttermilk. As this first change takes place, the lactose turns to lactic acid, which gives its tart flavor and makes it a great medium for soaking grains to reduce their phytic acid. For the lactose-intolerant, buttermilk contains very little lactose as it has been turned to lactic acid. The buttermilk you buy in the store is generally cultured buttermilk, regular milk to which specialized bacteria have been added. What makes the buttermilk thick if the butterfat is gone? Casein proteins begin to clabber, or group together as they break down, which gives the buttermilk its characteristic thickness.

Meanwhile, if you were so fascinated by the cream that you left the skimmed milk out on the counter for several days, another change would take place. Those casein proteins would start clumping in the milk just like they did in the cream. But this time they would clump in even larger groups, called curds. Eventually those curds will separate from the liquid to the point that the liquid is nearly clear.

At that point, you can put the curds into a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a bowl and strain them from the liquid. What is left in the strainer is similar to cottage cheese or cream cheese and is where the casein protein has congregated. Cheese is made from these curds, although chemical separation is preferred for the production of cheeses like cheddar. The liquid that drains out is called whey, and it contains the water-soluble whey protein.

Okay, this is a ridiculously simplified explanation, I grant you. There are constituents of raw, whole milk that are still being discovered. It contains special bacteria, unique cells, a dozen different proteins, sugars, fats, vitamins. It’s really an amazing, living substance!

3) Eating lacto-fermented foods helps digestion, repopulates helpful bacteria populations in your body (the good ones that fight off the bad, disease-causing bacteria) and assists your immune system. But, because they are such powerful nutrition, they only need be consumed by the tablespoon, not by the cup.

These three insights mulled around in my head until the lightbulb went on. I could serve lacto-fermented vegetables without the use of whey if I was not comfortable with it, or if Rose showed sensitivity to it. While there might be some residual casein in the whey, we only use four tablespoons of whey to a quart of fermenting vegetables or fruit. And that quart is consumed in tiny portions. All the while these tiny portions are helping rebuild her immune system after years of ravaging by the histamine response of her allergies.

If Rose had the type of allergic response that is called “anaphylaxis”—the life-threatening drop in blood pressure type—I most likely would not even attempt using whey. But as it is, her allergy to casein is limited to eczema, and it is improving steadily, even with the ingestion of at least one fermented food a day.