Easy Fermented Pro-Biotic Juices: Great for the Immune System & Candida

Probiotic fermented juices stoke your body with healthy bacteria, and also help digest any sugars you may eat.  Having the right type of bacteria in your gut is very important -- because the wrong types of bacteria can not only make you fat, they can also impede your immune system, organ, and brain development.

Healthy gut bacteria actually help prevent disease.  Lactobacilli can destroy cancer cells and prevent their spread.  Low counts of Bifidobacteria have been linked to many diseases, and Bifidobacteria supplements may help treat symptoms of certain diseases.  

Healthy gut bacteria can even enhance fertility and boost sex drive.

A recent study found that poor gut health is linked to high blood pressure and depression.  Researchers found key differences in gut bacterial patterns among individuals with and without the conditions. 

A 2016 study found that probiotics "can improve Alzheimer's by modulating the gut-brain axis."  

Numerous studies show that pro-biotics also help prevent or reverse candida.  Over a dozen strains of lactobacillli have been found to have anti-fungal effects (table).  Bifidum Longum bacteria have been found to inhibit the growth of Candida.  And Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic yeast that is antagonistic to Candida but safe to you.





Delicious Fermented Drinks

If you buy products like Kevita, GTS, kombucha, or other fermented drinks, they are kind of pricey and you end up with alot of glass bottles to toss. 

So I've started fermenting my own juices. I make a point of drinking some fermented juice anytime I eat carbs, as the bacteria will feed off the carbs.  I notice I'm not as thirsty as I used to be, probably because there aren't as many toxins and sugars circulating in my blood system.  The added beneficial bacteria eat up a great deal of any sugars in my intestinal tract, so fewer enter my blood system.  (Kombucha starters can get easily contaminated over time, so I use fresh starter for my juices, see below.)

My cat used to drink alot of water. I started feeding her some fermented juice, maybe a teaspoon mixed with her dinner.  A few weeks later I noticed she wasn't drinking as much. She came from a junk-food background, so she likely didn't have a good stock of beneficial bacteria.


Process

The basic recipe is juice, a pinch of salt, and some form of live starter.  You can use fresh or frozen juice.  The process is the same as for yogurt, except it takes longer, since the bacteria prefer lactose over juice.

Most of the pro-biotic strains prefer to be cultivated around body temperature -- 90 F to about 110 F.

I live in a cold climate. So to ferment in winter, I place the bottles near my wood stove to keep them warm. When warm, it takes only a few days. When cold, it can take 5 days or so.  Leave the lid just slightly open for air to escape.  It's just fine to shake them.  But watch out -- when you won't be expecting it the juice will foam all over like champagne.

If you see mold on anything you've done, including your whey or the rim of the jar, throw it out. It's contaminated. I sanitize all my bottles and caps with hot water.  I generally don't reuse fermented juice as starter, as it's harder to tell what the proportions are once it's been fermented.

Increasing the salt will cause the juice to ferment quicker, but many people don't prefer the salty flavor.

Many people have written instructions for fermenting juice and vegetables. Here's an  article for fermenting fresh vegetables with salt.  Here's an article for fermenting orange juice.

I can't stop drinking the stuff!  It's delicious.


How to Get Live Starter Such as Whey

To get whey, you have to strain it out of fresh yogurt (which leaves sour cream behind).  You can also strain coconut yogurt. I have seen as many as 8 pro-biotic strains in high-quality organic yogurts.  Dried whey does not contain the living beneficial bacteria you need.  Greek yogurt has already  strained the whey out, which is actually a loss to you in terms of fewer proactive bacteria will be left in the yogurt.  Some yogurt brands add pectin or gumming agents which make it hard to strain the whey out, so do some experimenting.  Cheap mainstream brands will have fewer strains of bacteria and probably less bacteria, as the cuturing standards are not as high as organic brands. 

To strain the yogurt: Get a sanitized cloth, and pour the yogurt onto it, and tie it up and drain it into a sanitized jar.  It can take several hours to complete.

Alternatively, you can also poke holes with a toothpick in in the plastic wrap sealing the top of a tub and drain the whey out that way.  I found that I also had to poke holes on the opposite side of the plastic seal to allow for the air flow, and that it worked best if the yogurt tub was placed as level as possible, to minimize yogurt plugging the holes.  The problem with aluminum tops is that you can't see through to see of the yogurt is plugging the holes and how much whey is accumulating.

You can also use Kevita or other fermented drinks as starters.  Some of those juices don't have as many strains of bacteria as high quality yogurts do though.  Kevita also uses L. Plantarum (see below), but there is another brand I buy which doesn't, GTS.

You can buy kefir starter🥕 (use code BBF4037 for 5% off) but these may contain fewer strains of bacteria, and may contain lactic yeasts which they don't specify.

You can experiment fermenting with pro-biotic capsules 🥕 (you will soon find out if they are still active).   There are many Saccharomyces boulardii capsules🥕, and you can ferment with them.  They prefer temperatures slightly lower than most probiotics, 71-86F.  S. boulardi will ferment out most of the sugar, but it is good to also use other cultures so all the sugars are fermented. 

In place of fermenting, you can consume pro-biotic capsules. But there is no guarantee they will still be active by the time you consume them.   

You will get the most live bacteria most efficiently from your own fermented juices, and they carry an added benefit:  You called their souls into existence -- therefore they have been called in specifically for you.

 
Basic Fermented Probiotic Juice Recipe

This recipe uses fruit juice.  I find that orange and apple juice ferment the easiesT.  Grape and cranberry juices ferment slower, there may be anti-microbial alkaloids in the juices.  You can also use coconut water.

• 1 can of frozen juice split between two 32 oz. glass bottle (sanitized) 
• A few Tbsp of Whey (you get it from straining yogurt)
• A few Tbsp of Kevita type beverage (optional)
• Pinch of salt
• Fill with purified water about 3/4 full to taste.

Let sit a 2-5 days depending on temperature.


Traveler's Probiotic Juice Recipe - with Yogurt

This recipe is good if you are traveling or just want a simple way to ferment the juice.

• 1 Quart of Juice
• 1 Serving Size of Yogurt (6 or 8 oz.) 
• 1 Sanitized Spoon (such as wrapped in plastic)
• Pinch of salt

Open up the quart of juice and pour out  a few ounces to drink, as you will need some room at the top once the fermenting starts (don't drink from the jar). 

Take your sanitized spoon, and dip out the center of the yogurt from the serving size of the yogurt, and let set for a few hours or overnight.  When the whey strains into the center, pour it into your quart of juice. Add salt and wait a few days.


Easiest Traveler's Probiotic  Juice Recipe - with Kevita or Straight Yogurt

This is the easiest recipe out there.  Kevita does use L. Plantarum, but GTS doesn't.

• 1 Quart of Juice
• 1/4 c. Probiotic juice, such as GTS or Kevita -- or -- 1/2 c. yogurt
• Pinch of salt

Open up the quart of juice and pour out  a few ounces to drink, as you will need some room at the top once the fermenting starts (don't drink from the jar).  Add the the yogurt straight, or the Kevita or fermented juice, add a pinch of salt, sit back and wait a few days.

Like I said earlier, I prefer to use yogurt as high-quality yogurts have more strains of beneficial bacteria. But this is an easy option if you want one.


Which Yogurt to Buy:  Don't Buy Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt strains out the whey -- the healthiest part of the yogurt.  Some yogurts also use a great deal of gum agents, such as pectin or carageenan, and the whey won't separate out for you.  Do some experimenting. It's best to go with organic or very high quality yogurts, because they have higher bacteria counts, and they typically have many strains of bacteria versus just one or two.  

I usually buy a bottle of GTS Kombucha, and use half GTS, half whey.  

Raw apple cider vinegar has primarily acetobacter bacteria in addition to some yeasts, neither which are optimal for you delicious juice.  

Here are a few varieties of yogurt that use many strains of bacteria:

Nancy's OrganicYogurt features 8 different strains of lactobacillus and 3 strains of bifidobacteria.

Stonyfield Yogurt features 5 strains, but their yogurt can strain poorly: S. thermophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. acidophilus, Bifidus and L. paracasei.

L. Plantarum

The L. Plantarum bacteria grows at  higher temperatures and lower temperatures more easily than the other bacteria, growing from 50-104F.

So for example, overheating the juice can cause l. plantarum to over populate and the other strains to die off.  Drinking straight l. plantarum can cause bloating and nausea. Then you will have to re-stock all the good bacteria in yourself.

L. Plantarum  has some additional health benefits, such as helping ulerative colitis, fertility, cholesterol, skin health. But if you cultivate with it, make sure you use the temperatures closer to body temperature so it doesn't get out of proportion to the rest.


Conclusion

Hope you've enjoyed this article, and can put it to use! If you have any other suggestions, feel free to add them to the comments.