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Protectors (LAB): 1 Part Rice Wash, 10 Parts Milk

Dr. Hoon Park, Physician; works at the University of the Nations in Kona (as he says); student of Master Cho · USA (Hawaiʻi)

Dr. Hoon Park shows a crowd on the lawn how to make Protectors (LAB) at a glass-jar table: sour rice-wash serum goes into milk at 1 part to 10, sits covered in the shade for five days, and the yellowish liquid under the curd is strained off and stored. He gives the 1:1000 spray rate, warns against spraying just before a fruit harvest, and tells how he drinks it himself, then answers questions on other milks, animals and the leftover curd. The last two minutes cut to another station, where an unnamed presenter recaps the recipe.

What they found

The question

How do you make, store and use Protectors (LAB) from rice-wash water and milk?

How they tested it

Rice wash (step one): the recording starts mid-step. He gently scoops off and throws away the top layer; the cloudy, whitish, sour-smelling water underneath is the LAB. How the rice wash was made, its container, how full, and how long it sat are not stated in what survives. Milk (step two): one gallon of milk, raw best ('John Caverly's farm' fresh milk ideal), Walmart pasteurized 'still works okay' (about $5.43 a gallon, as he recalled). Into an empty one-gallon glass jar put only 2.5 quarts (he treats this as 2.5 litres, 2,500 ml) of milk, not the full four quarts. Add 10% of that, 250 ml (half a 500 ml water bottle) of the step-one serum: 1 part serum to 10 parts milk. Cover the mouth (cloth/paper and a rubber band, as shown) and set it 'the same side' as the first LAB: shaded, room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Five days in tropical Hawaiʻi; longer in cold places. Ready when about an inch-thick whitish curd has formed, one lump 'almost like a tofu', sour smell, tastes like yogurt or cottage cheese. Separating: strain through cheesecloth or a paint-strainer bag (about $4, Ace Hardware); tilt the jar so the liquid runs out and the curd stays behind. The yellowish, slightly cloudy, sour liquid is the finished LAB. Storage: refrigerator, 'many months'; or for room temperature mix 1:1 with molasses, or 'almost one to one' with brown sugar, 'many months'. Use: 1:1000 as a plant spray, 1 cc per litre or quart. Leftover curd: eat it, feed it to animals, or put it in the ground. Not stated: the rice-wash recipe and timing, temperatures, how to judge a failed batch beyond the next station's 'no colorful stuff on top, make sure the top is white'.

What was compared
  • Plant spray — LAB at 1:1000 (1 cc per litre or quart); any stage from seedling to growth; not about two weeks before a fruit harvest
  • Human use (his own practice) — 1–2 tablespoons of LAB in a glass of water with or after a meal; he says he takes 10–15 times more than 1:1000
  • Room-temperature storage — LAB mixed 1:1 with molasses, or about 1:1 with brown sugar
Results
  1. 250 ml of rice-wash serum into 2.5 litres of milk: a 10% (1:10) addition

    He works the arithmetic out with the crowd; half a 500 ml water bottle.

    ▶ 1:53 As spoken

  2. Five days, covered, in the shade at room temperature

    For tropical Hawaiʻi; colder places take longer.

    ▶ 3:31 Said and shown on the slides

  3. Done when an inch-thick white curd forms, like tofu, and smells sour

    Tastes like yogurt or cottage cheese; he holds up a finished jar.

    ▶ 4:16 Said and shown on the slides

  4. Strain with a $4 paint-strainer bag; keep the yellowish liquid

    Cheesecloth also works.

    ▶ 5:33 As spoken

  5. Fridge for months, or 1:1 molasses or brown sugar to keep it at room temperature

    He carried the sugared version on a medical mission trip to the Philippines with no icebox.

    ▶ 6:28 As spoken

  6. Spray at 1:1000

    1 cc per litre or quart; he credits Master Cho for the rate.

    ▶ 7:45 As spoken

  7. Don't spray it just before a fruit harvest

    About two weeks before harvest, he says, it makes fruit less sweet; otherwise any time.

    ▶ 16:20 As spoken

  8. Leaves bigger, thicker and shinier; roots develop well

    His observation, no numbers.

    ▶ 16:58 As spoken

  9. He drinks 1–2 tablespoons with meals and says it settles an overfull stomach in about 10 minutes

    Personal story: 80% of his stomach removed 50 years ago; a patient with Crohn's disease reported feeling better after a week.

    ▶ 14:44 As spoken

  10. A Korean pig farm fed LAB from 1999 and grew from 150 pigs to about 15,000 without vaccinating

    From an internet article he read; farm not named; the time span is unclear in the audio.

    ▶ 18:43 As spoken

Hold it loosely
  • One demonstration; the opening of the rice-wash step is cut off, so its recipe and timing are missing.
  • He treats 2.5 quarts and 2.5 litres as the same; the 10% ratio holds either way, but a US quart is about 0.95 litres.
  • In the exchange at 3:08 someone calls 250 ml 'one pint'; 250 ml is about one cup.
  • The health claims (his stomach, the Crohn's patient, the 10-minute relief) are personal anecdotes, not trials, and not medical advice. He says so: 'not my research-derived data, but it's just my own experience'.
  • The pig-farm numbers come from an internet article recalled from memory; unverified.
  • He hasn't tried soy or other non-dairy milks; goat milk he says is fine.
  • The last two minutes are a different station and speaker, cut in.
For your farm
  • Add the sour rice-wash serum to milk at 1 part to 10, cover it, and leave it in the shade.
  • In Hawaiʻi, expect the curd in about five days; colder weather takes longer.
  • Keep the yellowish liquid, not the curd; the curd can go to animals or into the soil.
  • Refrigerate it, or mix it 1:1 with brown sugar or molasses to keep it at room temperature.
  • Spray at 1:1000, and ease off as fruit nears harvest to protect sweetness.
  • A $4 paint-strainer bag works as a strainer.

Next to Master Cho's teaching

  • Agrees

    1 part rice-wash serum to 10 parts milk His 250 ml into 2.5 litres is exactly Cho's 10:1 milk to rice water. Cho also says low-temperature pasteurized store milk is okay, milk from cows not fed antibiotics is best.

    Cho, Natural Farming Agricultural Materials (Recipe), p. 55

  • Agrees

    Covered, in the shade, five days Cho covers the rice wash with handmade paper in the shade, and gives the milk 5~7 days at 23~25°C before the curd floats and the light-yellow serum sits below. Park's five days in Hawaiʻi fits the short end.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 124

  • Agrees

    Fridge, or the same amount of brown sugar for room temperature Cho: store the yellow liquid in a refrigerator; to keep it at room temperature mix it with the same amount of brown sugar. Park's molasses option is his own variation; Cho names brown (crude) sugar.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2010 draft), p. 43

  • Agrees

    Spray at 1:1000 Cho's basic dilution for LAB is 1,000 times water.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2003), p. 125

  • Agrees

    Not just before a fruit harvest Cho warns that too much LAB drops fruit sweetness, so use less in the later stages. Park turns this into a simple rule: stop about two weeks before harvest.

    Cho, Janong Natural Farming (2010 draft), p. 44

“One big chunk is just there, almost like a tofu.”

▶ 4:34

“They have a paint strainer. It's a big kind, about four dollars.”

▶ 5:42

“This is not my research-derived data, but it's just my own experience.”

▶ 14:10

“The LAB is a good guy for the plants as well as a human.”

▶ 17:19

In this talk

  1. 0:00Step one: the sour rice-wash serum
  2. 0:28Step two: buy milk (raw is best)
  3. 1:28Measuring 10%: 250 ml into 2.5 litres
  4. 3:18Cover, shade, five days
  5. 4:16Ready: a curd like tofu
  6. 5:18Straining with a paint-strainer bag
  7. 6:25Two ways to store it
  8. 7:42On plants: 1 to 1,000
  9. 8:07Drinking it: Dr. Park's own story
  10. 12:57A patient with Crohn's disease
  11. 14:05Q&A: dose for people, other milks
  12. 15:46Use any time, except just before fruit harvest
  13. 18:22Animals: a Korean pig farm
  14. 20:37What to do with the curd
  15. 21:13Next station: recap and a month of making

Transcript

Transcribed and checked by hand against the recording. Click any time to play from there.