Guacamole Dressing
1 cup Sauerkraut brine
1 ripe avocado
Dash of lime juice
½ teaspoon lime zest
1 medium tomato
1 tablespoon chopped salad onion
1 teaspoon garlic, chopped / fermented garlic clove and a slither of fermented ginger
Blitz all ingredients until very smooth. Do not over blend avocado. Add more kraut juice if necessary to reach desired consistency.
Sauerkraut brine is a rare delicacy and unparalleled digestive tonic and a great intro to fermented food for weaning babies.
- Take a shot of brine 15 minutes before eating in order to ameliorate acid reflux.
- Can use leftover brine in bread (in place of liquid), base for Christmas ham glaze, dips, cold soups – Gazpacho, barbecue sauce, makes a great soaking agent, salsa and salad dressing – be sure the ferment compliments the dressing.
- Use brine to soak nuts overnight. Strain and rinse. Blitz, roll into balls and serve with a drizzle of brine. Kimchi brine will add a touch of spice.
- Try adding sliced onions in the leftover cloudy brine and use wherever you would use a raw onion slice.
- Soak potato in brine for 12 -24 hours before making chips / roast spuds, to make more digestible and lower in starch and tasty to boot!
- Use as a marinade. Add spices, herbs, turmeric or garlic to taste. While cooking will kill off the good bacteria, it will still add good flavour to your meat and it does a great job tenderizing, as does Kefir and Kombucha.
- Add to mashed curry egg salad or place boiled and peeled eggs in brine (in sealed glass bottle in ‘fridge for quick pickled eggs – good to use the brine from red kraut / beet kvass).
Quick Pickled Eggs
Add un-refined sweetener if you like a sweet pickle brine on your pickled eggs.
You can try blue pickled eggs from purple kraut juice or yellow pickled eggs from cucumber pickle juice, or pink pickled eggs using beetroot brine. Pop shelled boiled eggs into the brine, and stick it in the fridge. They will be good to eat in 2-4 days (the pink ones are easiest to tell how far they have been pickled, since the color will tell you how far the brine has penetrated).
- We have dehydrated brine leftover and ground to a powder with many uses from craft dyes, play dough to adding to smoothies, raw treats, cake icing, dog food etc.
- Mix with tomato juice and drink. Kimchi brine is a fave! Bottoms up!
- Add to your morning glass of water or with lemon after meals as a digestive aid. Add a splash to smoothies – we find it best in green versions.
- Try sprinkling a dash over dinner, for a great way to incorporate probiotics in to the kiddo’s food and some big boys who refuse to eat them. Sprinkle over sautéed greens.
- Feed to pets and feathered family – add to the chooks water.
- Use brine in and on everything to replace salt or seasoning.
Unless you intend to ‘spring clean’ or have a specific therapeutic goal in mind, adding two or three small glasses of diluted lacto juices to your diet each week is sufficient.
As a general ‘spring clean’ tonic, drinking about a half a cup of fermented cabbage juice two or three times a day for one week, at least twice a year.
You will also find that fermented cabbage juice can quickly help restore the natural bowel bacterial flora when used for a week or two following a course of antibiotics.
However, by regularly including kraut, kimchi, kvass or the fermented cabbage juice in a healthy diet, you may not require antibiotics in the first place.
Have you had your shot of brine today?