Rosacea Support Community

This post may be of interest to rosacea and seb derm sufferers who are also coping with gastrointestinal issues.

I learned about the benefits of water kefir just recently (thank you, Mask, for all the great advice!). I tried to find water kefir grains locally but couldn't so I wound up ordering fresh grains online from the kefirlady with great results - the grains are growing fast, healthy and produce a nice soda-like drink but I'll have to wait a few more weeks for the kefir grains to yield a half a gallon per brew.

Two weeks ago, Bellableu posted about rejuvelac (thank you, darling!) - she has a history of malabsorption leading to underweight, and went through an anti-candida treatment about a year ago. After adopting a traditional diet and adding daily raw live non-dairy fermented probiotic drinks like kombucha and rejuvelac, her digestion has improved markedly.

I don't keep my house warm enough during the winter to brew kombucha successfully. It does well in the summer but it just takes forever the rest of the year so water kefir and rejuvelac are the easiest fermented drinks for me to make.

So what's rejuvelac? It's a very healthy drink you can make from grains. Rye and wheat berries, and quinoa produce the best results.



From Wiki: Rejuvelac contains eight of the B vitamins, vitamins E and K, and a variety of proteins, dextrines, carbohydrates, phosphates and amylases. It is rich in enzymes that assist in digestion.

I've been making it as per these basic instructions I've found online:

- Soak about a half cup of rye berries for 8 hours in filtered or bottled spring water in a glass jar.

- Drain, rinse, drain again, cap jar with a piece of cheesecloth and let the berries sprout.



- When you see tiny white tails in most berries, rinse again and fill the jar with two quarts of filtered water.

- Cap securely with a piece of cheesecloth and leave on the counter, away from direct sunlight, for a day or two.



- Strain (I suppose fruit juice could be added for flavor at this point, haven't tried that) and refrigerate.



I find the resulting drink quite nice. It looks like lemonade and tastes kind of plain, can’t describe it – it’s an ok taste, though.

The rye berries can be reused a couple of times.

All sites I checked say to discard the “spent” berries or feed them to chickens. I don’t have chickens and hate to throw food away so I just boiled the berries in a little water until tender, about 5 minutes, I think. Added butter, some raisins, a bit of raw cream, pecans, walnuts, banana slices, and raw honey off the heat.



The hubby and I liked the new breakfast concoction a lot.

Hopefully this post will inspire you to give this healthful drink a try.

In the US you can order rye berries and other grains inexpensively from companies like Bob's Red Mill (7.50 lbs for $10.69 + shipping). If your local health food shop doesn't carry them, ask if they'll order some for you.