Before you go throwing away your water kefir grains, however, let's be clear on the
benefits of water kefir which makes a fantastic base for homemade soda among other culinary uses.
I make my own sour pickles, sauerkraut and have made a lot
of water kefir in the past.
Whenever I'm thirsty I just pour myself a glass
of water kefir as a substitute for just plain water.
In the
case of water kefir, you are literally mixing sugar with water to feed the culture, but there is no actual «food» that is changed by the flora.
With just the two of us, we have
plenty of water kefir, and I really need another refrigerator for all my «science experiments» as my husband calls them!
Once established, a month's
supply of water kefir will cost around # 2 in comparison to # 30 for good quality supplementation.
Kefir drinkers comment that they were able to take greater
amounts of water kefir since it is lighter than milk kefir.
If growing your grains so that you can give them away (or even eat them as some people do), your best bet is to find a fresh
source of water kefir grains.
I started drinking one litre
of water kefir daily about a year ago, and after three months I was able to stop taking probiotics supplements.
My fridge is a mess, lots of fresh veggies, cheeses, organic raw milk,
jars of water kefir, kombucha and Jun tea, little containers of applesauce and fruit, and more.
This coconut water kefir recipe combines the probiotics and
enzymes of water kefir with the electrolytes and vitamins of coconut water.
Coconut water kefir is a simple
adaptation of water kefir — instead of water, we use coconut water along with a reduced amount of sugar to make a bubbly, hydrating, digestion boosting beverage.
I'm hesitant to buy more milk grains, and I like sharing better than buying, so if anyone is interested, I'll give you a nice big
clump of water kefir grains, ready to culture, for one healthy little «cauliflower».
Regarding probiotics though, I was told by a vegan doc in order to really be affective you need 100 billion a day, you can get probiotics capsules that high, but then I decided to just do a
cup of water kefir daily, stools are now great!
Hi Lawrence - I realise you entered this query some time ago, but for others, you get
hold of some water kefir grains, either from friends or off the internet, these are added to a warm water and sugar mixture and then you add some dried fruit (sulphur free) I use dried apricots (the sulphur free ones are brown, the orange ones have had sulphur added) but there is other dried fruit like dates etc..
The amount of sugar remaining at the
end of a water kefir ferment will depend on the ingredients used and the length of culturing time.
We had a batch
of water kefir which you can use to make lemonade and other very healthy naturally carbonated drinks.
I tested a second fermentation batch
of water kefir soda, and instead of using sugar, or fruit juice, I used xylitol.