±: More or less
FRUIT JUICES( E / Alk / K / B-d), especially apple and apricot; grape, fresh grapefruit, and fresh orange juice can also be used, according to taste. VEGETABLE JUICES( E / Alk / K / B-d), such as carrot, celery, greens, either straight or mixed. LEMON TEA( E / Alk / W / B-d), cut a lemon in half, squeeze juice from one half and pour juice into a cup. Cut up the ½ juiced peel and set to simmer in 1 1 / 4 cups water for 8 to 10 minutes. Strain into the cup that holds the juice. If too tart or too bitter, add 1 tablespoon maple syrup or barley malt. GINGER TEA(± C / Alk / W / b-d): Simmer 4 or 5 slices fresh ginger in 1 cup water, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes. PEPPERMINT TEA with lemon( E / Alk / W / B-d): in some cases, with ½ teaspoon honey. FIVE-PHASE DRINK( E / Alk / W / B-d): Mix 1 cup lemon tea with 1 tablespoon maple syrup or to taste. Add pinch of cayenne or five drops of Tabasco( cooling effect) OR ½ teaspoon fresh grated ginger( warming effect). Stir well, drink hot. VEGETARIAN“ CHICKEN” SOUP( C / Alk / W / B-d): Ingredients: 6 cups water, 1 carrot, 1 leek, 1 zucchini, 1 rib celery, handful of green beans, 1 bay leaf. Wash and chop the vegetables, and simmer them for about 30 minutes, covered. Remove bay leaf. Eat soup with vegetables, or use broth only.( Note: there is no salt in this soup.) MISO SOUP( C / Alk / W / B-d): Miso is a paste of fermented soybeans, sea salt, and sometimes a grain such as rice or barley; it is used to flavor soups and sauces in Japanese cuisine. It is an excellent alkalizer and has a generally contractive effect. Miso soup must be made with unpasteurized barley or rice miso, preferably American-made or good-quality Japanese( obtainable in bulk from natural and macrobiotic-food suppliers). The simplest way to prepare it is to dissolve ½ to ½ teaspoon miso in 1 cup hot water. A small jar of miso can be taken on trips as a coffee replacement in the morning. A richer, more mineral-laden miso soup is obtained by shredding half a sheet of nori seaweed and simmering it in the water for 4 to 5 minutes, with perhaps a few cubes of tofu; the miso is added at the end, with a few chopped scallions for garnish. I have found no better counterbalance to a sugar binge or to the sour taste remaining after an excess of flour products, baked goods, sweets, or grains. GRATED RADISH(± C / Alk / K / B-d): Finely grate daikon, black radish, or white( icicle) radish, adding a few drops of natural soy sauce( shoyu or tamari). FRESHLY GRATED GINGER(± C / Alk / W / B-d): Horseradish is somewhat similar in nature. GARLIC(± C / Alk / K / B-d): Use it fresh. GOMASIO( C / Alk / K / B-d): A. k. a. sesame salt. Recipe: Grind 1 cup roasted sesame seeds, until half crushed, in a mortar, preferably the Japanese kind known as a suribachi, which has grooves. Add 2 teaspoons sea salt; then grind the salt well into the seeds.( Proportion of seeds to salt: 20:1.) UMEBOSHI PLUMS, or umeboshi paste( C / Alk / ± K / B-d): Also called plums pickled in brine, are obtainable in Japanese and health food stores. The plums are pickled in salt for about two months, sometimes with beefsteak( chiso) leaves, which give them a bright color. They taste salty-sour. Make sure that they have not been doctored up by checking the ingredients: Only plums, water, salt, and perhaps chiso or beefsteak leaves should be listed. The whole plum includes the pit, which some people like to suck on as if it were a candy. The paste made of these plums is in some sense more handy, because it is easier to adjust dosage, usually measured by dipping a chopstick or pinky into the jar; hence you will find suggestions for“ a lick or two” of umeboshi plum paste.( Also available are UME concentrate, used as an alkalizing drink with hot water, and UMEBOSHI VINEGAR, wonderful with grains, especially cornmeal, and in salad dressings.) KUZU( C / Alk / W / ± B-d): This is a starch made from the root of the kudzu plant, which grows wild as a pest in the American South. The only kuzu starch obtainable in this country is imported from Japan and available in health food stores as kuzu arrowroot. Good kuzu is a bit on the expensive side. If you find very cheap kuzu that is not lumpy, it has probably been adulterated. Kuzu is similar to arrowroot or cornstarch in that it must be dissolved in cold liquid and the mixture stirred while it heats, thickening as it reaches the boiling point. It has an alkalizing effect. One tablespoon kuzu starch will thicken 1 cup liquid to the consistency of Chinese vegetable sauce; 2 ½ tablespoons kuzu to 1 cup liquid makes pudding, which when cool is the consistency of soft tofu. As a remedy, kuzu can be used in two ways: shoyukuzu( salty, runny, like a thick broth) and apple juice-kuzu( thick and sweet like a pudding). Shoyu-Kuzu can be prepared in any of three ways: 1. Plain shoyu-kuzu: Dissolve 1 tablespoon kuzu in 1 cup cold water and cook, stirring, until thick. Add 1 tablespoon natural soy sauce( shoyu or tamari), or enough so that it tastes wonderful. 2. Shoyu-kuzu with umeboshi: To the mixture of kuzu and water as above, add 1 mashed-up umeboshi plum, or