I started making water kefir about two years ago when a friend of mine gifted me some of her water kefir grains. When we moved, the kefir grains moved along with us, however, got forgotten about in the back of our refrigerator. Nine months and another move later, and I decided to bring those grains back to life to fulfill their purpose. Their purpose? To help us be healthy of course!
Water kefir grains, also known as “tibicos”, “are a culture of bacteria and yeasts held in a polysaccharide biofilm matrix created by the bacteria. The microbes present in tibicos act in symbiosis to maintain a stable culture,” says Wikipedia. In other words, water kefir is a great way to add a good dose of probiotics to the body. My favorite aspect is that you can reuse and reuse the grains forever, which is a very cost effective way to add probiotics to your diet without having to buy pricey supplements.
I always start with 1/4 cup of sugar in the bottom of a quart sized mason jar. Then I add about 1/2 cup of hot water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved I fill to about 2 inches from the top of the jar with cold water and add the grains. Every other batch I make I also add a tablespoon of black strap molasses to the hot sugar water for two reasons. First, the molasses provides minerals for the kefir grains to reproduce and stay strong. Second, molasses is good for us as well providing important things like carbohydrates, magnesium, manganese, copper, iron, and potassium to our daily diet.
Once the batch is all set, I put a top on it and let it sit on the counter anywhere from 24 to 48 hours, in other words, whenever I get to it. This is where the miraculous act of fermentation happens, which leaves the resulting water kefir, a slightly sweet and bubbly beverage.
Once 24-48 hours have gone by, I strain my grains and water kefir through a plastic strainer into a square pyrex container. (It is highly suggested to use glass containers, to avoid leaching of metals due to the high acidity of the kefir water and grains.) The square container helps me to pour the kefir water out easier into my mason jars without spilling half of it all over the place, which I have done plenty of times. Once in the jar I squeeze one lemon into it and add 1/4 cup of frozen raspberries. Then I put the lid back on the jar and stick it in the fridge. At this point I will rinse the grains under cold water and get another batch (or two) started in a new quart sized mason jar(s).
See the difference of the batch made with molasses and the one without? A half gallon, is barely enough for my family per day. My kids, particularly the boys, LOVE water kefir. And I have no reason to say no, because I know it is so good for them and I can just keep making it over and over and over as needed. It is just one of the things I am trying to keep up on in our house right now in regards to keeping everyone’s gut good and healthy! If our gut is healthy the rest of our body will be too. It is the first step of the staircase to our health.
The water kefir recipe I make is pretty simple. I know there are many people who make much much fancier water kefir drinks. For whatever reason, I have always stuck with this basic recipe. However, I had a fun idea. I invited a friend to share one of her fancy water kefir recipes on the Hullabaloo Homestead facebook page this week. I am going to start using that space a bit more to share recipes, ideas, links to fun stuff, ect. I’d love it if you would all jump over and “like” me over there so you can follow along too. And if you have a water kefir recipe to share, please do so!
Lisa,
Yum! That looks so good! Especially those raspberries added to it.
Jeff has made water kefir before, but we’ve got out of the swing of it. We love the magic of fermentation!
Love,
Taryn
I definitely think the raspberry is the way to go (for me at least). I’ve been tinkering a bit over the past couple weeks, but just keep coming back to this recipe. We all LOVE it! If we lived closer I’d bring over some kefir to share!
What a lovely post! I too started making water kefir a couple years ago, but it got away from me somewhere between the wee man and trying to build up the business. There was also a funny cross fermentation thing that started up between my water kefir and my kombucha! I thought I had them spaced far enough apart but apparently not.
I love what Brigid said about how maintaining water kefir is a great metaphor for parenting! Another apt part of the analogy is that you can ask for help and read up on methods but then you have to take all you’ve learned and apply it to your particular grains and your particular water. I remember experimenting a lot with how much molasses or dried fruit or other stuff to try adding in that first fermentation, as I tried to figure out how much mineral content our well water had.
Anyway! I’d love to get started again. Maybe if you’re swimming in grains sometime over the next few months it could be a great chance to meet up! We’ll be in our new place in just a few weeks!
My grains are starting to grow…so YES!! By spring, once you are up…we should plan a get together! That would be so nice! I am eager to learn more about what is bringing you north? Are you guys going to be farming up here too?
My method exactly! I’m so glad you were able to get them going again. I have recently been doing the second fermentation with dried cherries or aronia berries. It comes out so good! The raspberries are my standard recipe though. I’ll try to post on your FB page
*wink* yes, I do believe that’s where it came from…and these are the same crystals. I revived them. They were stored neglectfully for so so so long, but it worked…a couple reviving batches and rinsing and walah…now they are growing again!
Love water kefir! It has been quite some time since I have made it, now I need new grains.
We always keep it simple too. And I love the idea of adding the molasses.
I hope you start up again! And in the future…if you hold on to your grains, they canbe stored forever…with a bit of reviving if left untouched for awhile. Mine sat for a year…at least, but they are healthy and growing now.
I’ve been doing water kefir for a few years and I love the taste. One of my favorites is with lemon and raspberries. So good.
Yes, I have tinkered a bit with recipes, but this one is still our fav!
What an appetising post (and lovely blog all round). Don’t you think kefir is a great metaphor for culturing your own kids at home? Like kids, you can nurture but you can only work with a mysterious , complex, individual seed you’re given… no-one knows exactly what’s inside, there’s no list of ingredients, and how they are really made remains beyond us….
I have been going crazy trying to find some water kefir grains here in the UK. I would like to buy from Cultures for Health, as I don’t know anyone who has any and am irrationally wary of buying bacteria to feed my kids from individual strangers on the web! But Cultures for Health won’t ship internationally… Do you know of a shop who might send on their cultures to me? I would pay a fortune!
I am finding that could be applied to a whole lot of life! So YES! It’s something I contemplate quite often. I would offer to mail you some…is that legal? Email me if you would be interested!
Hello- I hope it’s not too late for you to get this but I got my Kefir tibis or granules (or whatever) from a lovely vegan girls site, Jane Jones- I don’t know how to do links I’m afraid (hangs head) but the site is called Vegan Water Kefir (yes they are vegan whatever really but the point is her kitchen is vegan which is prob a consideration for some) and she is in the UK- she is lovely and informative and communicative- and a reasonable price- £5 for a quarter cup- enough for a litre/quart of water.
However if you prefer there are several Big companies selling em… In th UK- just google it. It’s not expensive- I think the time in transit from states might mean you need em dehydrated and the ones from UK (that I had from Vegan Water Kefir) were fresh and ready to immediately.
Hope this and that you find the comment?! Best of luck-
Lisa- I found you from Heather’s Wholefoodkitchen class- what a lovely place- thanks for this method- raspberries and lemons sounds right up my street flavourwise- I’ll try it straight away! Beautiful post.
Best wishes
Thanks for the helpful info! I hope Brigid gets the info! And welcome. Thanks so much for swinging over here. Did you make Heather’s lemon pie from week one?! I’ve made it twice actually! Yummmy.
Hello! I didn’t try the lemon cheesecake yet- but now you pointed it up I will- I’m a little behind with thenrecipes and keep just looking at the previous weeks and not further back- plenty of time tho.
The black bean brownies call to me repeatedly as I’m a chocolate lover- did you try them?
Lisa…I have only had a little kefir recently and have loved it. It was milk kefir and I’m ready to move onto the next phase of the Body Ecology Diet which is for young coconut kefir. But all you’ve written about here is so inspiring…I never thought of being so experimental with it. Once I’m through this initial healing phase, I look forward to more tasty alternatives to kefir. Thanks Lisa, as always, your recipe suggestions are wonderful.
xo Jules
Thanks Jules! I am interested in hearing more about your Body Ecology Diet and your adventures in healing!
Great post Lisa. Kefir is something I have been wanting to add to our diets here, so will have to place an order and get started!
Yay! I do think it is a great addition to the daily swing of things~
I am definitely going to try this-I have purchased probiotic supplements, but they were too expensive to keep up on any regular basis. I think the kids (and I!) will love this!
I know! I struggle with knowing just how much good things is worth the price! IF we need it is should be easily accessible, right?! Well at least probiotics can be! And what I am learning is much of it is/can be free…it just takes a bit of time to find it.
Yummy! I’m ready to try this
I hope so…it’s so yummm!