Probiotic supplements provide beneficial microorganisms in a convenient, concentrated form, while cultured foods allow you to add living cultures to your diet through food. 

In the Body Ecology approach, cultured foods are a cornerstone of supporting the inner ecosystem and are meant to complement, rather than necessarily replace, probiotic supplements.

Veggie Culture Starter is designed for fermenting vegetables, while Kefir Starter is used to make fermented drinks and foods such as coconut water kefir, coconut kefir “cheese,” and traditional milk kefir. Choosing the right starter depends on what you want to culture.

They’re part of Donna Gates’ traditional Body Ecology fermentation method.

EcoBloom acts as a prebiotic that helps fuel the growth of beneficial bacteria during fermentation, while Ancient Earth Minerals are included in Donna’s microbial-enriched brine recipe for cultured vegetables. 

Together with Culture Starter, they give you the ingredients Donna uses to create her cultured vegetable brine.

A culture starter introduces specific beneficial bacteria to the food you’re fermenting. These microorganisms begin the fermentation process, transforming ingredients like vegetables or coconut water into cultured foods containing live and active cultures.

Body Ecology starters can be used to make homemade cultured vegetables, coconut water kefir, coconut kefir “cheese,” and other fermented foods. Donna Gates developed these recipes as an easy way to make cultured foods a regular part of the Body Ecology way of eating. 

Start by deciding what you’d like to make. Body Ecology has different starters for cultured vegetables and kefir, along with step-by-step instructions to guide you through the fermentation process. 

Once you choose your starter, follow the recipe for ingredients, preparation, fermentation time, and storage.

It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or you've done this before—we'll walk you through every step! 

See our culture starter instructions and videos here