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One of the most nutritious and health-boosting fermented beverages you can make in your home is beet kvass. Beets are chock full of nutrients and fermenting them as shown in the recipe and video below is extremely beneficial to those with any sort of digestive complaints. Beets are highly cleansing to the liver, so those with liver issues benefit from consuming beet kvass on a regular basis.
There isn’t another fermented drink that can improve health as rapidly as beet kvass.
How Much Beet Kvass to Drink
As a tonic, beet kvass is recommended first thing in the morning and after your evening meal. Just 4 ounces or so is all you need to sip. This highly nutritious superfood is far better than taking a multivitamin loaded with synthetic vitamins like folic acid.
I’m sipping a morning glass of beet kvass as I type this! What a great way to start the day and rev up your digestion each morning!
How to Make Beet Kvass
The recipe below was adapted from Nourishing Traditions Cookbook.
You may make it with red or golden beets. Some people find it too salty. If so, feel free to reduce the salt in the recipe to your liking.
Beet Kvass Recipe
Traditional beet kvass recipe that is an unbeatable morning and evening tonic for rapidly boosting health.
Ingredients
- 1-2 beets (1 large or 2 medium) preferably organic, tops removed
- filtered water
- 2 Tbl liquid whey
- 1/2 Tbl sea salt
Instructions
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Wash beets thoroughly and slice into chunks no smaller than about 1/2 inch across. Feel free to peel the beets if desired; doing so reduces chances for mold on the ferment.
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Put beet chunks into a clean, one-quart mason jar. Add whey, sea salt, and enough filtered water to fill all but 1 inch from the top of the jar. Stir and mix well. Close the lid and leave on the kitchen counter for 1-2 days. Try to keep it away from the fruit bowl to discourage the growth of mold.
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Drink as desired and refrigerate once the fermentation period is complete. A 4 ounce glass morning and evening is recommended.
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When an inch or so of beet kvass liquid is left in the jar, refill with more filtered water, stir, and close the lid again and leave on the counter for 2 days more. Refrigerate fresh batch of beet kvass and drink as desired.
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When all the liquid is used up from the second batch, discard the beets and start the process again.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
If the beet kvass is too salty for you, feel free to reduce the salt to 1/4 tablespoon for your next batch.
White fuzzy bubbles forming on the top of the liquid is normal and fine as the fermentation progresses.
More Fermented Drink Recipes to Enjoy
How to Make Fermented Lemonade
Orangina Recipe (Fermented Orange Juice)
How to Make Kombucha
Hi Sarah,
I was wondering if beet kvass would be OK for women who try to conceive or who are pregnant or breastfeeding. I know that you are not supposed to detoxify while participating in the above mentioned three activities but beet kvass is maybe more of a tonic which maybe is OK? Would you mind Sarah to elaborate a little about which of the Nourishing Traditions “concoctions” are OK and which ones are not for women in one of the above three situations?
I am looking forward to your new blog posting every day. Thank you for sharing all this wonderful info with us!
Would it be Ok to eat the beets after the second ferment instead of discarding them?
Thank you.
Hi Alina,
Yes, beet kvass would be a very nutritious drink during pregnancy. It is more of a nutritious tonic than a detoxifier. I drank it myself while pregnant and found it to be helpful to digestion which can get a bit uncomfortable in those later months. There was nothing in NT that I really shied away from when I was pregnant. There are no contraindications for pregnancy for any recipes in that book, unless otherwise noted by Sally Fallon Morell.
I would pitch the beets after the second ferment. They are pretty tasteless by that point anyway.
Sarah,
We have severe dairy allergies in our family. How would you make this without using whey? I have made saurkraut without whey and it turned out ok, using a non-diary probiotic capsule as a starter… think that would work?
Thanks!
In place of the whey you can use lacto fermented vegetable juice. It’s a good “starter”. I do it all the time because I do not use dairy at all.
What a creative idea – using a non dairy probiotic capsule as a starter! That would probably work nicely here too. You could also just use 1 TBL sea salt (celtic gives the best flavor, I think) instead of 1/2 TBL. It may turn out a bit too salty, so perhaps you want to try the probiotic capsule first.
Thank you!! I've been waiting for this post so I could watch you make kvass. I think I may have left it too long on the counter last time. I can't wait to try again…
This is one lactofermented drink that you really need to watch closely so it doesn't go a moment too long. The beet kvass I made in the video was ready and tasted perfect in only 24 hours on the counter .. but then my house is a warm 77F during the day right now so it didn't take long at all. Make sure to adjust fermentation time for the temperature/time of year/humidity levels.
Couple of questions:
My house is closer to 80's and 90's in temp (no air cond) so that may be why my kvass molded, even though my chunks were more like 2" pieces (NT doesn't specify size, just not to grate them. It's helpful to know what size works here. So … if I'm watching closely so it "doesn't go a moment too long", what should I look for to be sure it doesn't mold again? Maybe mine shouldn't go even a full 24 hours.
I use Redmond RealSalt for all my ferments. I keep reading that the salt should be fully dissolved, but my salt NEVER fully dissolves! I noticed you stirred your mixture just a very short time, but one time I determined I was going to wait until my salt dissolved, so I stirred and stirred and stirred, even eventually heated the water a little, it still didn't dissolve. I assumed it was some of the minerals in there that were never going to … you know, the d word. Since this is the recommended salt, do you ever hear of anyone else experiencing this?
Oh, and another thing: do your beets turn whitish after fermenting? If they're that color, the second ferment wouldn't be red like the first. Is that an issue of concern?
Thank you! I've really been looking forward to your beet kvass video.
Naomi
It is me again. Thank you for your responses to my previous questions.
With all these wonderful fermented drinks and tonics from Nourishing Traditions: kombucha, beet kvass etc. is there such a thing as an optimal or minimal time for them to ferment in order to achieve the most health benefits from them?
Same recommended dose for kids? Thanks!