It's {Easy} To Make Kefir

I've been making cultures lately, which means I've been growing probiotics in my kitchen, which means I've been feeding sugar to health-promoting bacteria, so it can grow and participate in our continuing quest for natural, healthy practices.

Which means: my prince doesn't eat yogurt.

For the past few months, a couple of times a week, I've made homemade crock pot Greek yogurt. I eat it with blueberries, cinnamon, and honey.

A few weeks ago I learned to make water kefir.

It's easy.

What is water kefir, you might ask? The easy answer: water kefir is a fermented beverage full of beneficial bacteria, AKA, probiotics.

More specifically, water kefir is a beverage made from a culture starter, that ends up full of probiotics, and eventually, carbonation. Water kefir has similar benefits to yogurt, but without the milk, so it can be tolerated by people with milk allergies. Many people have used it to eliminate soda from their diet. Others have solved problems with seasonal allergies and digestive issues by drinking kefir. It is also touted as an aid to diabetics, a way to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. The list goes on...

I'm such a newby  at making kefir, I am not going to go into details. (Instead, I will share links for more information.) Just to familiarize you, here are the basic steps:

My first batch of brew, the Grolsch  bottles
and my kitchen mantra.

1. Purchase the starter "grains."  I bought mine here.
2. When they arrive, you will re-hydrate the grains in sugar water, following the directions in the package. 
3. When your grains are ready, you will feed them more sugar water. After 24-48 hours, you will pour off the kefir and restart your grains in another sugar water solution (and on and on for years to come, if you like).
4. At this point, you will drink your kefir, mixed with juice, or in a smoothie, or mixed with vanilla extract, etc.
5. You can use the kefir to make soda, by CAREFULLY following the instructions *below.  
6. If you plan to make kefir soda, you will need a few of Grolsch-style, airtight bottles. 
7. You will need a few other readily available supplies, so I recommend reading through *these instructions before you begin. 

Making kefir is one of those things that seems complicated in the explanation, but is very simple in the "doing." I hope you give it a try.

For a detailed and very interesting article on the benefits of eating probiotics, please click here: (Mercola.com).

For a great source of supplies to make cultured foods, please click here: (Cultures for Health).

For a great blog post about making kefir, including recipes, click here: Crunchy Betty.

Today's breakfast:
Home grown egg, home grown radish, and water kefir ?
Yep!

About 31 days of EASY: 

So many things in life are hard.  And some of those hard things are necessary. But why make things harder than they need to be?  For 31 days, I'll be writing about ways to bring ease.  I would be honored if you came along on my journey.  Pack light. 

If you want to know more about the 31 Day Blog Challenge, click here:
Nesting Place: It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.
or here: Why 31 days?
Many Blessings to you.