We've been discussing fermented veggies in a few different threads lately, so I figured I'd put my beet kvass recipe in its own post to make it easy to locate (and to avoid the need to keep typing it up repeatedly.) Actually, it's Sally Fallon's recipe from the WAPF website and at least one of her published cookbooks, but I've been doing this for years and I forgot exactly where I initially got the recipe.

This isn't the tastiest recipe, as it comes out a little bit "medicinal" in flavor, but I drink about 1/2 cup each morning. Since I can't have any dairy products, and most ready-made fermented veggies are made  from "avoids" for me (such as cucumbers or cabbage), I find this really helps my digestion. It's also extremely affordable- all I need to buy is raw beets from the produce dept and salt.

I peel and chop 2 beets (about 1 lb) into 1 inch cubes, then put them into a quart jar, add about a tablespoon of salt, then fill the jar with filtered water. Then I cover the jar and shake it to dissolve the salt in the water. Then I leave it out at room temperature for 2-3 days, shaking it daily. If I have a little bit of kvass left  from the previous batch (and it's still good) I'll add that to the mixture before letting it ferment.

I drink the resultant liquid, discarding the solids. I've tried eating them, but they taste too "washed out" by the time the kvass is ready to drink. If you wanted to make fermented beets to eat the beets, I'd suggest using just enough water to cover the beets.

Ruthie,

Thanks for the recipe!!!.

I've just started to dabble in fermenting veggies.  Soo i'm still alittle unsure if i'm doing things right.  

Does Sally Fallon have more recipes for fermented foods?.  If so can you leave a link soo i can look into them?.

Thanks Again!  

http://www.westonaprice.org/Lacto-Fermentation.html

I ferment mine shredded with other veggies if I want, but only add sea salt.....no water, and the taste is strong and full, not washed out.....plus the fiber is an added bonus

I add water to the beets because I drink it as a beverage. If you're pickling veggies, and plan to eat the veggies direactly, then you often dont' need added water at all- grating and smushing the vegetables with salt usually brings out enough vegetable juice that nothing needs to be added, or maybe a tablespoon or two of saltwater to the whole batch if it's not juicy enough.

it is potent stuff!!

Why is this good for gatherers to drink?  

Because we can't have yogurt or kefir or cucumber pickles or saurkraut- any of the commercially available fermented foods. It's a healthy source of probiotics.

Cool thanks...

Thanks, I will plan on making it and drinking it. Do you leave the lid on, or take it off, and put it back on to shake it?

I leave the lid on the whole time- it's easier for me that way.

I looked kvass up in the dictionary and it says it is russian beer, so does it have an alcohol content, to it. (I take meds. that is why I ask)


When finished do you refrigerate?

this kvass discussed here has no alcohol, no worries!

I refrigerate it when it's done- it slows the fermenting process, plus I just think it tastes better cold.

This is a lactic acid fermentation, not an alcoholic fermentation. Kvass might be a general word for fermented beverages in Russian, but this particular recipe isn't alcoholic. I understand, though, that if you don't use enough salt and/or if you grate the beets instead of chopping coursly, you could get alcoholic fermentation. Lactic acid bacteria grow well in brine,while other sorts of bacteria (including those that produce alcohol) don't grow well with the salt water. Alcoholic fermentation is more likely when there's lots of sugar in the mixture, especially when there's no salt to slow that down.

That makes sense, Thank You Lola and Ruthiegirl

Sally F. in her recipe adds whey (a dairy by product) sounds like you are getting decent fermentation without whey?  

I've never used whey in any fermentation- even Sally Fallon says it's OK to skip the whey and double the salt instead. And since most of her recipes seem to be overly salty anyway (consensus from another web forum where many people tried her recipes) it seems that you can simply omit the whey from any of her recipes and be fine.

If you want a good book on fermenting vegetables, I recomend Sandor Katz's book Wild Fermentation. I was impressed with it when I took it out of the library, and if I owned it I'd refer to it a lot, but, my budget being what it is, I learned the techniques and just wing it now.

Very interested in this thread, as I love beets and fermented foods.

I noticed that A approves, which is good enough for me, but I thought Explorers couldn't do a lot of fermentation? Maybe a misapprehension on my part.

I'll give this a try, thanks

Quoted Text

I noticed that A approves, which is good enough for me, but I thought Explorers couldn't do a lot of fermentation? Maybe a misapprehension on my part.

Does anyone know if this is the case?.  I plan to start dabbling more into fermentation, soo i don't want to go overboard!.

Thanks!
Mickey  

so I put doing this on hold because no one ever answered my query about Explorers and fermentation...then saw the thread again in a recent post on probiotics...

is it ok for Explorers????

Dr D has never responded to whether or not it's OK for Explorers. There's certainly nothing to definitely say it's a problem. My own understanding is as follows:

Commercially available fermented foods are cucumber pickles, sourkraut (cabbage), yogurt (milk) and kefir (milk.) All of these foods are poor choices for O nonnies because they're fermented from "avoid" vegetables (and in the case of the fermented dairy, because they're avoids on their own for all O's.)

I can't see how it would be a problem to consume  fermented forms of beneficial or neutral veggies. Even if the fermentation does something "bad" for you, then fermenting a beneficial veggie should result in at least a neutral rating for the final product, right? Beets are beneficial for Explorers.

It just seems intuitively wrong that a probiotic capsule would be preferred over a fermented food. I feel like nutrition should come from food, with supplements filling in the gaps if we can't get enough of a specific nutrient from food (due to illness, extra need for nutrients due to environmental stressors that didn't exist in "ancient times", and/or lower nutrients in modern food.)

On another note, I made my latest batch of beet kvass with some  chunks of ginger mixed in with the beets. It came out really good.

That sounds so good Ruthie with ginger.
I think I´ll add that to my next baths- almost gos ready beets in garden.

Funny enough I just realised that my batch of beet kvass is at least 3 months old
I forgot it when I was stressed and then I looked at it in the weekend and it smelled and tasted fine.
I made it without whey .I do that in general with my fermented stuff - seems more safe - seems less likely to act weird - wonder why  

I agree btw  in you last part about food over pills...