Before there was Beer, there was a super healthy drink

I thought Jeff might like this....or anyone else who likes whole foods?

I got a high powered blender for my birthday (allowing me to rip out much more mexican sauces now...woohoo) and it came with a book, "The Blending Book" by noted nutritionist, Ann Wigmore.

So, there is this fermented drink she describes that is the basic ingredient of most all her drinks. She calls it "Rejuvelac." Wheatberries. I asked Whole Foods for some advice on fermenting wheatberries and no one heard of it.

Then I asked my chemist friend who makes beer. It is pretty similar.

If you like Wheatgrass Juice for its properties, this imparts pretty much everything (except the Chlorophyl), yet it lasts for one week in the refrigerator....Wheat Grass juice loses its main properties in 30 minutes. The big win though is it tastes much better!--weird fermented smell, but it is slightly sweet, lemony and tangy--think Gatorade without the salt. It mixes well with almost anything, too. Why, because our most excellent ancestors discovered beer out of this fermenting process. (I'm learning this now.)

One cup of this is equal to eating more than a pound of quality greens...pure essence of wheat. Nothing has more good enzymes for health and digestion like this, apparently. Vitamin B, C, E and detoxifying bacteria.

<b>Recipe</b>
<ol>
<li>Get a wide mouth glass jar, at least 1/2 gallon.
<li>Fill it 1/4th with summer wheat berries (not the hard winter ones). Whole Foods has this in bulk, just ask. Get a rubber band and cheese cloth (or other type of screen) and cover the jar's mouth.
<li>Rinse wheat berries through the cheese cloth 2-3 times. Then fill jar and set aside for 8-10 hours. Use spring water for best results.
<li>Then drain, rinse and drain. Now you sprout the berries by setting the jar at an angle to continuously drain. Outside in the sun right now is perfect. In Houston summers, try cooler shade somewhere (or indoors).
<li>Rinse 2-3 times a day for 2 days. Rinse thoroughly for the last time, and then fill jar to start the fermenting process, soaking the sprouted wheatberries.
<li>In 48 hours, the liquid is pure gold in nutritional qualities. It will be cloudy and yellowy. It will also carbonate. It will smell fermented, but the taste is pretty surprising. Mix it with V-8 or anything.
<li>Filter into a jar and refrigerate. Fill jar again, and ferment another batch for 24 hours. Repeat one more time for a 3rd batch. Then the wheatberries are spent.</ol>

The sprouting causes the wheat to gain 7 times its normal nutritional value (apparently)...much more than milled wheat. You will not produce "grass," just itty-bitty sprouts. The sprouted berries have created sugar and that fires off the fermenting process when left to soak in water. I bet our most excellent ancestors noticed this by accident at first, then clued in. They likely stored the berries for flour, and they got soaked by rain. Add a cooking step in the process, and you have beer.

Our ancestors were schmart!

 

beer...uuuummmmmmm..........

2 weeks, 'eh?

You know, I hear that plane tickets to New York are pretty cheap. Any good shows in town to go with that beer?

 

You guys are missing the point. The purpose of this story is not to talk about Clyde. It is to promote the wheatberrypartner. It is called ego stroking, in the lines of a "I fermented something so cool that I will now tell everyone just how cool it was" kind of thing.

Anyone giving praise or admonishing is only feeding hp's deluded self.

And asterix man was right, it could have been a much cooler wheatberry story. But we are stuck within hp's limitations.