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RE: Another Attempt at Fruity Water Kefir: What to do and what NOT to do

in Foodies Bee Hive10 months ago

Nice!!! I love Tibicos, and I enjoy reading about how others have experimented with it. I never liked the citrusy water kefir, at least the few times I tried, even though the fruit was always peeled.

My favorite flavors are ginger (very classic), cranberries, and fresh basil leaves. But I've tried it using a huge range of fruits, herbs, roots, and flowers. Elderflowers are delicious!!! Rose petals don't have a strong taste, but the smell is divine. Beet root has an interesting taste. I like it, but not everyone agrees. Mint is something I don't like, but when I used to sell water kefir at the market, it was highly popular.

For minerals I use piloncillo. Since I don't always want its flavor to interfere with the taste of my drink, I tend to alternate between one batch for me, using sugar and something for flavor, and one for the cultures, with only piloncillo, which I then pour down the drain.

As for the water, I use simple tap water, after setting it out in the sun for a few minutes to let the chlorine evaporate. I'm actually trying to get all those lovely germs from the infamous Mexico City water pipes into my Tibicos. If the culture rejects the new bacteria, they kill them off. If they accept them in the community, they keep them under control, so they won't reproduce to where they can get you sick. However, by ingesting them, your body will get to know them, just in case you are exposed to them at some later point.

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Hmmm, that is quite interesting. Thank you for the tips. I have never thought of using tap water. I know it's not the worst here in PDC, because I've used it before when I was out of water, and there was never an issue. There's hardly any chlorine in it here. In fact, I add chlorine to it in the tank because otherwise we'll get algae in the tank...But thanks again, you gave me some brilliant ideas!

Well, I have tried the tap water in the CDMX too, and amazingly I'm still alive! Still, I don't want to make it a habit drinking it every day. Though I most certainly am a bit hard-core in trying to expose myself to all kinds of antigens. Not directly of course, but by means of the water kefir I believe it is certainly worth it.

It sounds like a good way to get some good bacteria and not so great ones and get used to them to strengthen the immune system. Maybe you should send me some tap water hahaha. I've actually been having some issues with my stomach these past few days, and haven't done any new Kefir batches, so need to make a new one and hope it will solve the issue.

That's the nice thing about these cultures, they are so dynamic, and always changing. Member microbes come and go depending on a myriad of factors. (Kinda like our guts, if your think about it...) So gradually over time a massive diversity can be built up, both in the jar and in our bodies. Wishing you good, strong health!