As well as raw fruits and vegetables, fermented foods are also eaten at the [Hippocrates Health] Institute, the most popular being Rejuvalac, sauer1craut, and fermented seed dishes. These foods are included in the diet for an important reason they are extremely rich in enzymes, predigested protein, and lactobacillus bacteria.
In a healthy person, the enzymes are manufactured by the body. It is thought that aging occurs because the body loses the ability to synthesize new enzymes. The researchers are now convinced that diseases are traceable to missing enzymes.
Food that is fermented is filled with enzymes. People known for longevity the – Hunzas, the Georgians use much fermented food. In Georgia, Russia, people eat yogurt, sour bread, sour milk, soured vegetables. They also eat naturally made sauerkraut and sour pickles. These people seldom have digestion problems.
Dr. Kuhl, a German researcher, has this to say regarding fermented foods:
“The natural lactic acid and fermentive enzymes which are produced during the fermentation process have a beneficial effect on the metabolism and a curative effect on disease. Lactic acid destroys harmful intestinal bacteria and contributes to the better digestion and assimilation of the nutrients. Fermented foods can be considered predigested foods: they are easily digested and assimilated even by persons with weak digestive organs. Fermented foods improve the intestinal tract and provide a proper environment for the body’s own vitamin production within the intestines. They also help a person with constipation problems.”
REJUVELAC THE ENZYME DRINK
Rejuvelac is rich in proteins, carbohydrates, dextrines, phosphates, saccharines, lactobacilli, saccharamyces, and aspergillus oryzae. Amylases are derived from aspergillus oryzae and they have the faculty of breaking down large molecules of glucose, starch, and glycogens. This is the reason rejuvelac is an aid to your digestion.
(Dr. Harvey C. Lisle, Food Chemist)
Rejuvelac, the “water” of the Institute, puts into your body the enzymes cooked food doesn’t. Enzymes help friendly bacteria such as lactobacillus bifidus to grow. Lactobacillus in turn gives off lactic acid, a natural astringent, which helps your large intestine maintain its natural, healthy, vitamin-producing environment. This leads to a clean colon where sludge does not collect on colon walls, and where harmful, disease-producing bacteria are unable to survive.
REJUVELAC
Rejuvelac is a pre-digested food the proteins are broken down into amino acids, the carbohydrates into simple sugars (dextrines and saccharines). These nutrients are readily assimilated by your body with little expenditure of energy. Rejuvelac is extremely rich in eight of the B vitamins, as well as Vitamin E and K.
Rejuvelac is also used as a “starter” in the production of other fermented dishes, particularly the protein (nut and seed) sauces, cheeses, and loaves. Drink glasses of it between meals to flush the system out, and help cleanse the intestinal tract.
TO MAKE REJUVELAC: (For approximately 3 cups)
You will need:
1 C wheat berries (organic soft white pastry wheat)
2 C water
1 Container – a glass jar with a wide mouth
- Wash seed by rinsing well (in tap water), and scrubbing seeds with hands to remove any outer residue. Allow dead seeds to float to top of container skim them off and discard they will not promote fermentation.
- Soak the wheat berries the first time for 48 hours.(The seed is becoming porous). Place a small, neat bundle of freshly cut wheatgrass on top of water for further filtering. Remove each day before pouring rejuvelac off; replace.
- After 48 hours, pour off your rejuvelac. Use that for the day. It needn’t be refrigerated, but will keep several days if it is.
- Pour another 2 cups of spring or filtered water into the jar. Allow water to ferment only 24 hours before pouring off.
- Repeat 24 hour cycles for 3 days, so wheat berries are soaked a total of 3 times.
A dark quiet place is ideal for setting your jars. The temperature of the fermenting environment is important. Warmer temperatures will decrease fermenting times. In the summer, try soaking the seed 36 hours to start, and 16 hours instead of 24. Ferment the rejuvelac to your taste .until tart, not sour.
You can experiment and use any hulled seed try different varieties of wheat, or millet, oats, rice, barley, rye, buckwheat, etc. At all times, use only organic seed.
Reprinted from Recipes for Life by Dr. Ann Wigmore.
