Fermenting 101--Water Kefir

A facebook friend, a yogi in Colorado, posted a link about the benefits of water kefir. I read it, and quickly ordered the grains from someone referred to as the kefirlady. For $20.00, I received live kefir grains, directions, and a tablespoon or so of organic sugar(turbinado or sucunat).  And so began my trials and tribulations with water kefir grains.

What drew me to water kefir was it mimicked soda/pop, and it was a probiotic that will aid in digestion and elimination. Since I was giving up soda(that's how we say it here), and I could always use some digestive help, I was intrigued.  Let me assure you, it was not love at first taste.  It was live bacteria, and I needed to nurture them with sugar, warmth and delicate handling--oh, great. Oh, and did I mention they have an odor about them?  Trust me, nothing like dairy kefir but that's for another blog. I went out and bought organic, brown sugar and bottled water, and I treated them gently, but I continued to "lose" grains at an alarming rate. I thought my stainless steel strainer was to blame, so I ordered a tighter weave, plastic strainer from Amazon.
I then added organic molasses to the mix and also some organic, dried fruit(A tip on dried fruit: It's messy and a pain to clean from your grains. Leave it in your kefir container for a day only or tie it up in cheese cloth). I still lost grains and had to order more. Where did my grains go, you ask?  Well, as far as I can figure, a fair amount went down the sink while the others dissolved due to not enough food. Since my baking with yeast turned out to be gigantic failures, it appeared my luck with live bacteria was equally pathetic. I would not give up!

I went on to order two more batches of grains.  Understand this:  The claim from people who produce the grains say my grains should reproduce by the hundreds, and I will not know what to do with the excess. Wrong. I measure and watch them closely, and I have never multiplied my brood. Right now I am maintaining, and I am ecstatic about that. I have come to realize I do not coddle "my boys" enough. I leave them sit too long without replenishing their sugar.  I change them every 4-5 days, and I add four tablespoons of Whole Cane Sugar with two tablespoons of organic molasses in 6-8 cups bottled water.  I sometimes add sliced ginger, fresh lemon juice or apricots. Be sure and rinse the grains when you refresh the recipe and use glass to store it in and non-metal to handle the grains.

 To the right is the water kefir. It's in a glass jar with a paper towel rubber-banned to the lid due to the grains needing to breathe. I keep it in my lower oven with door slightly propped open.  The oven light conducts enough heat to keep it happy, and a propped open oven door keeps it from getting too hot.

There are a few grains in the spoon but you can see how dark the kefir is.  I just made that batch today, but in a few days, it will be the color of honey. I've left my kefir to ferment so long, I've actually started a mother. It's all good gut stuff--trust me.

It takes a little getting used to, but I have learned to love it.  I've been making water kefir for two years, and I drink about 8 ozs. at night, before I go to bed.   If you would like any more information about water kefir or where you can get the grains, let me know.

So much to cook and so little time to do it

I've gone a little crazy in the kitchen, and I'm not fitting under the labels of cook or baker. Rather, I am more of a creator in the kitchen.  I create fermentations of all kinds, and I make mustard and prepared horseradish. Plus I bake, cook, can, freeze and dehydrate. Maybe this is why my daughter was discussing me at lunch with some of her friends, and they had suggested I started a blog. Well, that's not a bad idea.  I would love to chat with other foodies and like-minded folk about all my DIY/science projects around the kitchen, and the garden, and my latest passion, raising chickens. My daughter and her twenty-something friends thought I was blog worthy so why not.

I live in a fairly large city in the Midwest, but since my hubby and I own a double city lot, we've turned the yard into a food factory: Half the yard is a vegetable garden and another quarter of it into a chicken coop/run.  I'm still working on the hubby to pull-up the remaining grass and plant more food-bearing plants. That's going to take a little more coercion(what is it with guys and grass?).

Join me in discussions about cooking, kitchen DIY projects, baking, raising chickens in the city, and possibly starting a beehive. I will talk about my vegetarian lifestyle, the frustrations of working with yeast, raw milk, how much I am loving chickens and all of the pitfalls of becoming self-sustaining.