Caring for Your Water Kefir Grains

Water kefir is a delicious, fermented drink. Water kefir can be easily brewed at home, with very little set up. It’s so easy and absolutely delicious. In the post, I will go over caring for your water kefir grains. Once going, they are super easy to care for and keep going.

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Why Fermented Foods?

Fermented foods were very popular in the past. It offered an easy way for people to preserve food and improve the nutrition benefits of foods. Now that we have other ways to preserve foods, such as refrigeration, fermented foods are much less common. Although, they are making a comeback among homesteaders and healthnuts.

Fermented foods are great for your gut health because they provide your body with probiotics. Probiotics are the good bacteria in your gut. Foods like yogurt, water kefir, and sourdough contain these yummy probiotics. Think of probiotics as the good guys in your digestive tract. When the bad guys start to take over, you begin to get sick. Introducing some good guys will allow them to overpower the bad guys and keep you feeling your best. Probiotics support your gut health, which has been linked to your overall health.

Eating a western diet full of processed and sugary foods will disrupt the balance of good guys and bad guys in your gut. Drinking this easy homemade water kefir soda will help put some good guys back in there. This will help balance out the bacteria battle happening in your gut. “FOR NARNIA!”

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Benefits of Homemade Water Kefir

Water kefir has been shown to give your immune system a boost, help fight off cancer cells, improve your oral health, and decrease inflammation. Can your Pepsi do any of that? Oh and it tastes yummy, which is always the main qualifier in my kitchen.

Probiotics can be found at the store, but they aren’t nearly as good for your body as a homemade probiotic boost like this water kefir soda. It can contain up to 56 different kinds of probiotics. Bet you won’t find that many in your little probiotic pill. In fact, water kefir is one of the best sources of probiotics that you can find. It is an active and diverse combination of probiotic strains. Source

Although the water kefir has sugar in it, most of the sugars are digested by the water kefir grains, which makes it a low calorie option. Plus, it doesn’t have all of the chemicals that are found in soda, which is a plus all by itself. And unlike soda, the natural flavors are actually natural.

If you are trying to lose weight, water kefir can help you out. It is a healthy swap for soda or other sugary drinks. Plus those good bacteria help your body use the nutrients in the food. Studies have found a link between fermented foods and weight loss.

Caring For Your Water Kefir Grains

After making a batch of water kefir, soak the grains in clean water for at least 20 minutes. Then you can strain them off and put them in a jar or dry them. If you are drying them for long term storage, you need to do this until they are very light in color.

For short term storage (less than 10 days) put the strained, water kefir grains in a mason jar. Cover them with a paper towel and place on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator. I’ll be honest there are times, I leave them in there longer because I forget about them. They still worked just fine. As long as they aren’t moldy, I go ahead and use them.

Drying Your Water Kefir Grains

If you are taking a break from making water kefir for more than 10 days, then it is best to dry the water kefir grains. This is super simple to do and makes them easy to store.

To dry the water kefir grains strain off any water. Spread the grains out on a parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure they are in a single layer. Sit them somewhere out of direct sunlight and where they can dry. Mine takes several days to a week to completely dry out. As they dry, I will move them around with a wooden spoon. This helps prevent them from sticking together. When they are dry, they will be hard little crystals. You can store them in an airtight container for up to a year.

When you want to rehydrate the grains, soak them in a tablespoon of molasses, ½ cup organic brown sugar, and 3 cups of filtered water. Allow them to soak for at least a couple of days. It may take a couple of fermentations before the grains are going strong again.

Water kefir grains grow. I was shocked at how quickly I went from ¼ cup of hydrated grains to a half gallon of grains. When there are too many grains in the jar, I dehydrate them. I put them back in case something happens to my working grains or to share with friends.

Tips for Caring for Your Water Kefir Grains

After every two or three ferments, soak the grains for about an hour in filtered water. Strain them off and put the grains in a mason jar covered with a paper towel. Let them rest on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator for 24 hours. This will increase their fermentation power and keep them healthy.

Add a pinch (⅛ teaspoon) of baking soda to every other ferment. This will help remineralize the grains. The baking soda keeps them healthy, productive, and growing.

Save a small jar of the unflavored water kefir to use as a starter for your next ferment. Keep this along with the drained grains on the lowest shelf in the fridge. I put a plastic lid on this to keep it from absorbing fridge flavors. You only need ½ cup hydrated water kefir grains to ferment a half gallon of water kefir. Anything more can be dehydrated.