I’ve previously discussed how the fungal species, Saccharomyces boulardii, a cousin of Saccharomyces cerevisieae used to ferment wine and beer, can be put to work to make wonderful effervescent juices that can provide an important probiotic microbe with considerable health advantages. The fermentation process also reduces sugar content by about 50% while providing higher counts of microbes.
The video posted here shows just how vigorous the fermentation process can be, as you can see bubbling that occurs starting at about 24 hours. I refrigerate at 48 hours to stop fermentation, as further fermentation will yield alcohol. We just want a big boost in microbe counts, not the alcohol.
I’ve fermented apple cider, coconut pineapple juice, cranberry juice, grape juice, and mango passion fruit juice shown here. All yield delicious sparkling juices.
Getting plenty of Saccharomyces boulardii is probably the #1 most important strategy you can follow to minimize the harmful intestinal microbiome effects of antibiotics, as this fungal species is not affected by antibiotics that kill off, for example, E. coli, Pseudomonas, or Streptococcus. Antibiotics kill numerous healthy microbiome species that you need for overall health, not just pathogens, but S. boulardii somehow manages to minimize this effect on beneficial microbes.
In fact, the benefits of obtaining an intake of Saccharomyces boulardii are so substantial that I would advocate including a source of this microbe frequently for the rest of your life, stacking the odds in favor of minimizing all the disruptive microbiome factors that we are all exposed to.
