Free Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and The... by Sally Fallon, Pat Connolly, Phd. Mary G. Enig Page B

contain the bacteria/yeast mixture clumped together with casein (milk proteins) and polysaccharides (complex sugars). They look like pieces of coral or small clumps of cauliflower and range from the size of a grain of wheat to that of a hazelnut. Some grains have been known to grow in large flat sheets that can be big enough to cover your hand. No other milk culture forms grains. . .making kefir truly unique. Once the grains ferment the milk by incorporating their friendly organisms into the final product, you remove these grains with a strainer before drinking the kefir. The grains are then added to a new batch of milk, and the process continues indefinitely. Donna Gates The Body Ecology Diet
    WHEY AND CREAM CHEESE
    Makes 5 cups whey and 2 cups cream cheese

2 quarts piima milk , whole-milk buttermilk , yoghurt or raw milk
We call for the use of whey in many recipes throughout this book—as a starter culture for lacto-fermented vegetables and fruits, for soaking grains and as a starter for many beverages. The cream cheese, which is a by-product, is far superior to the commercial variety, which is produced by putting milk under high pressure and not by the beneficial action of lactic-acid-producing bacteria.
    If you are using piima milk or whole-milk buttermilk, let stand at room temperature 1-2 days until the milk visibly separates into white curds and yellowish whey. If you are using yoghurt, no advance preparation is required. You may use homemade yoghurt or good quality commercial plain yoghurt. If you are using raw milk, place the milk in a clean glass container and allow it to stand at room temperature1-4 days until it separates.
    Line a large strainer set over a bowl with a clean dish towel. Pour in the yoghurt or separated milk, cover and let stand at room temperature for several hours (longer for yoghurt). The whey will run into the bowl and the milk solids will stay in the strainer. Tie up the towel with the milk solids inside, being careful not to squeeze. Tie this little sack to a wooden spoon placed across the top of a container so that more whey can drip out. When the bag stops dripping, the cheese is ready. Store whey in a mason jar and cream cheese in a covered glass container. Refrigerated, the cream cheese keeps for about 1 month and the whey for about 6 months.
    Whey is such a good helper in your kitchen. It has a lot of minerals. One tablespoon of whey in a little water will help digestion. It is a remedy that will keep your muscles young. It will keep your joints movable and ligaments elastic. When age wants to bend your back, take whey. . .. With stomach ailments, take one tablespoon whey three times daily, this will feed the stomach glands and they will work well again. Hanna Kroeger Ageless Remedies from Mother's Kitchen
     

    Old Par, [an English peasant] who lived to the age of 152 years and 9 months, existed and even thrived on a diet of "subrancid cheese and milk in every form, coarse and hard bread and small drink, generally sour whey," as William Harvey wrote. . .. "On this sorry fare, but living in his home, free from care, did this poor man attain to such length of days." Terence McLaughlin A Diet of Tripe
     

    In Iceland. . .. whey accumulated as a by-product of curd-making and was kept in barrels, where a fermentation process began. It was then called syra . Syra was either diluted with water and drunk, or used for the preservation of food. Many kinds of food were preserved in this manner, such as blood sausage, liver sausage, sheep's heads, lamb's testicles, fatty meat, whale meat and blubber and seal flippers. Syra was the most common beverage of Icelanders for many centuries and can in effect be said to have replaced ale, as lack of grain prevented us from brewing much ale. The whey was poured into huge barrels in the larder. . .and the blanket that developed on the surface of a syra barrel was called jastur , which is the same word as yeast in English. Syra was also used to marinate