Photo: Great grandparents at their farm in Blandinsville, IL, with five of their six children .. my grandpa was yet a twinkle in grandma's eye. Stable boy and governess also pictured. Hodges farm, circa 1903-4

Friday, January 28, 2011

On Wheat and Kefir Grains

Even though I 'hate' Walmart ... and don't buy much other than a few produce items once in a while in a pinch .. they are now stocking Wheat Montana products .. and beat the health store prices.  Hubby and I picked up two 25 pound sacks of wheat berries (Prairie Gold variety) for $12 each .. and their flour products are a good price as well.  Attempting to stock our storage pantry is expensive .. so this discount was a good find.

kefir grains are added to cool water/sugar mixture
I promised to fill you in on the water kefir experiment.  I took half of my milk kefir grains (a nice gift from Mr. & Mrs. H ..last year:) as they had greatly multiplied .. and designated them to make water kefir.  It took a few days for the grains to get accustomed to their new environment .. but now they are producing a probiotic drink quite well.

kefir grains fermenting
Here's what I noticed this past week:  I do think the kefir has a detoxifying property as I noticed a slight headache for several days and a few blemishes on my normally clear facial skin ... after about three days of drinking the water kefir, these symptoms have gone away.  I will leave you with a few links touting the health benefits of said drink .. read into them as you wish .. as they were taken from the internet.  Also .. there are some links on how to make water kefir.  This is a good drink .. especially for people that may not tolerate dairy .. or milk kefir.


Water Kefir Steps
  1. Boil some water
  2. Place 1/2 cup of boiling water in a super clean quart mason jar
  3. Add 1/4 cup raw sugar, or organic brown sugar, or white cane sugar
  4. Swirl until the sugar melts completely
  5. Add enough fresh cool water (chlorine free) leaving about 2 inches space at top of jar
  6. Make sure the water is no warmer than room temp and add (2-4 tablespoons of kefir grains)
  7. Place a paper coffee filter over the top of jar and fasten with a rubber band
  8. Set in a warm spot in your kitchen for 24-48 hours.
  9. When enough fermentation (to suite your taste) has taken place (much of the sugar will be 'eaten' by the kefir and some will turn into fructose) .. strain the grains .. I pour the fermented kefir into a clean capped bottle.  The grains get rinsed and reprocessed with more water/sugar in another clean quart jar.
 I am still a newby at this .. and am finding different ways each day to flavor the drink.  My favorite is to use a few tablespoons of freshly squeezed organic orange juice .. or a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.  Ginger slices may be added .. the possibilities are endless.  Next step will be bottling it in a 'stopper' topped (airtight) bottle to get a little fizz in the drink.

finished water kefir before adding juice

Water Kefir Benefits
Kefir Health Benefits 
Health Benefits Of Kefir
How To Videos @ Cultures of Health
Using Milk Kefir Grains to Make Water Kefir

12 comments:

Mary said...

Good to know that about WalMart.

Maria Stahl said...

You're kidding! Wal-Mart carries Wheat Montana now?? Cool! I'll have to check. I'm down to about 20 pounds of their white flour. I hope they carry the flours as well as the whole grains.

Maria Stahl said...

Found it on their website, grain only, no flours (which is too bad) - limited stores. Still, it's a start!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Prairie-Gold-Hard-White-Spring-Wheat/14122834

Mrs. Mac said...

Our local 'super walmart' carries both wheat berries, whole wheat and un-bleached/bromated? white flours .. I've only noticed it during the past few weeks. The white comes in ten pound bags .. wheat flour in five pound bags.

Supposed to be both chemical free and non-GMO certified

meemsnyc said...

I don't like Walmart either, but its hard to pass up the savings. Keffir drink looks really interesting.

Linda said...

Have a wonderful weekend!
Blessings

Felisol said...

Dear Mrs. Mac,
I envy you the way you can choose from the healthiest products to a fair price.
here they are only to be bought in special health food stores to astronomic prices. I guess it's a question of demand from the buyers.

I sterilize glasses the way my mother used to do when I grew up.
Please washed and dyed glassed in a cold stove and heat it slowly to 1oo C degrees.
Then place them carefully on the bench and wait from them to cool before you fill them with juice, jam or what you want.
You see, I don't have a dishwasher..

Mr. H. said...

Thanks for sharing this information on water kefir, that was very interesting and we really must try it. That really is a great price on wheat berries too.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mrs Mac.
I also live in North Idaho and my brother was just telling me about how many probiotics Keifer grains have in them and that I should start taking them. Do you know of any places around here where I can get some? I live in PF. Thank you :) Summer C

Mrs. Mac said...

Summer C .. I'd get kefir grains through Cultures of Health .. there's a link to the company in this post. I've ordered stuff from them in the past .. they are pretty good and reliable.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed reading about your water kefir, but I am a little confused. You write: "Next step will be bottling it in a 'stopper' topped (airtight) bottle to get a little fizz in the drink." Mine is fizzy when it finishes making. Yes, I do then put it in a bottle with a cap for storing in the fridge, but it is fizzy before I do that.

Mrs. Mac said...

Anonymous,
I haven't made this for a while .. but from what I recall, mine had to sit a bit to get fizzy. Could be from repurposing milk kefir grains into water kefir grains. I had a tendency of drinking too much of the water kefir and having way too much bloating .. so I stopped drinking it. I am making yogurt and buttermilk now days.