It has been a LONG year or two and this post is way overdue (sorry, Cleta!)
Fermented Plant Juice (FPJ) is food for plants. The best candidates are leaves from strong robust plants that already have beneficial health benefits such as comfrey, portulaca, sweet potato, and mugwort to name a few. If you use fruits rather than leaves, it becomes Fermented Fruit Juice (FFJ).
Here is how to make it:
Go out early just before the sun rises (or you can be lazy like me and go out when you wake up) and pick leafy tips of your chosen plant that still have the morning dew on the leaves. (Actually, it has been so hot that I don’t think we have morning dew anymore.). Pick clean ones because you will not be rinsing them. Only use one type of plant per batch of FPJ.
Trim the stems to 2″ or so and pile them in a bowl. Add equal parts of brown sugar and massage gently until they soften. It feels delicious.
Compress and put the mixture in a wide mouth glass jar or container, leaving about an inch or so of space on top. Sprinkle brown sugar to cap the top. Cover with a cloth or breathable cover for 5-7 days.
Use a filter and pour the liquid into a bottle. Discard the plant material. You have made a bottle of FPJ! Cover with a breathable cover. I like to use a small square of cotton secured on the bottle with a rubber band.
FPJ is used in many Korean Natural Farming recipes. It is even good for human consumption – we can benefit from the nutritional qualities of the plants that we use. Comfrey is great for healing and is known as a bone knitter. Mugwort can pull toxins out. Portulaca (aka purslane) is high in nitrogen.
Here is a gallery, step by step:
Pick tops of vigorous plants and trim to 2″. This example is purslane, aka portulaca and/or pigs weed. 
Add in equal parts of brown sugar and massage. 
Put this delicious concoction in a glass jar, leaving space on the top. 
Cover with a breathable lid, label with type of plant and date. 
Liquid will form after a week. 
I waited a bit too long so mold grew on top, but it is still salvageable. 
Strain out the solid material. 
Store in a jar with a breathable lid. Label type and date.
That’s it! Rather easy, and very delicious. When used in Korean Natural Farming plant recipes, it is diluted to a 1:500 ratio.
Hmmm. very interesting 🙂
I like that it is natural but I haven’t been keeping up. They are not like store bought formulas that keep forever and many of mine have dried up. Ah well. Easy enough to make again.
Ummm… really? Gosh… I would be nervous about drinking this, but happy to give it to the plants. This is a lot of work for lazy me though.
How interesting . . . and weird.
Yup. Who would have thought of using brown sugar?