“Rain, sleet, freezing rain, snow…”
Yep, still January!
I just got my butt kicked in Pilates Reformer class. It was a new-to-me teacher and she was super tough, 2/3rds of the class was leg work! Ugh! I love it though, I feel so amazing when I walk out of there, strong, lean, and flexible.
Someday I will teach Pilates Reformer and have access to Reformers all the time!
The training to teach Reformer is extensive and expensive so for now (well, once my gym membership is up next week) I will settle for teaching and doing Mat Pilates. 🙁 (Which I also LOVE.)
It’s official. I am obsessed with Water Kefir Soda.
One of the reasons I wanted to get to Ikea on Saturday was to pick up some bottles for my soda!
Vanilla on the left and grape on right.
Oh but wait, there’s more.
Yeah, it’s a little out of control. For real.
That chunky stuff on the bottom right is ginger. Mmmmmm homemade Ginger Ale. I’ve also made Lemonade, Grape-Vanilla, and Coconut (yuck).
Wondering what’s the deal with this stuff?
It is a fermented soda made with Water Kefir Grains
These “grains” have the power to turn sugar water into a probiotic rich beverage.
Probiotics is a catchall term for thousands of live microorganisms that deliver a myriad of health benefits. Basically it means that it is full of healthy, live bacteria that promotes gut health. Maintaining a healthy belly is crucial to keeping your immune system healthy.
Why am I on a Kefir Soda kick? Because it’s
- all about the probiotics
- rich in B1, B6, B12
- an awesome source of right-rotating lactic acid, which is really important in cancer prevention and heart health
- bubbly
- low-sugar (the grains eat the sugar in the fermentation process)
- delicious
And SO easy to make. The only challenge, besides finding the space to store all of your soda :), is obtaining the grains. I scored mine for free from a very random encounter but they can be bought online. I’ve heard that the best source to buy them is at Cultures For Health. They may seem a little expensive but they not only last forever, they multiply!
But really, does it taste good?
YES!
It is lightly sweet with a fine fizz, super tasty and refreshing. The fermentation continues even after removing the grains so it gets less sweet, more fizzy, and a slight yeasty taste as time goes on. The grape is the winner and coconut the loser but all of the flavors have turned out fantastic.
Just wanted to let you know how much I Love your blog. You gave me advice on finding a Yoga class and I did my first class on Sunday and Loved it! its actually a runners workshop and that works perfectly. Now you have me interested in not only pilates but sodas!! Thanks for such a real voice I feel like your blog is a true vision of you and not a fluffed version of someone. Thanks and keep up the great work!!
Thanks for the lovely words Leslie, I really appreciate your feedback. And I am so glad you loved yoga! That’s awesome!
Note that if you do give Pilates a try, it is similar to yoga in that you won’t jive with every teacher/style so give it a few goes if you don’t love it at first.
I definitely need to get some grains and make this soda! I tried to make kefir a couple of years ago. I got the grains from a friend who was making it in cow’s milk. I’m lactose intolerant so I tried to make it in rice milk. It didn’t seem to work very well and didn’t taste good so I didn’t keep making it. I’m excited to try the soda version!
Yeah, Water Kefir is an excellent alternative to Dairy Kefir. And it’s fun to make!
Thank you for posting this & providing a good source to buy the grains!
You should start selling the soda at your clinic. Start a company and sell it, people would buy it, they don’t have time to make it but do like to buy thing good for you.
love,
zayda
How to does Kefir soda compare to a drink like CasCal? Are they at all similar, or am I way off…?
I just bought my first 4-pk of CasCal and am anxious to try it. However, I’m under the weather right now (really rough week!) and going to wait until I feel a bit better.
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I think you are right but the only info I can find on CasCal is that it is a “fermented soda”, nothing about Kefir. The biggest difference is that by making it yourself you can control to sugar and calorie content to a certain extent, and it’s super cheap to make. I’ve only tried Cascal once, it was tasty!
Nevermind my first comment. After more research I learned that CasCal is a fermented malt soda made by Coca-Cola so while the flavor (lightly fizzy and lightly sweet) may be similar, CasCal is lacking the probiotics and other goodness of Kefir.
That sounds delicious!!! It just gets fizzy from the kefir grains?!
It gets fizzy from the sugar feeding off of the yeast that is supplied by the grains. It doesn’t get fizzy until the second fermentation (the bottling). I think I will do a step-by-step post to fully explain it.
Thanks for the link I can’t wait to order some!
Oops can I ask you one more question, what happens if you go away? Can you pause them?
Yep, you can pause. I have more than I can keep up with in my cupboard right now so I just put the grains in sugar water and set them in the fridge. Apparently they can keep like that for a long time as long as you periodically feed them more sugar.
This sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try it. I also am intrigued by all the cheese making kits on the web site too. Thank you for the link.
How is this different from kombucha, besides the grains vs scoby?
Do they taste similar?
Kefir doesn’t have the vinegar taste that Kombucha has, it’s much smoother and sweeter.