Daily Archives: March 22, 2014

How to Make Rejuvelac, Part 4: Drink Up!

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Welcome back!

This is our last step! Here’s what you’ll need:

  • An empty glass jar (or jars) for storage of approximately six cups of rejuvelac—the typical amount yielded for me from one cup of soaked, sprouted and fermented rye berries. Any glass jars that were used to store pickles, olives or spaghetti sauce can be re-purposed as storage containers for your rejuvelac (just make sure you get rid of the old odors and tastes first).
  • A small funnel (optional, but highly recommend)
  • Six more cups of water if you want to make another batch (optional).

The rejuvelac will look like this after 48 hours of fermenting.

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It should look cloudy with a pale yellow color (similar to freshly squeezed lemonade). Remember in Part 3 when I told you not to shake the jar? You’re still not going to shake the jar! But you will need to pick the jar up and tip it to the side to decant the rejuvelac. As you move the jar you will see small bubbles running from the bottom to the top of the jar. The fermentation process creates carbonation. Another byproduct of fermenting is the foam floating at the top of the jar. Neither the bubbles nor the foam will hurt you.

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Now tip the half-gallon jar with the rejuvelac to transfer the rejuvelac to the storage jar. You do not want the rye berries in your drink and keeping the cheesecloth secured to the jar ensures the rejuvelac will separate from the rye berries. Placing a small funnel at the neck of your storage jar makes the transfer process from berry jar to storage jar a lot less messy.

Here’s the finished product—two 1&frac; pint jars of rejuvelac, giving me a total of six cups!

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I highly recommend putting the rejuvelac into the fridge for an hour or so to get cold before drinking. I like it best cold!

Now what to do with the sad-looking rye berry jar??

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Great news—you can use it for two more days to make more and more rejuvelac! Refill the jar with six or more cups of water and let it ferment again over night and then decant it after 24 hours. I usually do three total decantings—one from the 48 hour fermentation and two more from two 24 hour fermentations.

I’’ve read that if you have leftover rejuvelac that you don’t want you can use it to water your plants with!

As for the rye berries I have a special story for that:

I have a freezer bag filled with old berries I’ve used for rejuvelac. On April 18, 2014 when Pete and I go down to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana to celebrate our second wedding anniversary, we are going to take the leftover berries with us and use them to feed the fat squirrels on campus! So you can either throw away your leftover berries or you can feed them to small critters in your local park, but take the berries away from your house to give to animals. If you feed the critters at your house you will have repeat, nuisance visitors. Nobody likes a pest!

When Pete and I go to Bloomington, we always stop at Oliver Winery! When we visited Oliver Winery in 2012 we acquired a free wine tote bag with six storage slots for carrying six bottles of wine. You know what else the wine tote is great for? Taking your glass jars of rejuvelac with you when you’re on the go.

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Peace,
Sara

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The Ballroom “Look”

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I saw this video posted by a friend on Facebook this afternoon. I wanted to share both the video and my thoughts on the interview with you.

Toni Redpath, the woman interviewed in the video below, is a professional ballroom dance competitor and a ballroom dance competition judge. I’ve seen her perform at competitions in the past and her movement on the dance floor is both beautiful and breath-taking. Toni’s statements on how she judges female dancers at competitions based on their “look” instead of just their ability is a common calamity at any ballroom dance competition.

The interview starts off on a positive note. Toni explains what she’s looking for when she judges the Bronze, Silver and Gold syllabus levels. Toni also describes what she looks for when she judges the Open category, the most advanced level where you can link together syllabus steps of your choice in addition to making up your own choreography.

About 2/3rds of the way through the interview Toni reveals that she judges female dancers on their ballroom “look” rather than their dance ability. Toni clearly states that “the girl who has the better look” gets a better score when she’s judging two women with nearly the same ability.

Watch the interview below, and you’ll see what I mean.

Is presence or a “look” important? Yes. I agree with Toni that the appearance of the dancer is important because costumes, makeup and a clean hairstyle should compliment your dancing. Competitions and performances are special days to celebrate the hard work you’ve done. Celebration of hard work at ballroom dance competition is usually expressed by dressing up in a fancy costume, putting on makeup, getting your nails done and donning some sparkly accessories. Your costuming should accent your dancing. Your costuming should not be the only thing the judge notices.

To achieve the “look” that Toni refers to at a ballroom dance competition, you will need a spray tan to turn your skin orange (note–not brown) so you can be seen under the bright lights, fake finger nails, false eyelashes, heavy eye makeup up to your eyebrows and a clean hairstyle in which your hair needs to be either very long or very short and your hair color needs to be dyed either a very, dark brown or a blinding, platinum blonde. Your weight is also considered a definite factor in your “look”. I’ve had coaches in the past look at me during a coaching session and comment that losing 5 to 10 pounds would go a long way to helping my “look” on the dance floor. Comments about my weigt always crushed me. When I danced I wasn’t ever obese. I was healthy and strong but never skinny enough to meet my coaches’ expectations.

Additional requirements to achieve the “look” include the purchase of one or two dresses—either a ball gown and/or a Latin gown, depending on which style(s) of ballroom dance you’re competing in. These dresses are not cheap. If you buy a decent dress you can expect to pay upwards of $2,000.00 for a used dress or approximately $4,000.00 for a new dress. If owning a dress that will go out of style within 2 years requiring you to purchase another dress so you can keep improving your “look” is not the route you want to take, you also have the option of renting a dress for a minimum of $250.00 for one competition weekend. Either direction you choose, owning and constantly replacing your gown(s) or renting a new gown(s) each weekend you that you compete can add up fast. Tack on accessories like earrings, necklaces, rings, bracelets and/or gloves, and you can expect to pay $300.00-$500.00 for that alone. Suddenly your “look” has become an expensive investment. And remember—none of your investment has gone towards your dance coaching to help improve your ability.

Think of any other sport—triathlons, marathons, 5Ks, football, basketball, baseball etc. None of these sports place any emphasis on how you “look” when you perform. Your score is determined by you and/or your team’s ability to perform well. Yes, you spend money on uniforms and gear. Sometimes the more money you spend on gear can greatly benefit your ability. However, the way you “look” isn’t a determinant in these sports to be winner. In these sports, ability always outshines the “look” when you’re when you’re fighting to win.

If you struggle with similar concerns regarding your “look” at a ballroom dance competition, my recommendation is be true to yourself, proud of the hard work you’ve done and dance the best you can. If you feel that you’re clean and professional appearance on the dance floor isn’t winning you any medals, then keep on dancing harder. Don’t go out and purchase another costume. Costumes shouldn’t be judged. Your overall ability is what should shine through to the judges.

Peace,
Sara