Make your own probiotics

I regularly get the Embracing Nutrition newsletter (sign up at bottom of page) and there are some great recipes and articles. A newsletter from last September highlighted 9 simple recipes for homemade probiotic foods - all dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly. However what I found most interesting was how you can create starter cultures from probiotic tablets. I hadn't really thought about it before but it seems so obvious and a great way to cut costs.

See their blog on importance of gut health here: https://embracingnutrition.co.uk/new-discoveries-in-microbiome-gut-health/

And here's part of what they wrote in the blog about creating probiotics:

Understanding Fermentation Starters

To make probiotics at home, you need a starter culture. This is what introduces the beneficial bacteria or yeast that ferment your food or drink. There are several ways to get started:

• Probiotic capsules or powders – simply open a capsule containing live strains like Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium and stir the powder into your base (such as coconut milk or cashews).

  
  

• Commercial starter cultures – vegan yoghurt starters, kefir grains, SCOBYs (for kombucha), tempeh spores, and koji (for miso) are all available online and give consistent results.

  
  

• Using an existing fermented food (backslopping) – you can add a spoonful of live yoghurt, kefir, or raw sauerkraut to kickstart a new batch. This is the most traditional method and often produces great results.

And their recipes here:

Homemade Live Cashew Probiotic Cheese
Homemade Live Kombucha
Homemade Live Fermented Pickles with Mixed Vegetables
Homemade Live Tempeh
Homemade Live Miso (simplified)
Homemade Live Kimchi
Homemade Live Sauerkraut
Homemade Live Coconut Water Kefir
Homemade Live Coconut Yoghurt