12 Apr Beet Kvass, probiotic beverage

If find that people either love of hate beet kvass. If you are a lover, you might like to try this simple fermented beverage.

This is a lacto-fermented beverage which means you are creating an environment suitable for lactobacillus species of bacteria (aka probiotics) to grow. Probiotics and beneficial bacteria are wildly known for their health benefits but what you probably didn’t know is that fermenting food increases their bio-availability which means that the food is predigested (by the bacteria) making the nutrients (vitamins + minerals) more available and easily assimilated by you.

I think by now most people know that beetroots are very healthy because of their rich colour and vast nutritional profile… they are loaded with folate, vitamin C, vitamins B1, B2 and B3, minerals like zinc, selenium and magnesium. Plus when you ferment beetroot (or any other vegetable) you get to enjoy the added benefits of probiotics.

Beet kvass is definitely an easy ferment to start with and one that’s very low maintenance. Some ferments require constant care and attention… not kvass. you just make it when you need it.

Fermenting is an art-form and requires a little trial and error so don’t be dishearened if your first ferment fails. There are lots of reasons a ferment might fail. A few things to keep in mind when you are fermenting.

1. Make sure you sterilize your jars + that they are actually air tight. Some screw top lids are not airtight, opt for rubber sealed jars if you can find them. I recommend Weck jars or swing top Fido jars.
2. Try and use organic product when you can, they will have more beneficial bacteria because they are grown without pesticides and herbicides.
3. Always use the freshest produce you can find.

Beet Kvass

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Equipment

• Fermenting Jar, Swingtop bottle

Ingredients

  

• 1 tsp Salt Do not use table salt, use a high qlty salt.
• 3 small beetroots
• 1 L Water (filtered)

Instructions

 

• Wash the beets, you can peel them if you like but that's not essential.

  Chop into 2cm size cubes. Do not grate, you need them to be larger chunks or it will ferment to quickly. Add to your fermenting jar along with 1 tsp of salt. Fill jar with filtered water leaving a few cm at the top of the jar because the salt will draw out some excess liquid from the beetroots. Close jar make sure its airtight and ferment for 5-7 days.

  Once ferment is finished it should smell earthy and a little vinegary. To further deepen the flavour and remove some of the salty flavour you can bottle this in a swingtop bottle and ferment for a further 5-7days before refrigerating.