Since a few months we have a pet living with us: His name is Kefi, he is a water kefir. He wants to be fed regularly with sugar and dried fruits. But he is open for different flavour additions, too: fresh fruit, herbs, spices, tea,… A very open minded pet!
Sometimes he rests in the fridge. When we wake him up again, he is a bit sleepy at the beginning, but then he fully starts working again. And he is working a lot! Actually it is not only one pet, but a lot of organisms that are working together: different yeasts and bacteria that are the initiators of an anaerobe lactic acid fermentation.
When Kefi has done his work we are rewarded with a refreshing sparkling sweet-sour summer drink. A healthy one: the fermented probiotic drink has a lot of benefits for the health, especially for stomach and gut flora. Having a tendency towards gastritis, I know what I’m talking about! My stomach is very thankful to Kefi.
Interested in getting your own pet that acitivates exceptional forces? Want to know more about water kefir, milk kefir, kombucha etc.? Have a look f.ex. here (German) or here (English).
Want some more inspiration for water kefir lemonades? Hop over to Susann and Yannic and try their recipes.
Water kefir lemonade with peach and hibiscus (1 liter)
ingredients
1 liter water, 70 g raw cane sugar, 2 slices of lemon (organic), 2 dried figs, 40 g water kefir grains, 1 peach, cut into slices, 1 tablespoon dried hibiscus flowers
preparation
Fill water in large jar, dissolve the sugar in the water. Add the lemon slices, dried figs and kefir crystals. Add sliced peach and hibiscus flowers as well. Stir once, but never with metal kitchen tools.
Cover the jar, but not airtight: the carbon dioxide must be let out. Place the jar in a warm spot. End the fermentation process after 1,5-2 days. The longer you let the lemonade ferment, the more of the sugar is transformed and the more sour the lemonade gets. Trust your taste buds and experiment with different outcomes.
For me, after 2 days, the outcome is perfect: slightly sparkling and with some remaining sweetness.
Remove the fruits, flowers, dried fruits and lemon slices and pour the lemonade through a sieve (non-metal as well). Keep the kefir lemonade in the fridge and enjoy chilled. Rinse the kefir in the sieve with cold water.You’ll probably have to pick some remaining hibiscus flowers off the kefir grains.
You can now start making your next lemonade or you let your kefir rest/rehydrate in the fridge. Therefor keep it in a jar, add a tablespoon of sugar and fill up with water.
nadel&gabel 