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1. Fermented White Cabbage Juice
2. Kefir
3. Kombucha
4. Psyllium and Bentonite Shakes
5. Sole
6. Potassium Broth
7. Herbal Tinctures
8. Sprouting


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1. Fermented White Cabbage Juice.



How to make your own probiotics (acidophilus) supplement/drink!

Why buy expensive probiotics supplements when you can make your own at home for a fraction of the cost? Especially when it is also performs a soothing role on your intestinal lining. White cabbage is used to make sauerkraut, but it can also be used to make fermented cabbage juice.

• Buy one whole white cabbage (preferably organic, but not strictly necessary). It should a white cabbage and not a green or red cabbage. In supermarkets and grocery stores, white cabbage is usually labelled as 'white cabbage', even though it may look green in places and not completely 'white'. You may elect to buy two or three cabbages at the same time, and make two/three lots in one go, for convenience. The cabbage should be used immediately (asap) for fermentation - basically the fresher it is, the better. If you buy a surplus of white cabbages, you may elect to store the surplus in the refrigerator. It is of course best to ferment from fresh white cabbage. If your cabbage is cold or taken straight from the fridge, it does not matter. You do not have to allow it reach room temperature. The blending process will soon have it at room temperature anyway. On (small) white cabbage provides 1 litre of juice, enough for approximately 4-5 days. If you buy a very large white cabbage it may well be enough for prepare 1.5 lots (and approximately 1.5 litres of juice). You can always cook and eat/discard any excess cabbage that you do not use. This recipe is for 1 litre of fermented white cabbage juice, using one small to medium sized white cabbage.





• Wash your hands and clean the knife, chopping board, blender and glass bowl (big enough for maybe 2 litres of mixture). You may want to rinse these items quickly with a little filtered water afterwards (avoiding tap water). Pour boiling water over the wooden spoon or better still put it in a pan of boiling water. The idea is to keep these implements more or less 'sterile', and not introduce any harmful bacteria.



• Rinse the cabbage briefly with filtered water. Use cold or room temperature water. You want to avoid using hot water or heat directly on the cabbage throughout this procedure, as heat clearly kills bacteria and you don't want to kill off the L.acidophilus bacteria in the cabbage. It is not recommended to use tap water in any part of this procedure (except for the washing and sterilisation steps). You may elect to rinse your implements, juicer and chopping board with boiling water (e.g. boiling tap water), in which case they should cool down before use.





• Chop off the base of the white cabbage (cutting say 1cm into the cabbage) and discard. If the outer leaf or two leaves of the cabbage are a little withered or dirty, then you may wish to peel these off and discard them (perhaps giving the cabbage another quick rinse with filtered water). All the rest of the white cabbage is usable.





• Chop the white cabbage up into small/medium sized chunks.





• Add approximately half a litre of filtered/mineral water (room temperature or chilled) to the juicer/blender. Add a small amount of roughly chopped cabbage. enough filtered/mineral water





• Juice until smooth!





• The more cabbage you add and juice, the larger the volume becomes and the thicker it becomes. It will keep juicing fine until it reaches a certain thickness, whereupon more cabbage added doesn't move around in the juice column very much and so doesn't get juiced/blended properly. At this point, you can push down the pieces/chunks of cabbage further down into the blender (using a sterile implement), nearer the bottom of the blender/juicer, careful to avoid touching the blades. After a certain thickness however, you will have to add more filtered/mineral water prior to adding more cabbage, as it won't blend otherwise. Continue until you have finished the white cabbage or reached the maximum capacity of the juicer/blender.


N.B.: It doesn't matter too much if you add too much water, but it is best to keep it a little thick and not too watery. For the Lactobacillus acidophilus to breed effectively the concentration of 'food' for them in the mixture should not be too low. You can't have the mixture too thick; the only constraint is how thick your juicer/blender can blend. The main thing is that it is well blended with no chunks of cabbage in there, and it isn't too runny. Chunks don't do any harm, but are just a waste of cabbage as the surface area is very low for the bacteria to utilise. Blending massively increases the surface area. Keep going until you have blended a whole blender/juicer's worth.




• After a blender's/juicer's worth of thick mixture is prepared, empty the contents into the glass bowl. A small to medium sized cabbage should only require about 1.5L or so of blender capacity, and BlackSpy only uses one blender full for every White Cabbage. Depending on the size of your blender/juicer, it may require 2 lots. If you still have cabbage remaining, then go back to the step where you pour 0.5L of mineral/filtered water into the blender and start slowly adding the rest of the cabbage. When you have used up the rest of the cabbage, and blended it smoothly, empty the contents of this into a second glass bowl.
  
  
  
  
• Once you have emptied the last blender/juicer's worth of thick juice into the glass bowl, cover the glass bowl with cling film. Try not to have the level of juice/mixture in the bowl too high so it touches the cling film. The mixture will rise ever so slightly during the fermentation stage. It is best to have approximately 1cm or more between the top of the liquid and the clingfilm. Otherwise, if the cling film sags and touches the mixture, you may end up with juice leaking down the sides of the bowl and all over the kitchen surface (the capillary effect - you'll soon figure this out).





• Leave the covered bowl(s) on your kitchen table (or other suitable room temperature location) for 4-5 days until fully fermented. Do not leave in direct sunlight. Do not refrigerate during the fermentation stage, as the bacteria won't reproduce as fast in the cold and it won't ferment properly. It is a good idea to stir the mixture every day after 48 hours (although during the summer BlackSpy stirs it after 24 hours), so that the acidophilus and lactic acid is distributed evenly, preventing the growth of harmful bacteria. When you stir the mixture, make sure you use a sterilised wooden, ceramic or plastic spoon, not a metallic one (sterilise with boiling water briefly). Note the smell when you do so.





• After 4-5 days the mixture should be sour smelling and aromatic. In UK conditions, BlackSpy has found 4 days is normal. During the summer it may ferment quicker than in the winter (depending on the room temperature round the clock, e.g. nearer 4 days). It is best to stir at least from day 2 onwards, or day days, on a daily basis thereafter, when you stir it, to see how it is doing and how close to fermentation it is. It should smell acidic. If you are unsure, then give the mixture a stir (with sterilised non-metallic spoon as described above) and 're-smell'. The mixture is now ready to strain. If it starts to smell very strange - a 'sulphury' smell - and the surface of the mixture takes on a light brown colour, then it has likely gone off and should be discarded. This should however be fairly obvious.



• Wash and sterilise (in a big pot of boiling water or with boiled water from a kettle): a strainer (preferably non-metallic, but not essential), a large wooden spoon or similar, and a 1 litre kilner jar (one jar for each cabbage worth of juice). It helps if the strainer is the right size for the top of the kilner jar. This way no mixture slides down the side and into the jar when you are straining it (if too small) or leaks down the sides of the jar and onto your kitchen surface (wasting juice - if too large).


N.B.: It is not of critical importance to avoid metallic items when preparing, fermenting and straining the cabbage, but it cannot hurt to avoid such items where possible. Of course, the chopping knife and the blades of the juicer/blender are going to be stainless steel.




• Place the strainer on top of the open kilner jar and spoon in enough mixture to fill it up. Allow the mixture to strain, the juice dripping slowly into the kilner jar. It may be useful to have the kilner jar resting on a clean/sterilised plate (the outside of the jar being clean also), so that if any spills down the sides, then you can pour it from the plate into the jar at the end.







• BlackSpy has found that when straining the mixture into the kilner jar, it helps to apply pressure with the wooden spoon to squeeze out the juice from the blended, fermented cabbage.





• Once you have strained the mixture in the strainer, you may also wish to pour a little filtered water into the strainer to wash out the cabbage juice from the mixture (but don't add too much water or the juice will become too diluted). This is however optional and should not be necessary if you are really squeezing out all the juice from the mixture.



• Once you have finished straining the mixture in the strainer, and all possible juice has been collected in the kilner jar, then discard the solids in the strainer. Pour in more mixture into the strainer (when in place over the kilner jar) and repeat. It may be convenient to keep a plate or bowl nearby to dump the solids onto. You could eat the solids if you wanted (i.e. fermented white cabbage, i.e. Sauerkraut), but BlackSpy normally throws them away and just consumes the juice.





• Another straining method is to use a wide glass bowl instead of the actual kilner jar to strain the juice into. This allows you to use a wider strainer. This may be quicker, but a smaller strainer allows you more 'leverage' when squeezing juice with a spoon. Once you have finished, then you pour the juice from the bowl into the kilner jar (being careful not to spill it everywhere!) The former method however produced more juice volume and takes less steps. If you wish to use the latter method, you may choose to wash the mixture down with filtered/mineral water to flush out more juice from the mixture.





• Once you have strained all the mixture completely, then discard the used solids (or refrigerate for later eating), and secure the lid onto the jar or jars (using the sterilised rubber seal). The finished juice is a pale green/yellow colour and will have some fine sediment in it. We recommend a kilner jar with a rubber seal, as the juice produces carbon dioxide and may explode/spray everywhere upon opening if you have a non-flexible seal! As a general rule, when the kilner jars are very full, they are more difficult to pour into a glass without spilling. Ideally you should use more jars, up to 3/4 full maximum, or just be more careful when pouring the first glass from them!







• Place the kilner jars of fermented white cabbage juice in the refrigerator for storage. They can be generally stored up to 1-2 weeks in the fridge. The jars of finished juice (in the jars) should not be kept out in room temperature as you have now finished the fermentation stage. You may wish to drink a glass immediately, but it tastes better / less disgusting if you drink it chilled! BlackSpy's view is that whilst it isn't that tasty, it isn't totally disgusting either (easier to drink than kefir) as long as it is chilled.

It is generally recommended to have 4-8 Fluid Ounces (quarter to half a pint) daily, on an empty stomach. There is no harm in drinking more of course.



Given that it takes several days to ferment the white cabbage juice, then you may wish to start preparing your next batch when you have approximately 4-5 days supply remaining. It is up to you, how often you want to drink it and if you don't mind having a few days break in between batches. Taking a break is not necessary.

If you want to accelerate your next batch, you can use 4 fluid ounces of the juice (not the mixture) and add this quantity to each glass bowl of mixture you produce, in which case the fermentation time should be approximately 2-3 days. Please note that temperature has an effect on the rate of fermentation, so check up on your mixture every few days whichever fermentation method you are using (slow or fast).

Please note that if you have quite an old/heavily used blender or juicer, you may need to replace it. The seal at the bottom of the juicer is usually rubber which undergoes rotation during its life. After a while it may well leak every so slightly, and nasty bacteria etc can accumulate underneath the main receptacle of the juicer (the inside of the receptacle is usually cleaned, but not the underside where it connects to the base and obtains its drive). Thus small amounts of contaminated liquid may seep into your blended cabbage juice mixture. In such cases, it is advised to use a new juicer! A worn juicer is fine for blending things that are to be consumed immediately, but for the above application may result in many batches thrown away.

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Of course, it is possible to just make fermented white cabbage, or sauerkraut (i.e. uncooked), by simply using the minimum of water in order to allow blending to occur, so the mixture is as thick as possible, and after fermentation is complete, instead of straining the mixture, you simply place the covered glass bowl in the fridge and take a few spoons out at a time as a side dish to a daily meal, for example. You could experiment also by adding small quantities of other vegetables (blended) or cereal grasses, algae, or even sprinkle the contents of one type of fancy probiotic capsule to add additional species of probiotic bacteria to the ferment. The main thing is that they are finely chopped or blended, thoroughly mixed in, and below the surface of the liquid, allowing the probiotic bacteria to propagate and move around. Some people add salt to a ferment, which helps to inhibit other types of bacteria, Lactobacillus acidophilus being salt tolerant and allowed to propagate and multiply. The less salt you add, the faster the ferment will occur. Ferments with less or no salt are more prone to surface moulds than those with more salt. Typically 3 tablespoons of salt are used for every 2kg (5lbs roughly) of vegetables. It is possible to simply add a variety of chopped/blended vegetables to water, not specifically white cabbage, but as they may not be so rich in acidophilus, may well require salt to prevent mould developing, and may well require longer to ferment that white cabbage as above. Fermentation of vegetables and milk (as kefir or live yoghurt) was commonplace before the widespread introduction of refrigerators, which has sadly displaced a healthy practice. Please see the link below for further information.

www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=vegetables

Below is a recipe for Spiced Gundruk (spicy fermented radish, cabbage, carrot, onions and garlic). The sugar is used in the ferment but can perhaps be omitted.

www.recipezaar.com/Spiced-Gundruk-Spicy-Fermented-Vegetables-87792



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2. Kefir.



Kefir is a different kind of beneficial bacteria culture to those used in natural yoghurt. In many ways it is more beneficial for your health. Studies have shown that kefir grains contain 40 strains of lactic acid bacteria: Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. delbrueckii (8 strains), Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus (6 strains), Lactobacillus kefir (2 strains), Lactobacillus acidophilus (1 strain), Enterococcus faecalis (7 strains), Enterococcus faecium (2 strains), Streptococcus thermophilus (1), Lactobacilllus lactis subsp. cremoris (3 strains).

www.cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?AcNo=20053010999

Kefir can be made using cow's milk or goat's milk. From organic or non-organic milk. And from pasturised milk or live milk. It can also be made using any type of milk that contains natural sugars (for example, soya milk or rice milk); and it can even be made using water and sugar (although one runs the risk of consuming refined sugar left over which has not been fermented). The best type of kerfir is probably live (raw, grass-fed) organic goat's milk, with pasturised organic goat's milk running a close second (with the added benefit that it can be purchased in supermarkets and not farmer's markets). There are two ways to make your own kefir; from freeze-dried kefir culture, which is simply added to a kilner jar of milk; or from kefir granules. Live granules can be purchased or more conveniently, freeze-dried granules. Whilst kefir produced from granules is no doubt better than that produced just from powdered kefir culture, it is more labour intensive. Purists will make kefir from live goat's milk and live kefir granules. Others will make kefir from pasturised organic goat's milk and freeze-dried kefir powder.

The recipe below uses freeze-dried kefir powder. The manufacturer of the sachets pictured states that one sachet is suitable for 1L of milk. Recommendations will vary according to size of sachet, concentration and manufacturer.



It is recommended to use glass kilner jars between 1L (1 quart) and 3L (3 quarts). You will require a minimum of 2 jars. The jars should have a rubber seal. Kefir gives off carbon dioxide as it ferments, and without a rubber seal, the jars can explode! One should use sterilised jars (boiled in water for a few minutes) and a sterilised non-metallic spoon and sieve (if applicable).



With freeze-dried kefir powder, one simply empties the sachet into a kilner jar full of goat's milk, the volume according to the packet's instructions;



Stir the mixture with a sterilised non-metallic spoon (e.g. pour boiling water over a ceramic spoon, then allow the spoon to cool down before use).

Now seal the kilner jar;



Leave the kilner jar in room temperature in the kitchen for 24-36 hours, or until it is sufficiently thick, gassy and sour. It is recommended to stir the fermenting kefir or shake the kilner jar in the morning and evening to ensure even distribution of kefir bacteria. Any separation that occurs is nothing to worry about and is a sign that you should stir/shake the contents to mix it again.



In general, the longer you leave the kefir to ferment, the thicker, potentially lumpier, and more acidic/pungent it becomes. Some may find thicker kefirs a little unpalatable. Experiment to see what thickness of kefir you prefer.

Once sufficiently thick and sour, the kefir is now ready, and should be stored in the fridge. The kefir will ferment much more slowly in the fridge and may last up to 1-2 weeks.

Below is an example of a light kefir.





Below is an example of a thicker kefir.



Depending on your fridge size, you may wish to store the kefir in small kilner jars (e.g. 1L kilner jars). If transferring to another type/size of container, ensure that the recipient containers are sterilised with boiling water first. You can also ferment the kefir from the beginning in smaller kilner jars.

To make new batches, one simply takes 3 tablespoons of kefir from the previous batch (per litre/quart of milk to be added to) and pours it into the kilner jar of milk and stirs. This new jar is as similarly kept in room temperature for 24-36 hours, and is ready for drinking, and is stored in the fridge. One can recycle the kefir in this manner between 7 and 10 times before the more aggressive acidophilus bacteria take over and the actual kefir bacterial content is minimal. After this, one can start a fresh batch with a new kefir sachet. Of course, one can prepare 2 or 3 jars of kefir at once from a single batch of kefir, and these all count as the same (subsequent) batch. A jar of kefir will keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. Unused kefir can be frozen and kept for up to 6 weeks, if you are going away on holiday for an extended period.

It is generally wise to stick to one type of milk when making new batches of kefir. For example, if you started making kefir from cow's milk, it is best to stick to cow's milk in subsequent batches, rather than switching to goat's milk. BlackSpy has tried going from cow's milk to goat's milk and back to cow's milk in consecutive batches, and the net result wasn't great, with the kefir bacteria eventually fermenting extremely slowly and almost never reaching its full end point.

With kefir granules, one empties the live kefir granules into the kilner jar of milk and leaves covered for 24-36 hours, as described above. However, before the kefir can be used, the kefir must be strained into another kilner jar, so that the granules can be reused. The granules are then rinsed with milk or water, and then placed into the next kilner jar of milk. More detailed instructions for making kefir from live granules can be found at the links below.

Freeze-dried granules can be used in much the same way as live kefir granules, but they must first be 'activated', by soaking in milk.

www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kefir_howto.shtml

General information about kefir can be found at the links below:

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/Makekefir.html

www.mercola.com/forms/kefir.html

www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kefir.shtml

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

It is possible to buy live kefir (most retailers in Europe sell pasturised kefir which is not live, i.e. all the bacteria have been killed), but seeing as it is so easy to make, there is no real purpose - and it is much more expensive.

The kilner jar was invented in the mid 19th Century by John Kilner, the great-great-great-great grandfather of British broadcaster and like him or loathe him Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson!

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3. Kombucha.





Kombucha is a type of fermented tea, made with the kombucha culture (Fungus japonicus). The kombucha culture is said to contain the following micro-organisms: Bacterium xylinum, Bacterium xylinoides, Bacterium gluconicum, Saccharomyces ludwigii, Saccharomyces apiculatus varieties, Schizosaccaromyces pombe, Acetobacter ketogenum, Torula varieties, Pichia fermantans and other yeasts.



There are a number of types of tea leaf you can use in order to make it. Kombucha consume sugar and produce a variety of beneficial organic acids and other nutrients such as glucuronic acid, gluconic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, malic acid and usnic acid; vitamins, particularly B vitamins and vitamin C; as well as amino acids, enzymes. BlackSpy has not personally yet made Kombucha but has been highly recommended to do so by close personal sources, including WhiteSpy. In the interim, please see the links below for further information. BlackSpy will update this section once he has been successful, with some tips and so on.

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kombucha.htm

www.sulis-health.co.uk/kombucha/faq.shtml

www.mycosource.com/kombucha.htm

www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha.shtml

www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha_howto.shtml

www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha_teas.shtml

www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/index_kombucha.shtml

www.mycosource.com/kombucha.htm

Below are some pictures of WhiteSpy's kombucha culture (in storage). The same type of jar can be used for the actual fermentation stage.



   

Below are some pictures of WhiteSpy's finished kombucha, ready to drink (culture removed, kombucha filtered).

   

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4. Psyllium & Bentonite (P&B) Shakes.



Please see the Psyllium & Bentonite (P&B) Shake section on the Mucoid Plaque page for the full preparation instructions. P&B shakes are taken to remove mucoid plaque from the large and small intestine, and are non-digestible.

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5. Sole.



A good way of introducing more sodium into the diet is to take Himalayan Crystal Salt (shown above). This can be purchased as a powder (below) or as granules (above) or even in large pieces.



A convenient way to take this is as a saturated salt solution. This is known as sole (pronounced 'so-lay').



To prepare sole, first find an empty screw top jar, and wash it out thoroughly so no organic matter remains in it. Put a large rock of Himalayan Crystal Salt into it or alternatively several heaped tablespoons of granulated or powdered Himalayan Crystal Salt into it. You cannot put too much salt in. Then fill up the jar with water (preferably ionised, mineral or filtered water). The idea is to create a saturated solution. Any excess with rest on the bottom of the jar. If you find that the level of salt in the bottom looks too low, then add more salt. If you are using rocks, then they sit in the saturated solution and look quite attractive (!) Stir vigorously. Screw the top on the jar. Leave out for 24 hours (a whole day's light basically). Stir at least once more, half way through the day for example, as otherwise the solution may not saturate properly. After a whole day spent in the light, the sole is ready to use. You can then start using it every day. Take 1-2 dessert spoons (10ml) each morning (for example). Always take a few sips of water afterwards or it will 'burn' your throat and lips and feel uncomfortable in your stomach.



Once the sole has been prepared, do not keep it in the refrigerator or in the cupboard. It should remain exposed to natural daylight every day. Bacteria will not survive in it. When the sole level gets too low, then add more salt and water. If the salt level gets too low, then there is a risk that the sole is not fully saturated, so add more if in doubt. There should always be an excess of crystals in the jar. As the crystal levels get low, add more crystals. As the water level gets low, add more mineral water.

Whether the following iron oxide particles suspended in solution in this jar of Sole made with magnetised/ionised water (I-Water) are thus because of the properties of I-Water or whether they would be suspended in this manner with ordinary distilled water is perhaps a matter of debate!





Consuming small quantities of sole or even minute quantities of sea water (along with fresh water obviously!) are noted as being an effective way of absorbing sodium rather than sprinkling dried or crystalline salt onto food, which tends to be absorbed slightly less efficiently by the body.

It is not recommended to drink sea water in any volume if one does not have a supply of fresh water to hand, as it will dehyrate the body and can be potentially life threatening. This is why survivors in shipwrecks are told never to drink sea water.

Sole has various benefits other than its sodium content. Suppliers of Himalayan Crystal Salt can be found on the links page.

Some information on the benefits of Sole can be found at the web site below.

http://www.natural-salt-lamps.com/sole.html back to top

 
6. Potassium Broth.

Potassium Broth is a mineral rich broth made with a variety of organic vegetables and vegetable peelings; the idea being that the majority of the minerals of specific vegetables are located in the skin/peel, and thus these minerals are extracted by prolonged boiling. It is critical that only organic vegetables are used, as the skin of non-organic vegetables tends to be most concentrated with herbicides/pesticides and fertilisers, and we don't want to extract these! The broth is also known as Potato Peeling broth. The recipe is quoted from Dr Schulze's own recipe, and he proposes the use of Potassium Broth as a part of a Kidney/Bladder Cleansing programme, although he also recommends that everyone should drink such a broth every few months.

www.herbdoc.com/p35.asp

http://curezone.com/schulze/herbal_5day_kidney_cleanse.asp

The recipe for making this broth is described below.

• Use a large pot



• Briefly wash all your vegetables prior to chopping/use.



• Fill 25% of the volume of this empty pot with potato peelings from organic potatoes. This may be the peel from 20-30 organic potatoes. What you do with the peeled potatoes is up to you! Cook them, or throw them on the compost. It is the peels that we are interested in.



• Fill 25% of the volume of this pot with carrot peelings and whole chopped beets. This should bring the level up to the half way mark. The number of carrots will be far greater than the numbe of beets required, because we are only using the carrot peelings, but the whole of the beets. Chop the beets into sections, perhaps a third of an inch thick, and throw them in. No need to peel them. You can also include the greens/stalks from the top of the beets and throw these into the pot also.



• Fill 25% of the volume of this pot with chopped whole onions and garlic. This should bring the level of vegetables up to the three quarter mark. You do not need to peel several layers off the onions. Simply discard the first outer layer, and roughly chop the remainder of each onion (half to third of an inch wide slices) and throw this into the pot. The garlic cloves do not have to be individually peeled and chopped. You can simply roughly crush each clove, without peeling it and throw it into the pot. You may use perhaps 60 to 100 individual cloves of garlic.



• Fill 25% of the volume of this pot with whole chopped celery and dark greens. This should bring the level of vegetables up to the brim of the pot. Use whichever dark greens you fancy, but the main point is to include a large proportion of whole, roughly chopped celery.



• Add freshy ground Cayenne or roughly chopped chilli peppers to taste (pick those that are red and ripe, the hottest you can find.



• Add enough distilled water to cover. You can buy deionised water in a supermarket or car cleaning accessories store. Otherwise use filtered or mineral water. Distilled water is used as it contains no mineral content whatsoever and is more likely to draw out more minerals than water that is already partially saturated with minerals.



• Simmer on a very low temperature for 1-4 hours.



• Strain the broth into a jug or kilner jar (with sealable lid). Discard the solids - in the bin or compost heap. You should now be left with a red/brown clear liquid.



• Drink the broth over 2 days. Refrigerate what you do not immediately use.

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7. Herbal Tinctures:





Introduction:

A herbal tincture is a solution of a plant or herb extract, usually made with alcohol or an alcoholic solution. It is basically made by placing herbs into a container of alcoholic solution, sealing it, leaving it in a dark and warm place for a few weeks to a few months (shaking daily), then straining the mixture and bottling it into small dropper bottles. The tincture can then be taken a few drops at a time or as required.

The presence of alcohol helps to extract active ingredients from the herbs in question and dissolve them into solution, making them more readily absorbable than other forms of herbal medicine, such as infusions (teas) or decoctions, or eating the actual herbs themselves. Alcohol also is a preservative, allowing extended 'steeping' in the preparation stage and also a longer shelf life for the final product.

Herbal tinctures are available to buy of course, but it is extremely easy to make your own, and if you are taking significant amounts of any herb, such as Cilantro/Coriander leaf during a cellular detoxification programme, then it may be cost effective to make your own Coriander leaf tincture. Tinctures and herbs, such as Cilantro/Coriander Leaf amd Milk Thistle, their purpose and application regarding detoxification and liver support (respectively), are discussed on the Detox page. Other herbs are discussed elsewhere on the site.


Choice of Alcohol Solution:

When it comes to what alcohol solution to use, it is normally best to use as strong type of alcohol as possible, with as little flavouring and colouring in it as possible, to ensure maximum absorption from the herbs. No colour is also important when it comes to viewing how well the tincture is coming on during the 'steeping' process. Vodka is the booze of choice for making herbal tinctures. Strengths vary from 37.5% to 50% volume. The vodka is by far the most expensive ingredient in a tincture as the actual herbs themselves are relatively cheap in comparison. It would be tempting to use as strong a type of alcohol as possible, i.e. 100% proof 50% volume Vodka, but often the strongest Vodkas are not the most cost effective way to buy alcohol. It may be better value for money to buy a slightly weaker Vodka, and even one from a non-famous brand, like a supermarket's own brand. Commercially prepared tinctures are usually in this range. BlackSpy has personally chosen to use either 40% (which is 80% proof, i.e. 0.8 x 50%) or 37.5%. But if you have a cheaper and weaker Vodka, you can simply buy more of it.


Fresh Herbs vs Dried Herbs:

One can choose to use fresh herbs or dried herbs to make tinctures; and organic and non-organic herbs. Organic herbs tend to be more potent than their non-organic varieties and will not have pesticide or herbicide residues on them. Fresh herbs are in many ways preferable, but are harder to buy. They also require more preparation, i.e. chopping and possibly grinding in a mortar and pestle prior to addition to the tincture. The more finely chopped or ground the herbs are, the less space they will take up in the Vodka and the stronger you can potentially make your tincture. One could use a blender or manually chop the herbs.

A list of suppliers of dried organic herbs in the USA and UK can be found on the Links page. Fresh herbs can be purchased from your local (organic) growers or farmer's market. You may need to make a prior arrangement with a particular seller if they do not normally sell a particular item on their stall.

Most herb suppliers sell dried herbs, which have a longer shelf life and are lighter and easier to transport than fresh herbs, which must be used immediately. Clearly the same number of leaves will weigh more when fresh than when dried. Fresh herbs contain a large amount of moisture. When putting dried herbs into alcoholic solution, they take up less volume initially than fresh herbs and less weight of dried herbs will be required compared with fresh herbs, but dried herbs, because they are dry, will soak up some of the alcoholic solution to rehydrate them. If you make a tincture and you find that the level of solution drops below the level of the rehydrating herbs, then you have used either too many herbs or too little alcoholic solution - add more alcohol, measuring the additional amounts in a measuring jug, and adjusting the label with the new amounts/concentration calculations. Ideally you should have some excess vodka above the herbs to ensure proper ease of mixing, absorbance and straining.

When it comes to straining the herbs once the tincture is ready, please be aware that the volume of liquid from a tincture made with fresh herbs will probably be greater than the original volume of Vodka used, e.g. 1L Vodka may produce 1.2L of tincture. As the fresh herbs break down, the water content in the leaves is released into the Vodka. The reverse is true of dried herbs. As stated above, they absorb some of the water content of the Vodka, and some part of the tincture will remain in the sodden leaves when it is strained, so the actual end volume of tincture will always be less than the original volume of Vodka used.


Optimum Ratio of Alcohol Solution to Herbs:

It ultimately comes down to whether the herbs are in excess or the alcohol is in excess. There is an optimum ratio of herb to alcohol solution, too little herb and you are wasting alcohol, too much herb and you are wasting herb as the alcohol can only absorb so much. Herbs sticking out over the top of the vodka are not really having their active ingredients extracted efficiently if at all. Clearly to make the tincture as strong as possible the herbs should be in excess. Too much excess is however wasteful and won't make the tincture any stronger as such. Normally the amount of herb you can use is limited by volume. For example, with dried herbs, depending on how finely ground they are, one can only really use around 110-120g per litre of Vodka before the herbs start to poke out over the surface of the Vodka. With dried herbs, you really want to leave at least an inch or two of surplus liquid in the jar, or straining them because unmanageable. For fresh herbs, around 360g (of Coriander leaf) could be used per litre of Vodka. For this type of mixture, you would use at least a 1.5L container or larger, for example, a kilner jar or preserving jar with a rubber sealable lid. BlackSpy found that 360g of fresh Coriander leaf and 1L of Vodka did not quite fit into a 1.5L kilner jar, but they may well fit with another type of herb). In general, the larger the container, the more weight of herb per volume alcohol you can put in - it makes a slight difference but not a HUGE difference.

Crushed seed powder in general tends to take up less space (weight for weight) in the Vodka than herb leaves do. However, it should be noted that although it is technically possible to make a 1:2 tincture with crushed seed powder, e.g. Milk Thistle seed powder, it is not practical, as the powder forms cement like paste at the bottom of the jar, which is very hard to stir (and does not dissolve despite vigorous shaking of the jar), and straining such a mixture would take a very long time and be a real nightmare! It is more practical to create a weaker tincture, closer to the strength used with dry herbs, despite the decrease in actual volume of dried herbal compound. For example, a 1:4 is the most one should entertain, and better still 1:6 (i.e. 100-200g of seed per litre of Vodka).

If one is using fresh herbs, one may want to consider whether the just use the leaves, or to include the stalks as well. If more of the active ingredient is found in the leaves, which is usually the case, then including stalks will merely mean less of the active ingredient is absorbed compared with other nutrients from the stalks. Some argue that dried herbs are stronger than fresh herbs on account of the fact that the leaves are often dried upside down, meaning any nutrients in the stalks should fall into the leaves. However, this shouldn't really make any difference as we are talking about the same moisture/nutrients if we include the stalks as well in fresh herbs.

If one is going to make a tincture of two different herbs, the herbs should be 'steeped' separately, and only mixed together at the final stage once the herbs have been removed. This is because of different absorption rates from the compounds in the different herbs, as one herb may saturate the Vodka faster than the other, essentially wasting the second herb. If you 'steep' them separately, then at least you know you have maximum strength of each separate herbal tincture before you mix them together.

It is also worth considering how long to leave the herbs for in the alcohol. Clearly the longer you leave it the better. However, most rapid absorption occurs at the beginning when there is zero concentration of the herb's active ingredients in the actual Vodka. As more compounds are drawn into the alcohol, the differential is less and so the rate of absorption is less. Eventually it reaches an equilibrium. So there is an optimum or most reasonable time to harvest the tincture, but if you are in rush, then it is best to leave it as long as possible, even up to a year. Herbs usually take a minimum of 3 weeks to 'steep' and sometimes up to 2 months. Crushed seeds and roots may take longer. The other thing to consider is how efficient you are at squeezing all the tincture out of the soaked herbs once the tincture is ready. If you simply pour out the tincture, and have a jar full of sodden herbs, with plenty of Vodka containing the active herbal ingredients in it still in the mass of leaves, then it is a waste of Vodka and the tincture itself. There are various ways you can squeeze the 'juice' out of these herbs, prior to discarding them. One can use a funnel and muslin or coffee filter paper lining to pour the mixture back into the empty vodka bottle (to later pour into dropper bottles). After this one can take a glass bowl and use a sieve to spoon the sodden herbs into and squeeze them with a wooden spoon to squeeze more tincture out into the bowl, which afterwards can be poured back into the Vodka bottle with the rest of the tincture. One could place the wet herbs into a large piece of muslin, seal it up and squeeze it with one's hands over the glass bowl. One could also consider washing them, to rinse out this tincture 'juice', i.e. by pouring more Vodka or just plain water over the herbs, mix it around and pour this extra liquid in with the rest of the tincture. However, if you use alcohol, you are arguably spending more money here, and you could just as easily have put more alcohol into the jar at the start to have a more diluted tincture and potentially absorbed more from the herbs this way - and a larger liquid volume relative to herbs volume is easier to strain. If you do rinse the herbs with vodka or even with water, then the tincture that you do produce will be weaker than if you had just strained and pressed the sodden herbs to get as much tincture out as possible. However, you would then simply have a larger volume of slightly weaker tincture. But then you can just take a little more than normal. The above points are things to consider when buying herbs and Vodka, and the absolute amount of active herbal compounds you end up with in your final tincture at the end. The amount rather than the volume is probably more important, as you can always tailor how much you take. Food for thought anyway.

Dropper bottles should ideally be dark so as not to let too much light in, which could degrade the compounds in the tincture. It is important of course to label the jar where the herbs and Vodka are stored in, with the start date, concentration, volume of Vodka, weight of herb, type of herb etc. Similarly, the dropper bottles should be labelled too, with herb type, concentration and date of bottling (and perhaps the duration of steeping, e.g. 1 month).

It is worth noting that buying dropper bottles costs money, and if you have been using tinctures in the past before the point where you have decided to start making your own, on account of volumes required etc., then it is worth having kept all the empty dropper bottles from purchased tinctures when you have drunk them, as they can be reused for your own tinctures. The Vodka or other alcoholic beverage bottles used can also be used for storing larger amounts of tincture, prior to transferring the tincture to smaller dropper bottles for every day use.


Definition of Tincture Strength:

The concentration of tinctures is generally expressed as a ratio. It is the ratio of ounces of herb to fluid ounces of Vodka. This is virtually the same as the number of grams of herb to the number of ml of Vodka. For example, a typical final tincture label might read 'Coriander Leaf Tincture (fresh herb) 1:3 @ 40% 5/4/07'. This label would mean that 1 ounce of fresh coriander leaf was used to very 3 fluid ounces of Vodka. The Vodka used was 40% volume (e.g. Absolut) and it was bottled on 5th April 2007 (if you don't live in the USA!) So in other words, for 1000ml of Vodka (i.e. a 1L bottle), one would need to buy 333g of fresh Coriander leaf. Clearly the ratio is based on the weight of the herb, whether fresh or dried, and as dried herbs weigh less than fresh herbs, the concentration ratio of a tincture made from fresh herb will be greater (e.g. 1:3 for fresh Coriander leaf) than that of a tincture made from dried herb (e.g. 1:8 or 1:10 for dried Coriander leaf), even if the same equivalent amount or number of leaves/plants was used in both cases. So it is important to know what the ratio actually refers to, fresh or dried herbs. In general, it is used to describe fresh herbs. To compare the strength of tinctures made from fresh and dried herbs, you may want to ask your supplier of organic dried herbs what the equivalent weight of fresh herbs would be (i.e. the weight of the herbs you purchased before they were dried).

e.g. 1L of vodka is 1000ml. Say we used 100g of dried organic Coriander leaf herbs. The ratio would be 1000/100 = 10, i.e. 1:10. If the Vodka was 40% Absolut, then the tincture would be labelled as 1:10 @ 40%.


Alcohol Considerations:

When it comes to drinking tinctures, normally one measures the number of drops one wants (from the dropper bottle) into a cup or glass and then adds a little water and swallows it down. However, you do not have to consume all the alcohol in the amount of tincture you have served. You can evaporate off the alcohol by pouring freshly boiled water over it, into the mug, perhaps half a mug full or a whole mug full of boiling water. One then leaves the mug to stand for maybe 10 minutes allowing most of the alcohol to evaporate. Clearly, the greater the volume of tincture in your cup, then the more boiling water you need to add to it, to ensure the subsequent mixture reaches a hot enough temperature to evaporate most of the alcohol off. You are no doubt familiar with this principle from physics (in terms of relative volumes and temperatures) and from adding piping hot water to your bath when it starts to cool down. If you are using considerable quantities of tincture in each dose, e.g. 1-2 tablespoons, then a filling the mug up with boiling water will only result in a hot mug of diluted tincture rather than a very hot one. If it is not hot enough, not enough of the alcohol will evaporate off, resulting in a rather boozy drink. If you are drinking the tincture three times a day, this is probably a bad idea!

With large amounts of tincture like this, the amount of boiling hot water required becomes excessively large, and you may want to consider actually leaving the mug (with tincture/hot water mixture) in a pot of freshly boiled water (i.e. a water bath for chemistry buffs), making sure of course that the water level in the pan does not spill over into the mug. After leaving the mug in there for 10-20 minutes, you can remove it and leave it to cool or stand it in a similar pot of cold water, for a few minutes, if you intend to drink it immediately. To ensure more alcohol evaporates, you can actually keep the water in the pan close to boiling point, either by placing one corner of the pan on the heat, leaving the mug of tincture solution in the other corner of the pan, so it is not directly in contact with the heated part of the pan. The hot water in the pan should therefore only bubble in one corner of the pan. If you do this, make sure the handle of the pan is not directly over the hot plate, or you may end up burning yourself. One could always place the entire pan on the hot plate, but on a very low heat. However, this means that the mug is in direct contact with a heated part of the pan base, which is not ideal. Too high a heat and the mug may start to rattle as bubbles form underneath it.

The other way to do it is to place the actual tincture dropper bottle without the drop stopper in the end in a pan of boiled or very hot water, and allow the alcohol to evaporate that way. However, keeping the alcoholic tincture as is in the dropper bottle is probably more sensible as the alcohol acts as a preservative (being a poison!) - and you can evaporate off the alcohol from your small serving as and when required.

If you are feeling particularly fancy, you may choose to buy a retort stand and clamp, and a suitable sized pyrex or borosilicate type flask, so you can hold the flask full of tincture in a pot of boiling water, without touching the sides of the pan, i.e. a water bath. This is not that expensive to set up yourself in your kitchen.

If you have a pyrex or ceramic glass pot, you could always boiling the tincture/water mixture in a pot for a few minutes, then pour it into a mug, maybe adding a little water to the pot to wash out any remaining tincture and add this to the diluted tincture liquid in the mug. However, the high temperature of the surface of the pot may degrade the compounds in the tincture - and in the case of chelating herbs, may cause the herbs to bind with the pan e.g. a ceramic pan (which contains Aluminium in the ceramic). If you do use a pot to heat the herbs with, do so on a very low heat. As a general rule it is best to avoid any metallic objects getting in contact with the tincture during straining, pouring or otherwise, especially cilantro.

Basically, the closer you can get the temperature of the tincture to 100C, the more effectively and quickly you will get rid of the alcohol. You can probably come up with other ideas of your own - the main thing is convenience and not losing any tincture, not having to drink ridiculous volumes of liquid and not drinking too much alcohol. You may wish to do this each time you drink the tincture, or to heat a day's worth of tincture in one go.


Use of Glycerine instead of Alcohol:

An alternative is to make tinctures using Glycerine (a.k.a. Glycerin or Glycerol) instead of alcohol solutions. Glycerine is a sugar alcohol and is 60% as sweet as sugar. It is often used as a filler in sweet food products such as biscuits. It tends to be thicker than alcohol and is extremely sweet in comparison. It may also be somewhat cheaper to buy than Vodka or grain alcohol. It is however higher in calories and does not evaporate off readily. Normally 50% glycerine is used in tincture making when it is used. Glycerine tends to extract essential oils from herbs much better than alcohol, but its capacity to extract resins and gums are somewhat low when compared to alcohol. It does not however mix with water very well or at all, and tinctures made with 50% glycerine may separate into layers. In addition, it is very difficult if not impossible to filter using filter paper. Using pure glycerine is harder still, but at least it is homogenous! Drinking significant amounts of Glycerine-based tinctures may also result in heartburn. Alcohol tends to be the main tincture solvent of choice, and used in conjunction with tinctures such as Cilantro (Coriander Leaf) and Milk Thistle.

www.naturalherbalism.com/Alcohol-Based/How_To_Prepare_Glycerine_Tincture.html

www.newhope.com/nutritionsciencenews/NSN_backs/Apr_99/backtalk.cfm

Recipe:

Below is the tincture recipe from Mountain Rose Herbs in the USA. Thank you Mountain Rose Herbs for providing this information. BlackSpy's comments are inserted in square brackets. BlackSpy has inserted his own pictures below.

This recipe is the simplest way to make your own liquid herbal extracts in your own home.


1. Start with a clean jar that has a tight fitting lid [i.e. a Kilner Jar of 1.5 or 3 Litres volume] and the herbs of your choice. If you can use fresh herbs, then fabulous! Fresh material is always preferred but availability is determined by your local bioregion, climate, etc and many quality herbs may not be available. If you cannot locate fresh materials, be sure to get good quality, [dried] organic herbs from a reputable supplier. Note: Try not to use powdered herbs; they will be difficult to filter out in the end and the debris will settle in your final product.


2. Chop the herbs finely - a blender or coffee grinder works well [depends on the herb and how it comes, dried herbs are usually already finely chopped. Fresh herbs usually are simply chopped off plants and require processing]. Then place the materials in the glass jar with a tight fitting lid, such as a canning jar.

[The picture below shows a jar with dried herbs in it.]




3. Pour a good and strong grain alcohol, [gin] or vodka over the herbs. Completely cover the herbal material, and leave 2-3 inches of alcohol above the herbs [not necessary with fresh herbs with fully hydrated leaves]. 100 proof alcohol is recommended, but you can also use grain alcohol. When using grain alcohol, mix it with equal parts of purified water to create 50% alcohol to 50% water ratio. If you wish to avoid alcohol, then vegetable glycerin or vinegar may be used. When using vegetable glycerin, dilute it with equal parts of water. Although glycerin and vinegar are not as effective or strong as alcohol, they do create milder extracts that are suitable for children or those sensitive to alcohol. If using dried herbs you will need to add more alcohol over the next day or two as the dried herbs absorb and expand. A good ratio for dried material is about 1 part herb to 5 parts alcohol, and with fresh material 1 part herb to 3 parts alcohol. [Clearly it depends on the exact herb - however, the more finely chopped and ground the herb is, the less volume it will take up in the saturated mixture. This is why chopping/blending of the herbs prior to use is highly recommended. However, blending herbs is more effective in a liquid medium, and you may choose to wait until this stage once you've added the Vodka to the herbs in the jar, to actually finely blend the mixture in a Juicer to a finely chopped consistency, but not a paste, and then pour the mixture from the blender/juicer back into the kilner jar.]


4. Cover with a tight fitting lid, shake well.

[The image below shows a preparation using fresh Coriander leaf, purchased from local supermarket. These herbs are used to demonstrate all the steps of the tincture making process in this recipe.]




[The image below shows a preparation using dried organic Coriander leaf (not shown elsewhere in this recipe). This can be compared to the appearance of fresh herbs in Vodka above.]




5. [Place a label on the jar describing it's contents, weight of herbs and type, volume and type of alcohol, date of preparation, etc.]




6. Place the jar in a dark place. Allow the mixture to soak and macerate for 4 to 6 weeks. Shake every few days to help the alcohol extract the active constituents from the herbs.

[The image below shows the same preparation as above made from fresh Coriander leaf, after 6 weeks in a dark airing cupboard, being shaken every day or every other day. Notice how the leaves have broken down.]




7. After 4 to 6 weeks strain the herbs. Use a large strainer lined with fine mesh cloth or cheesecloth. Make sure to tightly squeeze the material to extract every precious drop from the cloth. Funnel the material from your larger container into smaller bottles, preferably amber bottles and store your tinctures in a cool dark place. Your herbal tinctures will stay good for at least 3-5 years, if not indefinitely.

[Getting ready to strain the herbs]




[Straining the herbs using a plastic strainer/sieve. It is not generally necessary to use a muslingauze, mesh cloth or filter paper if the leaves can be trapped in a sieve. However, there are many ways of achieving a similar result. If you are straining the herbs into a glass bowl, then do not fill the bowl up too high, as it becomes very difficult to pour it from the bowl to the bottle without spilling large amounts]




[Pouring the strained tincture from the bowl into the bottle(s), in stages, using a large funnel. Be sure to pour the tincture from the bowl quickly into the funnel, and not mess around or be too careful, as the slower you pour it the more likely it will pour down the sides of the bowl and waste large amounts of tincture. Be bold!]





[Get all the leaves out of the storage jar and into the sieve with a spoon or similar implement]




[Squeeze/crush/press the leaves firmly in the strainer/sieve until you have squeezed as much tincture out of them into the bowl as possible, and pour this tincture into the original Vodka bottle(s) using the funnel. You can of course elect to pour the tincture straight into your dropper bottles, but this is potentially wasteful, as a very small funnel is required for dropper bottles and the chances of spilling much of your tincture is very high. Vodka bottles are designed for easy pouring of small amounts of liquid, and BlackSpy prefers to first pour the Vodka from the bowl into the original Vodka bottle, and from there pour it into the dropper bottles using a mini-funnel.]




[The result in shown below. As fresh herbs were used in this example, the actual liquid volume was greater than at the start. 1L of 40 Vodka plus 360g of fresh Coriander leaves produced 1.2L of tincture. This is on account of the water content of the leaves which was released as the herbs were broken down during the steeping process. With dry herbs, it will clearly be the opposite, that you will get less volume of tincture from the same volume of alcoholic solution at the start]






[You may wish to pour the strained tincture through a fine filter paper. There are generally not large particle sizes in such a tincture, and the resulting tincture is usually a little cloudy. Most pre-purchased tinctures use sophisticated filtration set ups. However, a cloudy tincture is of no consequence. Be aware that the filter will clog up after a few hundred millilitres and need changing. Filtration of 1L may for example take 20 minutes. You may not wish to bother with this, it is optional.]






[Once you have finished, label the bottle with the relevant information]




[Now transfer the tincture from the Vodka bottle into tinted/darkened dropper bottles using a mini-funnel.]




[Once they are full, put the dropper plug back in and screw the cap on. Label the dropper bottles. The dropper bottles can be left out in daylight, but any tincture in a clear and colourless bottle like a Vodka bottle should be stored in the dark, away from natural or artificial light, to stop the tincture degrading. Simply keep the larger bottles in the cupboard when not in use.]




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8. Sprouting:

It is easy to sprout your own beans or seeds. Please see a list of those legumes that are safe to eat raw on the Digestion page.

All you need to start sprouting is to buy some, preferably organic, seeds or dried beans. Some seeds require soil to grow in, but the recipe here is only for those that can be sprouted in a jar. Alfalfa seeds are highly convenient in this respect. The more confident you become in making your own sprouts, the greater number of things you might want to try. You might even want to grow your own broccoli sprouts or wheat grass from a growing tray. Below is the procedure to making alfalfa sprouts.



1. Take a clean jar with a screw top mesh lid (i.e. a sprouting jar), and put a half a tablespoon of so of alfalfa seed into the bottom.



2. You must now soak the seeds overnight or for 24 hours. Fill up the sprouting jar half way or so with filtered water. Slosh the water around to make sure all seeds are covered in water and aren't floating on the top, half dry. Leave overnight. You may elect to store it in a dark cupboard, which is probably better, but it is not strictly necessary. If you do, don't forget about it!



3. Pour away the water in the jar, with the mesh lid still in place.

4. Rinse out the soaked seeds in the jar a few times with filtered water, keeping the lid in place, emptying the water from the jar each time. Leave for 24 hours. You may prefer again to leave the sprouts in the dark.

5. Inspect the seeds. They may take up to a week to fully sprout and grow. You don't want them to grow too much (i.e. fleshy green leaves). The sprouted stage is when they are at their most nutritious. If they have not sprouted and grown enough, repeat step 4 and wait another 24 hours. Then repeat step 5 again. If kept in the dark, the leaves will not turn green, and this may be a good thing as less of the nutrients from the seeds are consumed by the young shoots. Either way, they are still nutritious. If you do keep them in the dark, e.g. in a cupboard, be sure to leave a note out or other visual reminder that they are in there, to rinse them in case you forget about them! If the sprouts start to smell 'funny' and the water is a little milky when you rinse them out, then it is likely that you have left them too long and that mould has started to grow inside the jar. If this happens, then discard the sprouts.



6. When they are ready, they can be stored in a refrigerator, where the cool temperature will mean that they stop growing. When being stored in this way, it is good practice to rinse them every few days and also before consumption. When you want to serve some up, give the sprouted alfalfa a quick rinse, shake out as much of the water as possible, then remove the screw top lid, and use a fork to lift out as much as is required and place it directly onto your plate. Best eaten raw/fresh. If you have put too many seeds in the jar at the start, then the alfalfa may become very dense and may require 'muscle' to fork it out of the jar! Try to find the right balance and the optimum amount with each consecutive batch.



7. When you have finished all the sprouts in the jar, give the jar and good wash and clean, ready for its next use. You may find it ideal if you like to eat sprouts regularly to have two sprouting jars, starting the second batch when the first batch has been sprouting for a few days. In this manner, when you've finished eating one jar, the next will be ready. Find your own rhythm that suits you.

Enjoy your sprouting and a source of fresh, cheap sprouted seeds!

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