Let me introduce you to Rejuvelac, my secret potion.…It’s a drink that is oddly flavored but surprisingly tasty, packed with probiotics, and is super easy to make!
Step-by-Step Instructions and Full Recipe Below
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Your first sip will make you pucker and wrinkle your nose a bit. It is an acquired taste, so consider yourself warned.
This is a drink as versatile as water, but a nutritional powerhouse that can stand on its own laurels.
With one basic ingredient, it is ridiculously simple to make and – as I’ll show you – costs just pennies a glass.
This supertonic is known to rebuild weakened digestive systems, strengthen immunity, boost energy and even – as folklore tells – reverse graying hair and repair damaged teeth. This mysterious beverage is brimming with life-giving enzymes and bursting with live probiotics that your body will love!
It’s a drink rich in a variety of necessary amino acids, minerals, and vitamins and is reputed to be a rare vegetarian source of vitamin B12, an essential vitamin found lacking in most vegan and vegetarian diets. Your caffeinated cup of Joe has nothing on this drink. With this amazing nutrient-rich drink that will fill you with clarity and fresh energy, mid-afternoon crash-and-burns can be eliminated.
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Although it hovers in the shadow of its popular probiotic cousins, Kefir and Kombucha, this homemade fermented drink should win the title of “Best Probiotic Drink.” And the name of this magical rejuvenating and vigorous elixir is – Rejuvelac!
A History Alive in Healing
Rejuvelac found the spotlight in the 1940s courtesy of Dr. Ann Wigmore, holistic health practitioner, health educator, author, and founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute.
Over a span of 40+ years, Dr. Wigmore documented hundreds of recoveries from illness and diseases including “incurable” cancers, from patients who used this simple drink alongside a raw food diet. Harvey Lisle, a famous food chemist who did extensive research on the health benefits of Rejuvelac in the 1980s is quoted in Dr. Wigmore’s book, “Hippocrates Live Food Program.” Lisle states that,
Rejuvelac is rich in proteins, carbohydrates, destrines, phosphates, lactobacillus, aspergillis oryzae (which breaks down glucose), B complex vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin E.”
Lisle concluded numerous health benefits such as: providing friendly bacteria into the gut, moving and cleaning the bowels, removing toxins, and restoring health by moving excess waste.
The Little Wonders Behind the World’s Best Probiotic Drink
Rejuvelac is a fermented liquid made from a sprouted grain or seed. But, before you get too excited; it is not an alcoholic drink. Its kick is completely alcohol-free. This makes it wonderful for children, the weak and elderly, and has been an aid to beating alcoholism by taking the edge off of the addiction cravings.
Because Rejuvelac goes through a fermentation process, probiotics are created and introduced into the gut with friendly flora that grows wonderfully in the digestive system. You must be familiar with the buzzword PROBIOTICS by now. They have taken the health trends by storm, showing up on food labels everywhere, from yogurt to cereals. Because of the fermentation process, Rejuvelac’s healing wonders continue to grow and multiply, creating growing healing wonders.
Why Is Everyone Talking About Probiotics?
The word “probiotic” comes from the Greek ‘pro’ meaning promoting, and ‘biotica’ meaning life. It is a term referring to the hundreds of species of good bacteria – friendly flora as they are sometimes called – that work tirelessly to keep you healthy. They grow and multiply in your gut… making them literally growing healing wonders.
Natural health experts hold to the belief that health begins in a healthy gut. This is where billions of busy probiotic bacteria work to keep proper digestion, synthesis of vitamins and minerals, regulation of hormones, and enhancement of the immune system flowing effortlessly day in and day out.
The Battle in Your Belly
These good probiotics also wage war on the bad bacteria that are ceaselessly trying to invade, attack, and destroy your body. By fact of mere numbers – when you have more good than bad – the good bacteria can keep the damaging bacteria under control.
However, antibiotics, processed food, medications, and different environmental factors in our modern world have caused our naturally occurring probiotic population to plummet. This leaves the door wide open for the bad bacteria to flourish and potentially cause bedlam with our health.
That is why we replace probiotics through our diet or by taking supplements. And that is what the probiotic buzz is all about. The testimonies of measurable improvements in health and vitality have people racing to the store to find quality sources of live probiotics.
Foods that are promoted as good sources of probiotics include yogurt, sauerkraut, and the Asian condiment, kimchi. And let’s not forget fermented drinks such as Kombucha and our secret potion, Rejuvelac.
Brew Your Best Batch of Rejuvelac
Rejuvelac is not widely available to buy, so it’s all the better to make your own. It is also cheaper and, hey, just plain old fun to watch the processes from start to finish.
We start with a grain: wheat, barley, and rye are pretty traditional ingredients and sprout easily. But I’ve also seen recipes using spelt, brown rice, and cabbage (the cabbage isn’t sprouted, just fermented). Quinoa, millet, buckwheat, or amaranth can be used for a gluten-free probiotic drink.
Your finished fermented grain beverage will provide a flood of live probiotics, as well as nutrients that come from the sprout itself. Your wheatgrass drink, for example, will be a source of vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorous, and iron. Depending on your sprout of choice, the nutritional values may vary
The batch we are making together here will use wheat berries, but feel free to try out other grains and recipes. Let your imagination and ingenuity lead you, and discover which one you like best.
How to Make Rejuvelac: Step-by-Step
Rejuvelac Probiotic Drink
Ingredients
- 1/2 - 1 cup of organic wheat or other sprouting seed or grain
- Non-chlorinated water
Instructions
- Rinse ½ – 1 cup of organic wheat grains and let soak in a quart sealer full of water over night.
- Drain off rinsing water and discard.
- Place jar with soaked sprouts in a cool dark corner or cupboard. We want our wheat to sprout, so we will make sure there is plenty of room for air to circulate in the jar (we want sprouting, not rotting) and we will rinse and drain the seeds twice a day.
- Keep the mouth of your jar cover to with cheese cloth or a coffee filter. This will aid ventilation and keep out those nasty little fruit flies that appear out of nowhere.
- Once you have 1/2” - 1” sprouts, you are ready to brew!
- Give your seeds one more rinse and fill the jar with fresh, non-chlorinated water.
- This time, don't drain.
- Put it back to the cupboard and let those friendly bacteria do what they do best. Proliferate!
- In 24 - 36 hours you will have your first batch of Rejuvelac. The longer you wait, the stronger the taste will be. Pour the liquid into a pitcher and refrigerate.
- Wheat sprout Rejuvelac will be cloudy with a mildly tart / sweet (some say lemony, some say beer-like) taste with a very fresh feel to it.
Recipe Notes
For soaking and sprouting times of other grains and seeds, please check here.
When you are brewing, watch for mold, fruit flies, or a strong rancid smell. If any of those occur, dump your concoction. It’s no good.
Rinse your jar with boiled water and start again.
Once you’ve brewed a batch or two, you will recognize the difference between a bad smell, compared to the unique Rejuvelac smell.
Take it Easy When First Using Probiotics and Rejuvulac
If you are new to probiotics, go slow. Your gut may be in for a shock. Not only will you be flooding your system with living bacteria, but that same bacteria will be going to task killing off any toxic bacteria. Side effects such as bloating, gas, and diarrhea can happen.
Don’t worry! Take it easy and ride it out. This is a very routine part of the cleansing effects. In with the good – out with the bad. A few ounces of the drink at a time is the best way to start until you can recognize how your body will react.
All This and More – For Just Pennies a Glass
Rejuvelac is so incredibly versatile, and because of its mild flavor, the possibilities are endless (just be careful not to heat it though, or you could cause damage to the good bacteria).
Try it in your smoothies, add to cold blended soups, or add it to your juice concentrates. I’ve slipped it into my pet’s drinking water from time to time and they really seem to enjoy it. Rejuvelac is also a staple ingredient in a delicious raw vegan nut cheese. With one basic ingredient, it is perfect for those just starting their journey with fermented foods.
Unlike other homemade probiotic drinks, it doesn’t require a starter culture, the addition of sugar or the use of milk. And you’ll know your probiotics will be teeming with life because they haven’t been pasteurized or sitting on a store shelf. Your own brew will only cost you pennies a glass, compared to the $40 + price tag found on store-bought probiotic supplements.
My little bag of organic wheat cost me $4.50 and I expect that one bag to make 30 quarts of Rejuvelac – double that if I reuse my sprouts. One quart is 4 cups, so when you crunch the numbers… that $4.50 has turned into 120 glasses of an immense, life-filled, healing, probiotic-rich, rejuvenating elixir.
Not a bad investment at all!
So when are you going to brew your batch? Do you have your own fermented foods and beverages that have become part of your cleansing and healthy lifestyle? What has been your experience?
Please, inspire us with your stories and recipes in the comments below.