Water and Milk Kefir

We re now overloaded with water grains.  Our flavoured batches turned out great.  They really took on the colour of the berries used.  We have been making a batch or two per day and now have way to many grains.  I think Aaron will just start eating our excess if we don't have someone who wants them.  Also, we have been storing our excess in a tupperware with sugar water in the fridge; the cool slows down the growth process.   We have also eliminated all sugars aside from the organic cane sugar (palm sugar had a negative effect on the rain forests).  The flavour that comes from the cane sugar is what we seem to prefer.  I have not made any more flavoured batches since the first two.  We have been sticking with just using the cane sugar and adding a date and an egg shell.  I then add about 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of each kefir water and regular water.  Aaron has been drinking his with prune juice, he seems to find it makes the prune juice far more palatable and is now enjoying it.  Our next venture is going to be to try to make a super fizzy batch!

We also received some milk kefir grains. 1 tsp of milk grains to every 1 cup of milk (homo, skim, goats, coconut, etc).  We added the grains our homo milk on hand within 24 hrs it was thick and delicious.  If you like the kefir (yogurt style) from the grocery store... this smells and tastes the same.  For different consistencies it depends on amount of grains.  If you stick with the 1 tsp per cup of milk you will see that 12 hrs later it will be sweet and thin, 24 hrs later it will be thicker and tangy and then 48 hrs later it will be thick like yogurt and very sour!

First batch of Milk kefir:

We have made 3 batches so far and the grains multiply slower but since you use very little it is easy to accumulate plenty.  We have only fermented our milk kefir for about 24 hours or so.  We have not been watching the clock too closely since it has plenty of leeway.  We simply go by the texture of the kefir to decide when its done.   I have also not become overly fond of the flavour of milk kefir, even the store bought.  I try it au natural each time but always add something.  I have 1 cup at a time and the first few times I tried about 1-2tsp sugar with 4-6 thawed frozen berries and it was very tasty.  Today I tried it with about 1-2tsp of vanilla extract and 1tbsp of strawberry torani syrup.... this was fantastic!  We do try to minimize our sugar intake but since the kefir has great benefits I think that a bit of sugar added to make it more palatable is worth it!

Vanilla and strawberry flavoured milk kefir

Aaron has noticed many health benefits so far with drinking the kefir.  He was having some digestion and elimination issues and has noticed a complete elimination of these symptoms.  I, on the other hand, have not noticed any changes.  I am not discrediting the stuff, I just think I have a very productive and efficient system.  I have never had any issues and so I may not notice the benefits as others have... but the benefit is still there and I am sure my internal flora is far healthier due to the kefir.

Kefir Benefit links:  http://www.kefir.net/benefits.htm AND http://www.yourkefirsource.com/kefir-benefits/health-benefits-kefir.