Water Kefir

What Is Water Kefir?

You may have already heard of dairy kefir but what about water kefir grains? Kefir (Keh-Feer) is a powerful ferment and great healer.  It is particularly useful for those suffering from Leaky Gut Syndrome. The water kefir grains are a mix of bacteria and yeast that work well together and grow when fed on sugar including fruit sugars. They look like ummm…well….yellow or whitish jelly fish put through a potato masher but they can also become quite large. I’ve provided a picture of them in my stainless steel strainer.

Water kefir is a yeasty type water based drink that is produced as a result of adding water kefir grains with sugar and retained minerals. It is a live pro-biotic and is considered a stronger detoxifier than milk kefir grains or kombucha.

What is Water Kefir good for?

Water kefir has been around for a long long time and with good reason. Keep in mind that if your body needs healing that you may experience detox symptoms such as stomach ache, the runs and head aches. Just start with a small amount and if you have these symptoms, cut back. Beneficially though, it is known to:

• have a youthful effect on the body cells
• give you energy
• inhibit cancer cell growth
• improve metabolism
• clear sinuses including symptoms of cold or flu and headache
• prevent the formation of, break down and remove kidney and liver stones from the body
• be good for arthritis (glucuronic acid)
• lower blood sugar
• Strengthen Heart – Q10
• help balance candida

What You Need:

• 2 Tablespoons live water kefir grains
• 1 stainless steel strainer (or plastic is better) about the size of your hand if you make your hand into a ‘claw’.
• 1 small glass jar (about 1 litre size)
• 2 or 3 large 2 litre glass jars
• Sucanat Sugar (or a dark, fine grain, unprocessed sugar)
• Pure Organic Maple Syrup (the REAL stuff)
• Bi-carbonate of Soda
• 2 x 1.25 Litre Sparkling Mineral Water (fizzy type)
• Preservative free (no sulphites) dried apricots / fig or dried banana chips (I make my own dehydrated banana chips)
• Measuring cup
• Tablespoon and teaspoon for measuring
• Open weave (clear curtain type material) cloth for covering top of jar
• Elastic or elastic band
• A clean tea towel
• Hand harvested celtic sea salt (the real stuff ) Optional

How To Make Water Kefir – Water Kefir Basic Recipe

Water kefir is easier to make than you think. I was so so scared of making it that it took me 2 years to put fear and ‘too busy’ aside and just do it. I am so glad I did. Keep in mind that this is not a sugar drink as the kefir grains feed off the sugar so there is literally none left.

Contact Me to purchase your own water kefir grains and get started.

STAGE 1 WATER KEFIR FERMENTATION

Use the smaller glass jar and add:

1/4 teaspoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon Sucanat sugar

Pinch Bi-carb Soda

2 cups mineral water

Stir to dissolve sugar

Add 2 Tablespoons water kefir grains

Add 2 dried apricots or 3 banana chips

About every few weeks add a pinch of the salt (optional)

Cover with cloth

keep at room temperature on bench out of light (cover with tea towel)

Culture for 24 to 48 hours (max 72 hours)

Strain into a 2 litre glass jar, using stainless steel strainer

Drink strained water kefir, add it to green smoothies or refrigerate. The other option is to move on to stage 2 and flavor it. Read on…

STAGE 2 WATER KEFIR FERMENTATION

You can now flavor the water kefir you have made from stage 1.

You can put the strained water kefir grains into the new solution as you did in stage one.

With stage two, you can add the fruit of your choice. I quite like apple juice with ginger cut into pieces but in my picture you can see I used frozen berries in this case. I ferment for 24 hours in summer and 48 hours in cooler months, remove the ginger and put the flavored water kefir in the fridge and drink as is or with some dark agave syrup or pure organic maple syrup. It really is up to you to try different flavors and I encourage you to try coconut water too when you have grown more grains.

Here are two of the most popular and best water kefir recipes.

Water Kefir Resources

When making water kefir avoid metals aside from stainless steel, including jar lids or strainers. Water kefir grains do not like filtered water as it has the minerals removed and they need the minerals to thrive and that’s why you need to use sparkling mineral water. They also do not like tap water due to chlorine and other nasties.

Why not get yourself a book from the resources listed here and expand your menu and learn more about these powerful grains.

I’d love to hear your favorite recipe so please leave a comment below or share this article so others might also benefit from the information. If you live in Australia and want to purchase some water keifr grains or kombucha then contact me. Otherwise, you can buy water kefir grains here.

 

Give yourself the power to roar!

Eileen.

Disclaimer:

I’m no medical expert and information contained on this blog is written with the aim of furthering your education on health and raw food. It is your responsibility as to how you use this information and I cannot be held liable for any misinterpretation or misuse of the information provided.