
I am slowly becoming obsessed with probiotic foods and beverages.
It started off as a curiosity, since I know that fermented foods and probiotics are ‘good for me’. But they still kind of freaked me out for a long time.
I bought my very first bottle of Kombucha a few years ago when I was out with some friends at the Vegan Food Festival. I was a couple of years into Chiropractic College and had never heard of Kombucha. It was a nice summer day and the festival was right on the lake in Toronto. I was thirsty and had spotted the bottles of Kombucha that one of the vendors was selling. It sounded a little strange, but it was cold and liquid. Plus, the hippy-looking woman who sold it to me said it was healthy and detoxifying. It was ginger flavored, sweet and almost tasted a little booze-y. I did not actually like it.
Being the curious person that I am I wanted to know if there was something to this weird drink, or if it was just a gimmick. So I took the bottle home with me, and Googled it.
Several hours later I was down the rabbit hole of Kombucha and the wonderful-ness of probiotics.
A couple of weeks after that, I was at The Big Carrot on the Danforth in Toronto.
As a side note: If you have never been there, you should go! It is a great market full of local, good quality meats, fermented foods, organic fruits and vegetables and everything under the sun that would appeal to someone vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, grain free or other ‘weird diet’ folk, such as myself. The Big Carrot also carries all natural household, cosmetic and body care products. Win.
Anyways, back to the point. I was at the Big Carrot and I saw a whole fridge full of different types of Kombucha. I stretched my student budget and bought five different flavors. They were all right, although still a bit too sweet for my liking. Nothing magical happened to me, so I kind of forgot about it for a while.
It was not until I moved to London and was surrounded by more of my kind (the hardcore Life By Designers) that I was introduced to making kombucha. You can do that? Who knew? Turns out, the homemade stuff tastes much better!
After securing my first SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) I was off to make my own ‘buch (pronounced ‘booch’, which is my official, slang shortening of kombucha.)
Now that I have ‘mastered’ Kombucha (although admittedly not to the mastery level of Mr. Adam Cairns) I had to expand my horizons.
This week I made kvass.
Kvass is a fermented beet juice. It is salty and a little sour. It has an earthy, beet-y flavor. I absolutely love it. It tastes like pickle brine with a subtle hint of beet, which is essentially what it is.
Since it was wonderfully easy and turned out really well, I wanted to share how to make it.
I got this recipe from wellnessmama.com who got it from the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.
Ingredients
- 2-4 beets
- ¼ cup juice from sauerkraut (or whey)
- 1 tablespoon sea salt or Himalayan salt
- Water
- 2L glass jar
Instructions
- Wash beets and peel (if not organic) or leave skin on (if organic).
- Chop beets into small cubes, but do not grate.
- Place beets in bottom of jar.
- Add whey/sauerkraut juice and salt. I used the sauerkraut juice because it seemed simpler to me. If you don’t want to use whey or sauerkraut juice, you can double the salt instead, though it may take longer to ferment.
- Fill jar with filtered water.
- Cover with a towel or cheesecloth and leave on the counter at room temperature for 2 days to ferment.
- Chill in the fridge.
- Drink!
When you have consumed most of the kvass you can add more water, put it back on the counter, and make a second, slightly less strong, batch. The wise people of the Internet also recommend using the beets after to make beet soup or borscht. I am planning to try it out.
What is your favorite fermented product?
I am going to try out a new one this week, possibly pickles. Give me your two cents and I will give it a shot and write about it in future posts.
For more simple By Design recipes why not pick up your copy of the Eat By Design Cookbook. I’ve created it in the form of a 28-day meal plan (plus grocery lists!) so you don’t need to think about what’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner for the next month. Or you can grab the first 7 days FREE by clicking here.