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Posts by author

Mary Allen

27 posts
Mary Allen is a food educator and ancestral-food researcher with deep experience in Indigenous food traditions, traditional foodways, fermentation, foraging, and the connection between what we eat and our health & well-being. Her work explores how time-tested practices- from the Three Sisters tradition of corn, beans, and squash to wild-food foraging, seasonal eating, traditional preservation, and indigenous fermentation can inform a more natural approach to everyday nutrition. Through her work with Food Is Our Medicine, Mary is particularly interested in preserving food knowledge that connects people to the land, seasons, community, and traditional food systems. She brings a practical, deeply grounded perspective to various topics related to farmers markets and local food access, ancestral diets, food preservation, and she is deeply passionate about long history of fermented and minimally processed foods.
  • Fermented Drinks (water kefir, kombucha, tepache, kvass)
  • Recipes & DIY Guides

Kvass Explained: The Traditional Fermented Beet & Rye Drink

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
True kvass is a low-alcohol, tangy beverage historically made from stale rye bread, not just beets. Fermented beet kvass is a medicinal offshoot, not the original recipe. First-time brewers try…
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  • Fermented Drinks (water kefir, kombucha, tepache, kvass)
  • Indigenous & Traditional Fermentation

Tepache 101: The Fermented Pineapple Drink With Ancient Mexican Roots

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
Don’t use chlorinated tap water and expect wild yeast to behave. I learned this the hard way after ten minutes of trying not to throw up. I don’t recommend drinking…
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  • Fermented Drinks (water kefir, kombucha, tepache, kvass)
  • Recipes & DIY Guides

How to Make Water Kefir at Home: A Beginner’s Fermentation Guide

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
Water kefir grains need minerals to thrive; using distilled water without adding minerals back will stunt their growth and flatten your fizz. The most common mistake I see first-time brewers…
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  • Fermented Vegetables (sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles)

Lacto-Fermented Pickles vs. Vinegar Pickles: What’s the Gut-Health Difference?

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
Commercial vinegar pickles contain zero probiotics. They’re made with acetic acid, not bacterial fermentation, and they’re almost always pasteurized for shelf stability. The most common mistake I see first-time fermenters…
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  • Fermentation & Fermented Foods
  • Recipes & DIY Guides

Canning Traditions and Community: What FIOM’s Peach Canning Event Taught Us About Food Preservation

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
Water-bath canning is safe for high-acid foods like peaches, jams, and properly acidified pickles, but pressure canning is non-negotiable for low-acid vegetables and meats. The most common mistake I see…
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  • Ancestral & Indigenous Food Wisdom
  • Indigenous & Traditional Fermentation

Indigenous Fermentation Traditions: Tiswin, Sofkee & Atole

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
Indigenous fermented foods are not interchangeable traditions. The most common mistake I see first-time brewers make is treating tiswin like commercial beer and expecting a predictable alcohol content. If you…
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  • Fermented Drinks (water kefir, kombucha, tepache, kvass)
  • Recipes & DIY Guides

Water Kefir, Tepache & Kombucha: A Beginner’s Guide to Fermented Drinks

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
Water kefir is the fastest and most forgiving daily ferment I know: 48 hours start to finish, and a single 1/4 cup of grains produces a fresh quart every single…
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  • Fermented Vegetables (sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles)
  • Recipes & DIY Guides

The Home Fermenter’s Guide to Sauerkraut, Kimchi & Lacto-Fermented Vegetables

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
The most common mistake I see when people first learn how to make sauerkraut at home is pouring in extra brine before the cabbage has wept its own juice. Dry-salting…
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  • Fermentation & Fermented Foods

Your Grandmother’s Root Cellar as a Microbiome Library

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
A properly built root cellar can hold steady in the low 40s in winter and the mid 50s in summer, even when it’s 90 degrees outside. I’ve measured that swing…
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  • Farmers Market & Local Food

Bringing Fresh Food Access to Everyone: SNAP, Farmers Markets, and Gut Health Equity

  • August 21, 2026
  • Mary Allen
SNAP benefits at farmers markets routinely double your buying power through token-match programs, but the process is booth-specific and poorly explained at most markets. I watched a woman nearly walk…
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