Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

Rejuvelac

How to make rejuvelac, an enzyme rich, probiotic living drink. Sometimes it is slightly fizzy. Rejuvelac should taste slightly sweet, grassy, subtle, a little tart (acidic), not too sour.

A rich source of friendly bacteria to heal your digestive system.

Delicious, inexpensive and easy to make.

You can make rejuvelac with whole wheat, oats, rye, barley, millet, buckwheat, rice and other grains. My best results have been with wheat and rye.

Drink it as a digestive aid, and use it as a 'starter' for fermented foods such as raw nut and seed sauces, cheeses and essene breads.

Most people who are gluten intolerant, allergic to gluten, or who suffer from celiac disease, are able to drink rejuvelac made from wheat. Only a few such people are not able to drink it because they react to it.

Rejuvelac contains eight of the B vitamins, vitamins E and K, and a variety of proteins, dextrines, carbohydrates, phosphates, saccharines and amylases. It is rich in enzymes that assist both your digestion, and the growth of friendly bacteria such as Lactobacillus bifidus. Lactobacillus produces a lactic acid that helps your colon maintain its natural, vitamin-producing facility. It also helps cleanse your intestinal tract.

rejuvelac ready to pour off from sprouted wheat

You can store rejuvelac at room temperature, and in most cases it gets fizzy and builds up pressure in the bottle. Beware - glass bottles can explode if the pressure is not released occasionally. At room temperature the rejuvelac continues to ferment; it gets stronger and more acidic and the sugar content goes down. If you store it in a refrigerator there is little sparkle, fizz or pressure build-up, and it takes months to get stronger and more acidic.

REJUVELAC RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of organic wheat berries (grains) or other whole-grains
Spring or filtered water.

Step 1 - Sprout the grains
Soak the wheat grains (berries) for about 8 hours after washing them well and discarding any dead, broken or discoloured berries. After the period of soaking, keep the berries damp but not wet. Rinse them 2-3 times per day. The berries will take about 2 days to sprout 1 cm, depending on the temperature, their quality, the water you use and other factors.

Step 2 - Make the rejuvelac
After the grains sprout about 1 cm, put them in a container and just cover them with spring or filtered water. Keep the container in a quiet dark place. After two days, pour off the first batch of Rejuvelac. You may need a sieve. Drink it immediately, or store it tightly capped in the fridge.

Add fresh water to the soft seeds so they are just covered, and after a further 1-2 days pour off your second batch. You can repeat this process a couple of times, with each batch getting weaker, sourer and more insipid.

The second and subsequent batches of rejuvelac sometimes have a white bubbly scum on the surface. I scrape it off and throw it away, and it doesn't seem to affect the drink. Check the smell, and of course if there is the slightest sign of blue / green / black mould throw the whole lot away.

Warmer temperatures in summer will decrease the fermenting times by as much as a third.