I’ve recently began looking for milk free options for probiotics (the good bacteria), and my search brought me to “water kefir”. If you are familiar with milk kefir grains at all, these are very much the same, except you would soak them in water rather than a dairy beverage.
To get started, I got all my supplies gathered which includes, a 2L glass jar, some uncooked healthy sugar, some spring water, and of course, water kefir grains. They are obtainable on Amazon but I bought mine on eBay. If you cannot locate the grains on those 2 online stores, try searching for ‘Japanese water crystals‘ instead because that is the name they are commonly referred to as. The grains took nearly a week to arrive and at that time I wasn’t ready to utilize them so I stored them in the fridge in a sugar solution. They are able to preserve for a couple of weeks in the fridge in sugar water. They possibly won’t reproduce this way, however they should survive. If you need more time than that you just have to change the sugar-water solution.
Once I was ready to make some water kefir I got out a conventional recipe and began brewing. It’s ideal to keep the grains separate in a cloth bag that will permit the sugar solution to pass through and at the same time not allow it to merge with the other “contents” (for the simple reason that it’s just hard to separate them later).
As for water, you may boil tap water to remove the chlorine (then let cool down all the way), or buy (or find) some mineral or spring water. Fill the 2L glass jar 3/4 of the way and add just about 1/2 a cup of sugar. Also, add 1 cup of kefir grains to the cloth (or muslin) bag and be ready for them to multiply so leave them some space!
You can add a tsp of blackstrap molasses for additional nutrients for the grains to feast on. Also, adding 1/2 teaspoon of aluminum free baking soda is usually encouraged. This may help prevent a film from being developed on the top of the water, as well as help improve the grain growth.
Now, you may use any flavoring by way of fruit, or lemon slices, a fig or two, a few raisins, ginger, etc.
Cover the jar loosely, and let it sit in a dark area (cover with a hand towel if necessary) to ferment and produce your kefir. Stirring every 12-24 hours is helpful. Avoid allowing anything metal to touch the grains or the water (throughout or following the fermentation process) as it can destroy the beneficial bacteria. Let it stand for 2-3 days, checking the taste as you go along. If it’s too sugary, let it sit longer, and if it has a vinegary taste it may have sat too long.
Fill the rest of the jar with some 100% fruit juice if you like. The water kefir can be stored in the fridge for a few days to a week.
Readers who are want to get more information about the topic of loose weight really fast, then make sure to check out the website which is quoted right in this paragraph.















