Hey friend!
You may have noticed by now that I’m sorta obsessed with fermenting stuff. Well, not just fermenting stuff… but just generally doing some out-there stuff in the kitchen. Every day I feel like I come up with some crazy new project!
And today is no exception. Today’s video is on how to make the fermented beet drink called beet kvass. It’s my new favourite liquid for my green smoothies!
Anyway, this one is super easy to make, even easier than sauerkraut:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wX9tSNlFeg
Click here for some simple instructions for making your own whey. All you need is some yogurt, a cloth, and a bowl.
PS – I made this video the first time I had ever made beet kvass, so I honestly didn’t know how it was going to turn out, and was just hoping for the best!
Well, I let it sit out for three days, and then put it in the fridge. It continued to ferment in the fridge and the beet and salt taste continued to dissipate and it started to taste better. I’d say after a week it was done, and it tasted not sweet or salty, but just like a lightly sour, effervescent drink with a hint of beet. Not bad, but it takes some getting used to. So like I said above – it’s great in my green smoothies!
9 Responses
Ooooo!
Hmmmmm…are cucumbers fermented to make pickles? And are they bad for you?
Ah yes, you can use pickling cucumbers to make your own fermented pickles too… ahah I’m sure that will be an eventual project that I will take on!
Homemade fermented pickles would be very good for you – store bought pickles, I don’t know. They aren’t really fermented, they’re just in vinegar, with probably a lot of preservatives
Hi, Tracy! Thanks for the video, this looks delicious. I was wondering though, there’s a heck of a lot of argument concerning what fermentation is beneficial when doing a candida cleanse and which should be avoided. Things like kombutcha, and kvass. Could you explain what should be avoided and what should be included? And is there a green smoothie recipe without avocodo for the candida diet? Big love, sister!
Yeah I know there is, and frankly I don’t know for sure. The reason there’s so much argument about this stuff is because people just react to things differently and one thing might stir someone’s candida and not others.
Kombucha sounded the most iffy, so I decided not to recommend it (mostly because it’s got caffeine). They say beet kvass has too much sugar, but I think it would be fine if it’s fermented long enough. Usually the probiotic benefits outweigh the sugar….. but probably not in everyone!
Also, with the avocado smoothies, if you don’t like it, just don’t include it. I only add them because it makes it a bit creamier and filling
The fermentation eats up the sugar. It’s actually sugars in the veggies/milk that the bacteria eat. If the beet kvass is fermented long enough, it should have no appreciable sugar in it at all. Even fermenting yogurt for a full 24 hours produces a lactose-free yogurt because all of the lactose has been eaten by the fermenting bacteria. Lactose is milk sugar.
Thanks for all your great info. Love your videos. They always seem to come at me at just the right time in my life. I do have a question. Do you know how long beet kvass last up to in the fridge? I’ve look on the internet and have heard some people say it gets better over time. I have about 4 qts of beet kvass stuffed in the back of my fridge for over 6 months now. Theres no mold or anything growing on it, and it still smells fine. any thoughts? thank you for everything 🙂
Hi Jessica!
Fermented food lasts a long ass time. It’s what a lot of people use to preserve food over the winter when nothing grows… they ferment everything and stick in a cold cellar over the winter… so I would imagine that 6 months is totally fine as long as it’s not mouldy or smells rotten, which you say it doesn’t!
could you please write out the recipe instructions in the blog post beneath the video? some people like myself do not/cannot always watch videos and prefer reading (different types of learning i guess). just a suggestion! 🙂 thank you 🙂
To share few tips about fermentation, I grew up in a family with a mother and grandmother fermenting so these are the old ways:
1-fermenting jars should stand in a dark cupboard as light or sun kills the good bacteria in it, so do not leave them standing on the top of your kitchen cupboard, put it inside the cupboard and shut the door.
2-ferments do not like chemicals – and this includes dishwashing liquid, chlorine and fluoride in the water, plastic containers,etc. Use only hot water to wash jars.
3-If you have different strains of ferments like kombucha, milk kefir, water kefir, sauerkraut – take care not to mix them. keep them in different cupboards and wash your hands and even change tea-towels. The bacteria is air-born, I had once a kombucha scoby growing on the top of a milk kefir.
4-Fermented food does not need to go to the fridge at all, you can leave it in a cupboard for a long time, I heard about a 4 years old sauerkraut that someone found in their pantry which was forgotten for that long time. And it was fine and good to eat ( a little soft probably but that’s all).
5-Fridge slows down the fermentation process but the bacteria will eventually die if you keep it for a very long time and the food will get rotten – but will not die if you keep it in the pantry even up to a year or longer. However it will keep fermenting.
6-The salt is most important – it needs to be a natural mineral salt, meaning either a rock salt or sea salt, never use a cooking salt. Mineral salt has minerals and bacteria which will start the fermentation, that’s why to make sauerkraut all you need is salt, which introduces bacteria and some other bacteria comes from the cabbage itself.
7-I never add any starter, only salt or sugar (for kombucha). Starter can speed up the fermentation process and prevent spoilage however this rarely happens as even in the winter the room temperature is reasonably good. My sauerkraut takes 3 days to ferment in the summer but two weeks in winter. Starter will introduce different bacteria and can prevent others from developing.
8-If you get mould on the top, just remove the top layer and the rest is fine as long as the juice covers it. You can see it in the colour.
So happy fermenting people!