Revisiting Beet Kvass

The Beet Kvass Goes on!

Ooooo my awesome sister Shirah makes beet kvass and it is delicious and nutritious!!  We have added this to our daily routine.  We have 4 ozs when we first get up and then 4 ozs in the afternoon.

Beets are in the top 10 of vegetable SUPERFOODS.  Here is why:

Beets contain sodium, magnesium, calcium, iron and phosphorous! They are also considered a fiber food and contain vitamins A and C as well as niacin! You can't beat that!

Beets contain folic acid which is necessary for the production and maintenance of new cells. This is especially important for pregnant woman or anyone undergoing physical healing. Many people take folic acid in the form of herbal supplements, but if you eat beets, you won't need to! It is always better for the body to receive it's nutrients and vitamins through food over a supplement because it is like mainlining the natural source into your bloodstream. The benefits are far superior and faster with real food over powder mixes or pills.

 Studies have shown that beets guard against cancer, especially colon cancer.

 Medical studies have also shown that including beets in your diet helps protect a body against heart disease.

The root is rich source of phytochemical compound Glycine betaine. Betaine has the property of lowering homocysteine levels in the blood. Homocysteine, one of highly toxic metabolite, promotes platelet clot as well as atherosclerotic-plaque formation, which is otherwise can be harmful to blood vessels. High levels of homocystiene in the blood results in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and peripheral vascular diseases.

Raw beets are an excellent source of folates; contains about 109 mcg/100 g (Provides 27% of RDA). However, extensive cooking may significantly depletes its level in food. Folates are necessary for DNA synthesis in the cells. When given during peri-conception period folates can prevent neural tube defects in the baby.

It contains significant amounts of vitamin-C, one of the powerful natural antioxidant, which helps body scavenge deleterious free radicals one of the reasons for cancers development.

The root is also rich source of niacin (vit.B-3), pantothenic acid (vit.B-5), pyridoxine (vit.B-6) and carotenoids, and minerals such as iron, manganese, and magnesium.

In addition, the root indeed has very good levels of potassium. 100 g fresh root has 325 mg of potassium or 7% of daily requirements. Potassium lowers heart rate and regulates metabolism inside the cells by countering detrimental effects of sodium.

The beauty of making beet kvass is many fold.  You have delicious beets to eat which the fermentation process increases all the above values.  You can use the beets to make up to 3 batches of kvass before you need to eat the beets!  You can then put them on salads or in soup or stew.

Beet kvass is a proven purifier of blood and the liver.

Special note before you start: I have only had a few times that I have fermented something and it grew mold on top.    Every time my sister makes beet kvass it gets mold on top and so far the same is true for me too.  I found a little tip to help stop that.  Start with a jar that has been sterilized in boiling water or use a "Pickl-it" jar or a similar jar like a Fido.  I always start my ferments in a super clean jar but this extra step will be good insurance against anything that might want to grow and the problem seems to happen particularly with beets.  The issue with mold is that it can be lifted off the top but you really don't know how far down the tendrils go. 

Take 3-4 beets and cut the tops off.  These greens are delicious and worthy of your salad!!

Wash them and if it makes you feel better, scrape them but there is really no need to peel.  Cut them in chunks.  DO NOT SHRED THEM! 

Place them in your jar and fill to within 2-3 inches of the top with filtered or spring water and 2-3 teaspoons of salt and 1-3 Tablespoons of whey.   You do not have to use whey!

Let stand for 2-3 days.  They will have bubbles and pressure on the lid when you open the jar.  As always your ferment depends on the room temperature and should make easily in 2-3 days at 72 degrees room temp.

When done, strain the beet kvass through a fine mesh plastic strainer with a layer or two of cheesecloth in it.  If you have some mold, lift it off first, everything below is safe.  You can rinse your beets in filtered water and I cut them a second time to expose more surfaces and start over with the same beets!!  I think that is so amazing!!

You will be so happy you added beet kvass to your daily fermented drink!!

Day 2 - Herod and Bar Kokhba

Nehemia attacking a building King Kong style

Inside the compound of Herodian

Directly under the clouds, the light blue patch is the Dead Sea 

Jerusalem

Yoel Halevi and Nehemia Gordon Listen to both of these amazing men on Truth2U.org

Here I am on the top of Herodian with Jerusalem in the background 

The Dead Sea is at my right ear and the mountains of Moab behind that

One of only a few ancient domed ceilings still standing

This is the watch tower on top of Herodian that was originally 10 stories

This one of only a few ancient synagogues.  This is one of the oldest

Synagogue

About to go into the Bar Kokhba caves

Me and Yoel 

Me and Hemi in the synagogue

Herodian

First Days in Israel

Shalom from the Holy Land!!

It's been a fast but wonderful 2 days in the Holy Land of Israel.  One of the things that I am excited about is Nehemia and I are doing a 3 day juice fast to start our short time here.  We are using a Vita Mix so we are getting the benefits of the whole vegetable.  Remember your health is the most important thing you have!!  Without it, you cannot accomplish very much.

Now on to what we have seen so far!!!!

Here is an ancient pool in Jerusalem that was part of the ancient aqua duct system and Temple water system 2,000 years ago, it is close to Independence Park in Jerusalem.

You can see a great example of how pools and cisterns were built in Ancient times.  They made walls of stones and then plastered over them.  The stones themselves are limestone and so very porous.  The plaster insured against leaks.  Makes this Scripture come alive!

           For My people have done two evils: they have forsaken Me, 

           the Fountain of living waters, to hew out cisterns for themselves, 

            broken cisterns that can hold no water. 

                                                                             Jeremiah 2:13

These are the Ancient steps going down to the pool

Just scenery of normal living in Israel

Date grove on our way to the Jordan Valley to look at the barley
and see where it is in it's ripening stages.

The peak in the distance is Sartaba, in Ancient times, signal fires on mountain tops were used to alert people farther away from Jerusalem of events such as the new moon sightings.  Sartabah is one such peak where signal fires would be kindled to announce the new moon had been sighted and new month would begin.

Deb Burnet in the Jordan Valley area searching barley fields.

Not barley but so pretty!!!!!!

Nehemia Gordon doing what he loves to do.  Checking out the barley in a field in the Jordan Valley

Barley and flowers!!

My name, Devorah, which I was born with means "bee".

I could not resist this shot!  The Hebrew word for honey is Devash.  

Barley that is past aviv stage!!

Nehemia is outstanding in his field!  (I couldn't resist that one!)

I thought this might be an Ancient wall.  Turns out it is a geological formation.....much older than Ancient!!

Storks at a landfill

Nightfall begins and we head back to Jerusalem from the Jordan Valley