Bircher than thou, a healing breakfast

Enriched Birchermüesli, with mikan orange, aloe vera… and a ginger zinger. Don’t go to imagine that I eat breakfast like what people call breakfast or that I need to heal for something. It’s for my 12 noon, and I really like this.

Müesli sounds like mou (soft, squashy, sluggish in French) and that’s what it means in Swiss dialect.
Surprisingly there is nothing “mou” in most dishes/products presented as muesli over the world. Usually it’s granola, which is a different animal.

Of course granola can be great, for instance the Garden’s Kitchen home-made granola “Mama’s muesli”. It looks deliciously sweet and crispy. Too tempting. I’d empty the jar in one sitting. What did I type “sitting” ? Standing bare feet in the night in front of the cupboard, like a thief or a mouse. You got it, I can’t stock granola.

All that just to say, it’s not “mou“.

That’s my muesli mou. And some days, I want to eat “mou”

The Dr Bircher was living over 100 years ago, when TB was a common occurrence they couldn’t cure. They hoped affected people would heal… His work was about making patients get stronger by active outdoor life in mountains and diets rich in raw fruits. Obvious for us, but that was very innovative in his time.

If that interests you, also see the Budwig cream (click here).

Not sure I believe in the claimed health effects, but that’s surely better than having a few fast-food donuts…

Traditional Birchermüesli :

2 hours (or the night) before :

1 tbs of oatmeal + 3 tbs of cold water

(ok, that was 2 tbs…)

1 grated apple

1 ts lemon juice

Sudachi lemon.

After 2 hours :

The muesli is very creamy and it has turned the water into oat milk.

When serving :

1 ts condensed milk

That’s yogurt. I let it age and eat it well fermented, 2 weeks after sell-by date. I didn’t add sugar as there are many sweet fruits.

1 ts ground hazelnuts or almonds

Crushed walnuts. And the topping almonds.

Adding more fruits is optional. I I arranged it at my taste with the supply I had :

Raisin and goji berries.

Fresh fruits are optional. Aloe is not a fruit, but I like it.

Cut in cubes. I sprinkled a little Okinawan kurozato (black sugar) :

Final touch : toasted almonds and a few pinches of powdered ginger. Mmmmmm….