Saturday, October 25, 2008

Making fruit enzymes

Not baking. So I will post up something that my mum is very into recently:
Making fruit enzymes (水果酵素).

We have heard of the health benefits for taking fruit enzymes. Enzymes are important for our digestive system and when our body does not produce enough enzymes, we can't absorb the nutrients from the food that we eat.

It is easy to make enzymes at home.
1. Just prepare a glass container that is very clean and dry. Be careful! Any grease/water will spoil the whole jar!
2. Wash and dry the fruits. Cut into small pieces. Make sure they are very dry!
3. Put a layer of fruits, followed by a layer of rock sugar (we used 冰片糖), repeat until the jar is about 3/4 full. Make sure the top layer is sugar.
4. Seal the jar and leave it in a dry and cool place to ferment.
5. On the 3rd or 4th day, shake the jar to mix the fruits and sugar evenly. Open to release some gases. Remember to close the jar.
6. Enzyme should be ready to be consumed in 2-3 weeks time, depending on the fruit.
7. Filter the fruit from liquid. Store the liquid enzyme in a new glass bottle. Must be clean and dry too!
8. Keep in the refrigerator and drink it within 1 month.
9. If you are making many batches (like my mother), paste a note of the date of making and date of completion on the jar.
10. Drink daily and amount according to your weight (reference from a book). E.g. if you weigh 60kg, then drink 60ml a day, 30kg - 30ml a day.

Here are some enzymes that are ready to be consumed. More coming... :)

Pomegranate enzyme

Mixed fruits enzyme (apples, grapes, lemons and kiwi fruit)

Roselle enzyme

I like the Roselle enzyme the best. It tastes almost the same as Ribena. Very nice to drink.