I was fortunate recently to attend a workshop on making your own water kefir and kombucha: super-good-for-you fermented beverages :) The workshop was facilitated by Amy of The Light Cellar in Calgary, a wonderful local resource. I came home with my very own package of water kefir starter, a kombucha "scoby" (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast!) and a fresh-brewed bottle of raspberry-mint kefir.
My kombucha has been a bit slow to start due, I think, to slightly cooler temperatures in my house at present. However the kefir has been pretty active, and I made my first batch using coconut water, then flavoured with a mango black tea, fresh ginger, and powdered turmeric (all flavours added were organic). It tastes remarkably similar to bottled a kombucha drink that I have tried and I am super excited to keep trying different flavours. I would like to get my hands on a root beer flavoured tea that Amy showed us, as well as the grape soda that some of the group tried instead of the raspberry mixture. All in all, it has been a promising adventure :) For the flip-top bottles, I went to a beer and wine making store in Lethbridge but ended up paying a bit more for not shopping around I think. Bottles can be found online, or you can explore whatever shops you have locally. The cultures do best in glass (not ceramic or metal) and need to be air-tight for the flavour stage if you want the carbonation. (You have to check your brew daily at this stage or run the risk of exploding bottles - once you've achieved desired taste and carbonation you put them in the fridge to slow things down and no longer have to worry about the explosion risk). I have been wanting to try making my own fermented drinks for quite awhile now, and purchased dry water kefir grains online from Upaya Naturals some time ago, but this workshop finally gave me the confidence to get started. As I've mentioned before, another really useful resource for learning about the benefits of fermented food and drinks is The Body Ecology Diet; the only thing is that other than the books, their products are not available in Canada, so I have been really happy to find the necessary products in Alberta and online from other sources.
My kombucha has been a bit slow to start due, I think, to slightly cooler temperatures in my house at present. However the kefir has been pretty active, and I made my first batch using coconut water, then flavoured with a mango black tea, fresh ginger, and powdered turmeric (all flavours added were organic). It tastes remarkably similar to bottled a kombucha drink that I have tried and I am super excited to keep trying different flavours. I would like to get my hands on a root beer flavoured tea that Amy showed us, as well as the grape soda that some of the group tried instead of the raspberry mixture. All in all, it has been a promising adventure :) For the flip-top bottles, I went to a beer and wine making store in Lethbridge but ended up paying a bit more for not shopping around I think. Bottles can be found online, or you can explore whatever shops you have locally. The cultures do best in glass (not ceramic or metal) and need to be air-tight for the flavour stage if you want the carbonation. (You have to check your brew daily at this stage or run the risk of exploding bottles - once you've achieved desired taste and carbonation you put them in the fridge to slow things down and no longer have to worry about the explosion risk). I have been wanting to try making my own fermented drinks for quite awhile now, and purchased dry water kefir grains online from Upaya Naturals some time ago, but this workshop finally gave me the confidence to get started. As I've mentioned before, another really useful resource for learning about the benefits of fermented food and drinks is The Body Ecology Diet; the only thing is that other than the books, their products are not available in Canada, so I have been really happy to find the necessary products in Alberta and online from other sources.
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