One of the shared traditions of the holiday season is good food in abundance. Another shared experience afterward is endeavoring to digest all of the ham, turkey, tamales and fixings your eyes told you that you could eat as your stomach sat quietly in denial. Did you leave room for dessert? Of course, you did.
At times like this, as your digestive system wonders how it will cope, you would be well counseled by Mary Risavi’s wise goats, which, she noticed, always knew what corrective plants to eat when they needed similar help. A trained nutritional therapist, she has created a line of simple, natural solutions through her fermented Wise Goat Organics products she says can fight conditions like bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome by providing probiotics that may aid digestion.
And her gut tonics have those in spades.
“For probiotic capsules, the count is in the billions—and that’s assuming they are handled properly,” she said. “But the bacteria count for the gut tonics is in the trillions.”
The gut tonics are made from the brine that is a byproduct of making Wise Goat sauerkraut, a simple process of chopping up vegetables, adding salt, and letting it ferment.
“When we make the sauerkraut, we don’t add any water,” she said. “The salt pulls the liquid out of the vegetables during fermentation. You get the salt ratio right—usually around 2%—and then you let it ferment for around four to six weeks. And that’s it.”
She added as long as there is the right amount of salt in the mixture, the vegetables will not rot, and bacteria will grow.
“In the right acidic environment, which the salt provides, the beneficial bacterial cultures proliferate,” she said. “E. coli or other bacteria that are not beneficial to people don’t survive in that kind of an acidic environment.”
For those who have not taken probiotics before, Risavi suggests taking it slow, with a small amount until their system begins to adjust to the extra bacteria.
“For people with very sensitive digestive issues or who’ve never had probiotics before, I always start them all with the classic,” Risavi said. “And it’s probably the best for children because it’s so mild. A little bit goes a long way. Start with one to two tablespoons in the morning on an empty stomach just to see how it feels as your body gets used to the probiotic content. I like to take one or two tablespoons before every meal because it helps the pancreas release digestive enzymes.”
Risavi said that probiotics could also be worked into meals as part of a daily diet.
“You can add the tonic to soups towards the end when they are not boiling,” she said. “It can be used in cocktails or salad dressings instead of vinegar. You can mix it into all kinds of foods as long as they are not hot enough to kill the bacteria.”
She added the jars of Gut Tonic are shelf stable and, once opened, can last up to a year in the refrigerator.
“It is amazing how much of a difference you can see in people once they start using the gut tonics,” she said. “In helping with digestion, it will also help you to better absorb the vitamins and minerals from the food you’re eating which will benefit you in many ways, like cognitive function, memory, and sleep. Everything in your immune system is based in the gut, so trust in nature—it’ll provide the right balance.”
The Gut Tonics of Wise Goat Organics
The temptation was to review these the same way wine is reviewed, with talk of aroma, mouthfeel, flavor notes, and finish. But the fact is that all of the gut tonics taste more or less like a sour and tart broth with roughly the consistency and saltiness of miso soup and a flavor dominated by the main vegetable used. To make it simple, I have just listed the ingredients of the four that I tried.
The taste is far from unpleasant—if you can down a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or pickle juice with no problem, the gut tonics are easy. My favorite of the four is the Pickle Relish Gut Tonic—the crisp and clean cucumber taste balances the sourness nicely.
Classic Gut Tonic – Made from organic cabbage, organic caraway seeds, and unrefined sea salt.
Pickle Relish Gut Tonic – Made with organic cucumbers, organic carrots, organic onions, mustard seed, organic spices, and unrefined sea salt.
Jalapeno Gut Tonic – Made with organic cabbage, organic jalapenos, and sea salt.
Golden Gut Tonic – organic cabbage, organic turmeric, organic ginger, organic mustard seeds, organic spices, and unrefined sea salt.
Wise Goat Organics can be ordered on their website or at select farmers markets.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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