Tag: Drinks

Storing Water Kefir Crystals

So we are definitely hooked. Hooked on water kefir. A couple of days ago I bottled quite an amount to take on a family vacation trip, but it was gone within three days. Back home the first thing I did was starting a new batch. Four new batches to be precise. Being relatively new to water kefir I want to really understand it and as such I experimented with the way to store water kefir. Whether you are absent for a couple of days or want to have a break for a bit longer, it is good to know what works and how it will influence the end product.

How to store water kefir (for a long time)

So before we went on vacation, I made 50g-portions of the water kefir crystals and stored them in four different ways:

Waterkefir crystals covered with icing sugar. The sugar will melt and form a syrupy brownish liquid
Waterkefir crystals covered with icing sugar. The sugar will melt and form a syrupy brownish liquid
  1. Fridge:
    Water kefir crystals floating in 10% sugar water in the fridge (in a loosely lidded non-reactive container),
  2. Fridge:
    Water kefir crystals covered with icing sugar (in a loosely lidded non-reactive container),
  3. Freezer:
    Freezing water kefir crystals, barely covered in 10% sugar water and
  4. Dryed:
    Water kefir crystals laid out to dry on a of clean piece of cotton, stored well aerated at room temperature
Dried water kefir crystals shrink about 80% and chance from translucent to brown
Dried water kefir crystals shrink about 80% and chance from translucent to brown

How to Reconstitute water kefir

A couple of days ago I slowly defrosted my frozen water kefir crystals and prepared four identical jars to reconstitute the water kefir, hoping for yummy lemonade at the end. Each jar contains:

  1. One liter water
  2. 80g caster sugar
  3. two dried prunes
  4. one dried fig
  5. two slices organic lemon (with the peel)

After the first 12 hours all but the pre-frozen water kefir crystals showed -although significantly restrained -definite signs of fermenting activity: carbon dioxide is rising and the crystals seem to grow and split which is normal behavior during the fermentation. After 24 hours all four jars were happily fermenting and I could test the taste of their products after 48 hours:

After 48 hours all four jars were on their way.

10%Sugar Water Sugared Dried Frozen
Sweet/Sour Very sour Very sweet sweet pleasant
Bitter very bitter medium bitter medium
CO2 Very low low medium medium
Amount of crystals 119g 80g 44g 126g

Outcome

Resulting water kefir after storage. Difference in taste and color
Resulting water kefir after storage. Difference in taste and color

Type and  Time of Storage

All four ways of preserving water kefir crystals were successful, in the way that all of the crystals survived and could be re-activated for further fermentation. I assume that storing water kefir crystals for a long time in sugar water in the fridge might be problematic. Even though the temperature reduces the activity, is still happens and as such at some point of time the yeast will rund out of food. So i would opt for drying or freezing the crystals if the storage is intended to last for several weeks or a couple of months.

Taste and Reconstitution

In favor of comparison I used 50g water kefir crystals for each way of storing. In the end my little experiment showed that the different ways of preserving the crystals have an impact on their return to a normal activity level:

  • Using the sugar water method has practically no impact on the activity. That is the reason why the lemonade turned out too sour and almost without CO2. The 50g that I put to storage were too much for the 1l sugar water I used for reconstitution.
  • The crystals that were sored in icing sugar took a little while to get back to normal fermentation mode and as a result the residual sugar in the lemonade was unpleasantly high. Given that the possible storage time is about the same as using sugar water I do not see an advantage using this method.
  • The dried water crystals didn’t propagate well compared to the initial amount. But given that the 50g reduced to 10 after being dried, the 44g are not too bad. A reduced fermentation activity seems logic with this drastic way of preservation and the result was satisfactory.
  • Freezing water crystals works well. Initially I thought that -18 C will ultimately kill the bacteria, but due to their very slow fermentation in the beginning the 50g/1l-water ratio resulted in a very good lemonade.

Summary

As a result all water kefir crystals have survived, but only the frozen ones produced a pleasant lemonade right afterwards, whereas the first batch of the other three methods had a difficult taste. The second batches however, with the right amounts (see recipe here), were indistinguishable.

  • Water kefir crystals can easily be stored long- and short term
  • The more drastic the method (freezing/drying vs. sugar water) the slower the re-entry into fermentation mode
  • The first lemonade will most likely not have a pleasant taste, but all methods have a normal taste after that.

Japanese Water Crystal Lemonade

Our Family got bigger. Unfortunate for the grandparents and the girls it is not another baby – only water kefir. It lives happily together with all the other jars and containers that are bubbling and fermenting whatever is inside and produces continuously yummy, healthy lemonade.

Water kefir is kind of like the German ‘Hermann cake’ or the Amish Friendship Bread, that was popular when I was a kid. Except of my husband I don’t know any kid of the 70’s and 80’s that has not brought one home from school.

What is water kefir?

Also named Japanese water crystal, water kefir is a symbiosis of yeast and bacteria – similar to kombucha, that will culture sugar water in a couple of hours to make a naturally fermented homemade soda that is rich in probiotics, B vitamins and food enzymes. In its basic form the taste reminds me of bitter lemon or ‘Fedeweißer’, the partially fermented young wine that comes to the market in Europe in late September/early October.

Fermenting water kefir

To my knowledge water kefir is not produced commercially, but it is easy to get the grains online, although I found a huge difference in price. Some individual vendors hand off their grains for free if you pay postage and some commercial companies sell the same amount – 30g (enough for one liter) – for as much as 18,90€.

In the beginning you don’t need more than those 30g, because in a favorable environment (relatively hard water and enough food (sugar, nitrogen) for the yeast & bacteria) water kefir grows fast. An increase of 25% is almost happening and I have seen it doubling often as well. All you need is relatively hard water, sugar and some dried fruits.

This is what I put in my water kefir the time. A mix of dried prunes and figures, raw sugar, lemon and ginger

Recipe for one liter water kefir

  • 1 liter water (25% warm water, 75% cold water)
  • 75g Sugar
  • 2 round slices of an organically grown lemon (if you don’t like a slightly bitter taste remove the peel)
  • 3 dried figs
  • 30g water kefir grains
  • glass jar that holds 1,5l (without lid)
  • clean cotton cloth
  • rubber band or string

Method

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water and mix it with the cold water to get one liter sweet water at room temperature. Put the rest of the ingredients into a clean glass jar and fill it up with the sweet water. Put a clean cotton cloth on top and secure it with a rubber band or a string, so that the developing carbon dioxide can escape Now leave it to ferment for about 48 hours at room temperature. Unlike kombucha it doesn’t need to be dark, but avoid direct sunlight.

When its done, take out the dried fruit and the slices of lemon and strain the lemonade through a plastic strainer, catching the water kefir grains. Rinse the grains and wash the jar before starting your next batch.

You can drink your lemonade right away or fill it in glass bottles and put it into the fridge for a second fermentation. The remaining micro-organism will ferment the slower than the water kefir grains, so it is safe to put a lid on the bottle. Trapping the carbon dioxide during the second fermentation results in a refreshing, nicely prickly lemonade!

Starting out water kefir with some crystals, dried fruits and lemon

Changing the taste of your lemonade

Water kefir offers a gazillion ways to change the taste, inviting you to experiment with whatever you can think of. Play with the ingredients and/or with the time and temperature of fermentation until you have found your favorite style. E.g. if you prefer it not so sweet, extend the fermentation time, so more of the sugar is being consumed by the yeast. When playing with the recipe, make sure that you always have…

  1. Some form of liquid (water or tea)
  2. Some sort of sugar (honey, brown sugar, maple syrup etc.)
  3. Some sort of dried, non-sulfurized fruits
  4. Some sort of natural acid (lemon, grapefruit, lime …)
  5. Optional: edible flowers, herbs, fruits, aromates (e.g. ginger, cinnamon, vanilla pod…)

Some combinations that I have tried or that I have on my list to try when the season has arrived are

  • Ginger, lemon and thyme
  • Fruit tea and plums
  • Green tea, kaki and lemon
  • Black tea, Lemon, vanilla pod and cinnamon
  • Green tea and yuzu
  • Water, elderflower and lemon
  • Green tea, rhubarb and lemon
  • Water, strawberries, lemon and mint
  • … you see the list is endless

Things worth knowing about water kefir

  1. Water kefir doesn’t like metal, so use glass and plastic utensils when dealing with the grains (strainer, funnel, jars etc.).
  2. The importance of hygiene in the kitchen, especially when dealing with fermentation shouldn’t be new, but the be safe I mention it again
  3. Pausing to make water kefir. If you want to stop making lemonade for a couple of days or are going on vacation, put your water kefir grains and 10% sugar water (100g sugar for 1l water) in an non-lidded glass jar in the fridge. When you want to restart simply rinse the grains and use them according to the basic recipe.