Last time I wrote about making your own probiotics, I hadn’t been at it long. (You can check out the original post for the basic directions.) As with just about anything, it evolves as the days, weeks and months unwind. This post will take you into a bit more of what I’ve learned. I’ve had a ball acquiring water kefir knowledge. Besides packing all of it into my brain, I’ve been able to drink the results and they have been delicious!
Putting all those raisins into the brewing kefir made for a headache when it came time to get them out. If I had a working sewing machine and some material to make them, I could have made some spice/raisin bags. Since I had neither one, I ordered a set of four from Amazon.
You’ll notice I was using conventionally grown raisins at first. Since grapes are one of the “dirty dozen”, I switched to organic raisins. Amazon has a good selection to choose from. Personally, I signed up for the “subscribe and save” and got the 15% discount.
The container made it easy to fill the spice bags. Any loose raisins fell back into it. I’ve found that Twinkle will clean up any that hit the floor, though. Strange cat.
At first, I painstakingly tied a pretty little bow at the top of each bag. However, it will stay closed if the strings are just pulled tight.
When placed into the mixture with the grains it sank at first.
One of the perks of making water kefir is that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. In the background you can see the bags of raisins rose to the top with many of the kefir grains.
Here’s a closeup of the floaters that gathered at the top.
It was time to strain the grains out.
The kefir soaked raisins made a nice addition to my breakfast.
Here, they are mixed in with Roger’s “oatmeal”.
I did a second brew with more raisins for another 24 hours.
The grains are big and healthy.
Just how big? Take a look.
And now the adventure continues.
hey tommie, i had to google kefir,wanted to know what exactly it was and why you are faithfully drinking it. well, kefir actually means “free good” and it supposed to keep your digestive health in balance,right. i guess it wouldn’t be bad if no raisins was in it. but do you feel better, that what matters.
Made you look, huh?! It IS good and it doesn’t taste like raisins. I told you, it tastes like Mountain Dew only better. And it does make me feel better. The reason I started making it is because probiotics at the health food store are so durned expensive and not nearly as interesting or fun. As for “being bad”, don’t knock it until you try it, cousin!