Turmeric has taken our Eurocentric style of eating by storm. I’d love to pay it more respect than just tossing it into random recipes because of its intrinsic healthful properties. A food blog is a funny thing. Especially one based on health and wellness, where often you’re picking and choosing traditional methods of food preparation, mentioning a vitamin and mineral or two and calling it good at that. It’s not quite enough.
It also reminds me of language. How do we continue to acknowledge appropriation, while also acknowledging the changing tides of word use, vernaculars and trends? Food is a living and breathing concept. It’s changing. Cultures change. Needs change. Language, too.
I don’t have answers. I hiccup and burp and fart everywhere. In the figurative sense. Can I incorporate turmeric into a traditionally Latvian/Lituanian drink? A drink that even more traditionally is made with grains, even though here it’s made with beets? I will today, and I’ll keep mulling it over as the brew ferments in the cupboard, hour by hour, minute by minute.
Golden Beet Kvass
Ingredients
- 1 yellow beet peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered turmeric or ½ inch knob of fresh turmeric, grated
- 1/16 teaspoon black pepper ground (a very small pinch)
- 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- 4 cups filtered water
- 1 sterilized quart-sized mason jar and lid
Instructions
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Combine the sea salt and half the water in the mason jar, screw the lid on tightly and shake to dissolve the sea salt in the water.
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Take the lid off and place the chopped beets, turmeric and black pepper in the brine. Fill the jar with the remaining water, leaving 1 inch of airspace at the top of the jar.
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Screw the lid on the jar tightly and place the beet kvass in a cupboard to ferment for three days.
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After three days, keep beet kvass in the fridge and aim to drink 1-2 ounces per day.