Growing your own water kefir grains is not difficult, if you are careful, and you tend them properly you can make huge quantities
of tibicos, the water kefir grains.
Not exact matches
Here are some other great sources
of Kefir information: Keeper
of the Home Nourished Kitchen and Wikipedia came in handy for this post too: water kefir (
tibicos) milk kefir
Water kefir grains, also known as
tibicos, contain a mixture
of Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Pediococcus and Leuconostoc bacteria with yeasts like Saccharomyces, Candida, Kloeckera and possibly others (source); similar bacterias and yeasts are found in dairy kefir.
This type
of thing might be better for
tibicos (water kefir grains) that don't have the same issues).
These cultures include
tibicos (water kefir), milk kefir, kombucha, etc... Here is a list
of fermented foods you can buy or make at home:
Alternatively you could try
tibicos to make water kefir — not quite the same amount
of beneficial bacterias but certainly better than doing without.
The water kefir grains, or the
tibicos, have a unique and very stable symbiotic mix
of a few bacteria and yeasts strains from the following groups: Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Pediococcus and Leuconostoc bacteria with yeasts from Saccharomyces, Candida, Kloeckera and others.
Water kefir is a symbiotic mix
of various bacteria and yeasts enclosed in a white soft shell, forming the kefir «grains», the
tibicos.
Alternate names include: «Grains
of the Prophet Mohammed», «Drink
of the Prophet», «Tibetan Mushrooms», «Snow Lotus», «Balm
of Gilead», «California Bees», kombucha,
tibicos, and beer seeds.