This warm non-alcoholic punch will warm the hearts of a holiday gathering! It’s made from spiced ginger tea, pomegranate, and fermented beets! The flavor is exalting, the feeling uplifting and enlivening. Warm spiced punch with cinnamon and cloves is a comfort food for me. This elixir combines delicious flavor and invigorating medicinal qualities. Of course, you can always add your own spirit essence if you like. I made it with fermented beets from my local market, and served it at a holiday gathering. Organic ingredients made it pesticide-free without Monsanto’s herbicide glyphosate. Hooray! This punch tastes a bit like mulled cider, except not quite as sweet. Easy to make, just boil fresh ginger and spices, allow to cool, add fermented beets, and strain into a serving pitcher or wine glasses.
The recipe is inspired by Kvass, the traditional Russian fermented beverage. Kvass can be made from a many things, such as rye bread. And it can also be made from beets. Authentic Beet kvass is considered a medicinal drink, often used in cancer therapy for its liver cleansing properties. It’s also excellent for chronic fatigue, chemical sensitivities, allergies, and general digestive wellness.
In her best-selling book “Nourishing Traditions”, Sally Fallon writes about beet kvass:
“This drink is valuable for its medicinal qualities and as a digestive aid. Beets are just loaded with nutrients. One 4-ounce glass, morning and night, is an excellent blood tonic, cleanses the liver and is a good treatment for kidney stones and other ailments.”
This recipe makes 1 1/2 – 2 gallons delicious elixir. Serves about 20 people. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 to 2 gallons filtered water
- 4-inches fresh ginger root, diced
- 1 lemon, peeled, sliced, and seeded
- 1 orange, sliced and seeded, with the peel
- 1 tablespoon whole cloves
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, or 2 sticks cinnamon
- 2 large bags Pomegranate powder
- 3 tablespoons raw honey, or your favorite sweetener to taste
- 3 cups raw fermented beets (If you have 2 weeks, you can ferment them yourself - see Fermented Veggies. Or find them in the live foods section of most healthy groceries, or buy online from Vital choice)
Instructions
- The spiced tea ingredients need to be finely diced. You can do that by hand or you can use a food processor to grind the ginger, lemon, orange, cloves, and cinnamon altogether. When these are finely diced, put them in a large soup pot over high heat and bring to a boil.
- Turn it down to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Then turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
- When the drink is cool enough to touch without scalding, stir in pomegranate powder and honey to taste. Add the fermented beets. (I chopped them with the "S" blade in the food processor first, to increase their effect in the drink.) Stir in the beets and watch it become a beautiful deep red color. Do not heat further or you'll kill the beneficial bacteria.
- Set a large strainer in another large pot in the sink. Pour the lukewarm beverage through the strainer into the pot. Then transfer the drink to stem glasses or a pitcher to serve. Discard the strained pulp, or use it in something else.
- Enjoy your uplifting holiday elixir.
2 Replies to "Spiced Beet Elixir - A Fermented Holiday Treat!"
Sally December 6, 2023 (1:07 pm)
This sounds so devine!
Jane Barthelemy February 25, 2024 (4:46 pm)
Hi Sally, Oh yes, it’s truly yummy!!! Best wishes to you! Jane