Sunday, February 6, 2011

Probiotic goodness

We ♥ our kefir! As it's generated a bit of interest here is the lowdown....

Ours is WATER based kefir (also called Japanese sea crystals or sugar kefir grains) Kefir is mostly known as the milk kefir where it makes a kind of yoghurt. Ours lives in water- no milk involved. The grains are smaller than the milk based ones. Ours are like grains of rice, I believe the milk ones are like walnuts.

As far as I can understand, the grains ferment the water and the water has a fermentation smell and taste to it. Sort of like very flat beer or ginger beer. I always mix it with juice but some people like it plain.

Here's a day in the life of water kefir....



We are ready to go. The kefir has been doing its thing for about 24 hours and it's ready to to pour. The kefir need to live somewhere warm so I popped them in the corner of the kitchen near the toaster and kettle. They also need natural light and need to live in a glass bottle.




I pour the water into a jug and use a sieve to separate the water from the kefir. I believe you can eat the grains...I am not keen to try them... They feel soft like a cooked grain of rice and not squishy or slimey at all. But I am sticking to the water at this point!!





Here are the grains....





I store the kefir water in the fridge and have it with juice.




 The grains get topped up with filtered water again


And fed on sugar. This is what makes them grown and ferment. I use organic jaggery sugar (only $6 a kilo from the health food store) and they love it! They need about 6 teaspoons a day. You can add slices of lemon or ginger to add flavour. I don't do this as I add juice in the end anyway. They multiply quite quickly and I think at some point I could start another bottle. I




Invert gently to mix in the sugar....




And there it is! All ready to start the whole process again. They are super easy to take care of. I think you should clean them in filtered water every now and then too. My knowledge is still quite limited as we have had them for about a month. We love having them and its a cheap and easy way to get goodness into you. I haven't started Blossom on the kefir water yet and I am not sure if I would drink it if I was pregnant. BUT! Everyone else drinks it and I think our colons are happy!!

And if anyone in Auckland wants some, I am happy to grow some and hand some over....


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7 comments:

Widge said...

forgive my ignorance but what does it do? like what is the goodness about it? I've never heard of doing this before? Intrigued though..

mountain mama said...

hmm...very interesting. can you buy the crystals on-line? we just take probiotics, i've never thought to make some!

Sammy said...

Hey Widgey
The grains are some kind of bacteria and so when they eat the sugar the water gets infused with lots of good bacteria (probiotics) So when you drink the water you are getting big doses of probiotics...

Sammy said...

Hi mountain mama- I think you can. I read that you can dry the grains so I imagine you can order them. I found a kiwi website http://waterkefir.co.nz/ so there must be sources local to you. Good luck!!

meg said...

Yes please Sammy! I'd love to give it a try. I have sourdough starter if you wanted to trade? I could give Simone an empty jar to give you?

Anonymous said...

Reading these healthy living posts has been fascinating, Sammy. We are currently living with my in-laws (which could be a whole post in its own, except they read the blog! haha) but when we get back into our own place I'll definitely be looking at more natural ways to clean, without all the chemicals. TFS

Sammy said...

Hi Meg, love to give you some. Yes give Simoney a jar, a big size one is best. I would love some sourdough starter- just not quite yet. I need to get this Daniel fast over with first (argh!)
When I get your jar I will get yours going- they may need about a week to grow enough xx

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