Diet: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Low FODMAP, Nut Free, Paleo, Pescatarian, Soy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Serves: Makes 1 litre cabbage juice
Total Time: 72 hours

Description

As more and more people with health concerns are turning towards natural health as a means to improve their symptoms, probiotic foods are increasingly getting a good rep!

If you aren’t familiar with the term probiotics, let me break it down for you.

We all have bacteria living inside of us, and whilst you may initially baulk at the thought, the bacteria in our bodies are not as bad as you may think. In actual fact, the bacteria in our gut can be either good (i.e friendly) or bad.

Probiotics are essentially live friendly bacteria that inhabit your digestive tract. They support your body’s ability to extract vitamins and minerals from the foods that you eat, whilst also playing a vital role in defending you from pathogens such as bacteria and viruses.

So how do you get this live bacteria into your gut?

Well, you can make a start by consuming probiotic foods in your diet.

Probiotic foods are foods that are living. They contain live bacteria and enzymes that can repopulate your gut flora, which is especially important if you suffer with health concerns or are on heavy medication.

Fermented cabbage juice is a great source of beneficial bacteria and vitamins and minerals.

Not only that, but cabbage is naturally high in l-glutamine, an amino acid which has been shown as an essential component to maintain the gut barrier (a strong gut barrier is especially important if you have digestive health concerns).

You may be familiar with sauerkraut, which is shredded cabbage. Cabbage juice, on the other hand, offers a simple alternative that you can drink each day, as it is easily digestible. I would recommend drinking this once daily (approximately 1/2 cup a day) as a means to give your microbiome that well-deserved boost!

P.S I know it might not be tastiest thing in the world, but trust me, your body will thank you for it soon enough!

Ingredients

• 2 organic cabbages (white or red)
• Filtered water

Method

1. Wash and chop enough organic cabbage to fill a food blender.
2. Add some filtered water to approximately the 2/3 mark on the blender.
3. Blend on high speed for one minute or until completely blended. Repeat the process with until there is no more cabbage left to use.
4. Pour into bowls, cover and let stand at room temperature for three days. After three days the cultured cabbage juice will be ready to drink.
5. Strain it first to separate the liquid and the pulp; throw the pulp away (or feel free to save as part of another recipe) and refrigerate the liquid.
6. When your cabbage juice starts to get low, you can repeat the process to create more juice. This time, pour 1/2 cup liquid from the original batch into the new batch. This speeds the culturing process, and this batch will be ready to drink in only one day.