Future soda: micro-fermented, probiotic, water kefir brew

Published on 9 Dec 2013

The Kefiry: http://thekefiry.com/

Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/...

It's a 3000-year-old soda that is popular again. Water kefir is a natural ferment that was likely first discovered by shepherds who had led their animal to drink in high mountain springs in the Caucasus Mountains.

"The newfangledness of it is really that we've lost our culture in America. This is only newfangled to people that don't have access or a lineage that they're bringing forward of live culture fermenting of food," explains Tom Boyd.

Boyd, along with partners Jeffrey Edelheit and Deana Dennard, ferment their live beverages in what they call "the only kefir based microbrewery", a tiny shop in Sebastapol, California called the Kefiry. They use kefir grains (which aren't really grains, but bacteria and yeast that turn sugars into carbonation) to create their "enlivened" beverages that contain much less sugar than conventional sodas.

Like sourdough starters, kefir grains need to be kept alive and can be shared with others, but no one has been able to create them in a laboratory. Kefir starters, or tibicos, have been used around the world for centuries and while no two strain of culture is the same, the names are different worldwide: "Tibicos is also known as tibi, water kefir grains, sugar kefir grains, Japanese water crystals and California bees, and in older literature as bébées, African bees, ale nuts, Australian bees, balm of Gilead, beer seeds, beer plant, bees, ginger bees, Japanese beer seeds and vinegar bees."

Water kefir, like other live cultured foods (from sourdough to sauerkraut), have a following of people interested in probiotics and cultivating a healthy flora in their digestive system, though Boyd argues all of us should be focused on cultivating wellness (instead of simply relying on the medical community).

"All of these live culture techniques are ways to preserve and enhance the bio-availabilty of the nutrients in foods. So that's what this movement is about is bringing the live culture back so the foods can be more healthy, more wellness-providing like they're supposed to be."

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Fermenting method - A New Way to Soak Brown Rice

Whole Health Source: A New Way to Soak Brown Rice

I've been looking for a way to prepare whole brown rice that increases its mineral availability without  changing its texture. I've been re-reading some of the papers I've
accumulated on grain processing and mineral availability, and I've
found a simple way to do it.

In the 2008 paper "Effects of soaking, germination and fermentation on phytic acid, total and in vitro soluble zinc in brown rice", Dr. Robert J. Hamer's group found that soaking alone didn't have much of an effect on phytic acid in brown rice. However, fermentation was
highly effective at degrading it. What I didn't realize the first time I read the paper is that they fermented intact brown rice rather than grinding it.

This wasn't clear from the description in the methods section but I confirmed it by e-mail with the lead author Dr. Jianfen Liang. She added that the procedure comes from a
traditional Chinese recipe for rice noodles. The method they used is
very simple:

1. Soak brown rice in dechlorinated water for 24 hours at room temperature without changing the water.  Reserve 10% of the soaking liquid (should keep for a long time in the fridge). Discard the rest of the soaking liquid; cook the rice in fresh
   water.
2. The next time you make brown rice, use the same procedure as above,
   but add the soaking liquid you reserved from the last batch to the rest
   of the soaking water.
3. Repeat the cycle. The process will gradually improve until 96% or more of the phytic acid is degraded at 24 hours.

This process probably depends on two factors: fermentation acidifies the soaking medium, which activates the phytase (phytic acid-degrading enzyme) already present in the rice; and it also cultivates microorganisms that produce their own phytase. I would guess the latter factor is the more important one, because brown rice doesn't contain much phytase.

You can probably use the same liquid to soak other grains.

Posted by

Stephan Guyene

Victoria Certified Brands | Australian Extra Virgin

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Kefir | GAPS Australia

Kefir | GAPS Australia:

‘Kefir’ the digestive tract tonic

Fermented foods are essential to introduce to the GAPS diet from the very beginning and kefir can be managed after whey and yoghurt have been successfully introduced.   Supplementing with probiotics in general will allow beneficial flora to do its job primarily in the upper parts of the digestive system which does not generally reach all the way down to the lower bowel however, fermented dairy will carry probiotic microbes all the way down to the end of the digestive system. Whilst yoghurt carries some very beneficial forms of beneficial flora, Kefir has been known to carry colonies as large as 27 different strains or more, many of them of which have great yeast killing properties.  Fermentation predigests the dairy, making it easy for our digestive systems to handle, that is why fermented foods are easily digested by people who have digestive disorders. Fermentation releases nutrients from the food, making them more bio-available for the body."

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Water Kefir

Water Kefir: "Nov 13, 2012
Water Kefir
november 13, 2012 by eileen 10 comments
What Is Water Kefir?
You may have already heard of dairy kefir but what about water kefir grains? Kefir (Keh-Feer) is a powerful ferment and great healer.



It is particularly useful for those suffering from Leaky Gut Syndrome. The water kefir grains are a mix of bacteria and yeast that work well together and grow when fed on sugar including fruit sugars. They look like ummm…well….yellow or whitish jelly fish put through a potato masher but they can also become quite large. I’ve provided a picture of them in my stainless steel strainer.




Water kefir is a yeasty type water based drink that is produced as a result of adding water kefir grains with sugar and retained minerals. It is a live pro-biotic and is considered a stronger detoxifier than milk kefir grains or kombucha."