Rehydration Salts Recipe

Rehydrating Salts Recipe

This summer my family has been enjoying being outside every day. We play in the yard; go for walks and our new favorite now that our little one is old enough to be strapped in: ride bikes! With all this exercise and activity come exertion, sweating and becoming a bit dehydrated when we forget to drink as much water as we should.

To rehydrate without buying expensive sugar and chemical filled “rehydration water” from the store, we use this recipe containing common kitchen baking ingredients, which I learned while taking the Online Intermediate Herbal Course from the wonderful folks at HANE.

I have adapted it slightly, only in leaving out one optional ingredient (which I didn’t have on hand when I made it) and the kind of salt used (which I researched and will share with you below). HANE shares that this recipe comes from Karen Vaughan and she recommends it for use specifically to prevent dehydration when having diarrhea.

RECIPE

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon of salt substitute (potassium chloride) or 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar

8 teaspoons of sugar (some people prefer it raw)

¼ teaspoon dried ginger

DIRECTIONS

Mix ingredients well, place in container for storage, label (ingredients & directions)

When needed, mix the pre-made salts in 1 liter of water

AMOUNT (age variations)

Children: 1 teaspoon every 15-20 minutes

For one-year-olds: during first 4-6 hours of use,  least 2 tablespoons per hour

For children 40 pounds and over: during first 4-6 hours – 8oz per hour; after that ½ to 1 full cup of the solution each time they have diarrhea

For adults: drink as desired with at least two cups after each time there is diarrhea

NOTES

I left out the ginger as I didn’t have any on hand. And, I had table salt and kosher salt, but no sea salt on hand. When I did some research I learned that all salts share the same chemical makeup with the difference being the shape and size of the crystals and how they are prepared. (Source)

I mixed it all in a glass bowl before transferring it to a smaller jar. The mixing only takes a minute or two. It takes longer to get the ingredients out of the cabinet and put them away! I store the mixture in this glass jar in the medicine cabinet. This way I can make batches ahead of time. The last thing I want to do when feeling sweaty and tired is prepare a recipe!

As for taste: I mix it into flavored seltzer water because although mild, I don’t like the taste of drinking salt. It reminds me of when I was a child and I swallowed to much salt water at the beach. Really, the salt taste is minimal in this recipe; it’s just “my issue.” So, that’s it!