Golden Ginger Turmeric Beet Kvass with Orange

Kickin' it with Karen: Beyond Sauerkraut
Thank you for being patient with me. I had to take a break from writing for a week while I trudged through the last week of school before winter break. It is a difficult time for some students. I do my best not to cause them any more stress than they may already be experiencing. Bless them.

So let's talk about Beet Kvass:
In the video is a "Apple Ginger Beet Kvass" I did back in October of 2018. What is beet kvass? It's a fermented beet juice, a probiotic liver tonic touted to be excellent for heart health, gut health also the, "phytonutrients that give beets there deep crimson color also have powerful anti-cancer properties (Mecola). But what about golden, or orange beets? Do they pack the same powerful punch as the red ones? They sure do! Though their colors differ, golden beets are red beets nutritional equals (Corleone).

Beet kvass is made by chopping up beets, salting them, adding water and letting them sit to ferment for one to seven weeks. I find that beet kvass made with golden beets is lighter and brighter in flavor. Though, this may just be in my head because the beautiful golden color reminds me of sunlight, something we see very little of in the depths of winter in Minnesota.

In this recipe, I give you another one, two punch by adding ginger and turmeric, both of which are rich with phytochemicals that reduce inflammation and pain throughout the body (McQuillan). Along with that I add a whole orange (peel and all). Oranges are packed with vitamin C, thiamin, folate and potassium. But also, they are high in natural sugars. However, fermenting oranges not only eats up the sugar (fructose) in the fruit, it also makes the nutrients more bio-available to us (Espinoza).

This recipe is simple: chop everything up, add salt, add water and ferment. That's it. So let's do this.

Equipment:
A 1 gallon glass jar
A fermentation airlock or a canning lid
Fermentation stones (optional)
2+ quart jars for bottling

Ingredients:
3 large golden beets
3 inch piece of ginger
2 inch piece of turmeric
2 tablespoons of turmeric powder
1 orange
2 large cabbage leaves
38 grams of salt
2 quarts of water (filtered, dechlorinated, or spring)




(this video premieres December 26, 2018 at 7pm.)

Directions: 

1. Wash your beets. If they are not organic, you should peel them also. If they are organic, you should rinse and wash away any remaining dirt.
2. Chop the beets into 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces.
3. Chop the ginger into 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces.
4. Chop the turmeric into smaller pieces to expose more of the flesh
5. Mix all of these together in a large bowl
6. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of turmeric powder and 38 grams of salt over the beets, ginger and turmeric.
7. Mix again so that the dry ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the blend.
8. Cut and orange into eight pieces.
9. Mix the orange into the vegetables.
10. Place all ingredients in a large 1 gallon size jar.
11. Pour water over the blend 
12. Fold up the cabbage leaves and place them over the vegetables in the jar. Press the cabbage down below the brine. Do not let any of the vegetables float up. If they do, push them down under the cabbage leaves.
13. Place the fermentations stones on top of the cabbage leaves to weight them down and keep them below the brine level.
14. Screw on your lid with an airlock and place the jar in dark corner away from sunlight for no less than 1 week to up to 7 weeks.
• Note: if you do not have an airlock, you can use a regular canning lid, but you will need to burp the jar to let the CO2 escape at least daily. Otherwise, your ferment may explode, jar and all. To burp your jar, you just need to unscrew your lid quickly - do not take the lid off - and quickly screw it back on. You should hear a little "psssssst". Once you hear that, the gas build up will have escaped and you need to screw it back on a fast as you can so that oxygen does not enter the jar. 

You will notice bubbles forming between 24-48 hours. My ferment started in less than 20 hours this time, which is unusual in our cold home in Minnesota. Keep checking your ferment daily just to see how it is progressing. You can start tasting in about a week. I find that the kvass just tastes like beets that early on. I like the flavor to transform. At around 3 weeks, the beet kvass has taken on a floral flavor, the turmeric has lost that chalky taste, the ginger begins to provide a hint of heat and the orange has released all it's citric goodness into the ferment. At around 5 weeks, the everything in the ferment has melded and you have a completely different, smooth, earthy and tasty product than you had in the beginning.

At the end of the ferment, strain the beet kvass and bottle it in your jars. I use old kombucha bottles as well as these brown quart size medicine bottles. When I have filled the bottles, I place them in the refrigerator.

Sometimes I will add a tablespoon of apple juice in the bottles and do a secondary ferment to create some fizz. I just place the jars on the counter for another 2 days and then refrigerate.  

I have in my life had bad allergies, skin breakouts, digestive issues and GERD. I have consumed 3 oz of kvass every morning for 3 years. What I have noticed is that my allergies are less intrusive, my skin has become clearer,  my system is REGULAR (everyday at 6:40) and I no longer experience acid reflux. Beet kvass has changed my life for the better. 

I hope you try and like this recipe. It has been my pleasure sharing it with you.

I'd like to grow my readership. If you enjoyed this blog post, add a comment and share it with a friend. 😀 Please visit, subscribe and like my YouTube channel Kickin' it with Karen: Beyond Sauerkraut to find more things I've made.

Sources: 

Corleone, Jill. “What Are the Health Benefits of Orange Beets?” LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf Group, 2018, www.livestrong.com/article/525504-what-are-the-health-benefits-of-orange-beets/.

“The Benefits of Fermented Beets.” Mercola.com, Mercola.com, 26 Dec. 2016, articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/12/26/fermented-beets-benefits.aspx.

Espinoza, Jessica. “52 Weeks of Bad A** Bacteria - Orangina (Lacto-Fermented Orange

Juice).” Delicious Obsessions | Real Food Recipes, Natural Living Info, Health, Wellness, Nutrition,

Delicious Obsessions, 16 Jan. 2018, www.deliciousobsessions.com/2012/01/52-weeks-of-bad-a-

bacteria-week-2-orangina-lacto-fermented-orange-juice/.

McQuillan, Susan. “Ginger and Turmeric: A Dynamic Pain-Fighting Duo.” Practical Pain Management, PracticalPainManagement, n.d. www.practicalpainmanagement.com/patient/treatments/alternative/ginger-turmeric-dynamic-pain-fighting-duo.