Kathleen
Cupcake
A few years ago, I was looking for a good probiotic. After reading a thread on DC, I purchased some kefir grains to make dairy kefir. I loved the flavor, how creamy the drink turned out, etc. The only problem I had with it was that I could not keep up with the out-put, and I did not drink *that* much dairy kefir. (Yes, I ended up with worker-bee kefir grains. Fortunately for me, it is easy to take breaks with kefir.)
While looking into kefir in general, I met a local woman who gave me water kefir grains and minimal instructions. Also fortunately for me, water kefir grains are also pretty forgiving and put up with a lot of mistakes. Like the dairy grains, the water kefir grains are productive worker-bees. So I made water kefir, but I did not know what to do with it.
For those new to kefir, the grains (also called tons of other things including crystals) are a colony of yeast and bacteria giving the kefir its probiotic nature. Because kefir grains use sugar in a fermentation process, there are trace (less than 1%) alcohol amounts formed.
So skip ahead a few years. I fed my little crystals and searched for tons of alternatives to commercial carbonated beverages. The soda stream seemed promising - and it has turned out some nice drinks - but I found soda stream syrups lacking.
I purchased a book called True Brews to look into making homemade soda. In the book, it mentioned that water kefir could a suitable soda. So...back to water kefir! I am really happy with the blackberry soda that I produced!
Basically, I tossed sugar and water into a ball jar with my grains. After two days, strained the kefir water into liter-sized, flip-cap bottles. Then I simply added 1/4 cup of blackberry syrup. After two days at room temperature, I have a sparkly, blackberry-flavored "soda." It's a pretty color too!
I've used vanilla paste and sugar for a cream soda flavor, but it needs work. I might try the vanilla paste with some cherry syrup. So far, I'm using commercial syrups but might try making my own soon.
Just wanted to share.
~Kathleen
While looking into kefir in general, I met a local woman who gave me water kefir grains and minimal instructions. Also fortunately for me, water kefir grains are also pretty forgiving and put up with a lot of mistakes. Like the dairy grains, the water kefir grains are productive worker-bees. So I made water kefir, but I did not know what to do with it.
For those new to kefir, the grains (also called tons of other things including crystals) are a colony of yeast and bacteria giving the kefir its probiotic nature. Because kefir grains use sugar in a fermentation process, there are trace (less than 1%) alcohol amounts formed.
So skip ahead a few years. I fed my little crystals and searched for tons of alternatives to commercial carbonated beverages. The soda stream seemed promising - and it has turned out some nice drinks - but I found soda stream syrups lacking.
I purchased a book called True Brews to look into making homemade soda. In the book, it mentioned that water kefir could a suitable soda. So...back to water kefir! I am really happy with the blackberry soda that I produced!
Basically, I tossed sugar and water into a ball jar with my grains. After two days, strained the kefir water into liter-sized, flip-cap bottles. Then I simply added 1/4 cup of blackberry syrup. After two days at room temperature, I have a sparkly, blackberry-flavored "soda." It's a pretty color too!
I've used vanilla paste and sugar for a cream soda flavor, but it needs work. I might try the vanilla paste with some cherry syrup. So far, I'm using commercial syrups but might try making my own soon.
Just wanted to share.
~Kathleen
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