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This is the season when water kefir really shines: it’s hydrating and delicious, and wonderful after a bit too much time in the heat. Citrus adds bright flavors to the kefir, but when you turn plain orange kefir into orange cream, it kicks it up several notches!
So what do you when you find a big basketful of “overripe” peaches at the farm stand for a great price? Snap them up, of course, and make tasty eats and drinks with them…like the probiotic goodness of peach water kefir!
My water kefir grains are happy. I know this because they’ve been multiplying enthusiastically. Almost too enthusiastically…but I appreciate the work they do to transform fresh-cut pineapple (arguably the byproduct of pineapple peel wine!) into refreshing probiotic soda.
I’ve previously posted about making the wonderful fermented tonic beet kvass, and continue to make it regularly. Some time ago, while researching different types of “kvass”, I discovered that the origin of the drink is an Eastern European ferment that uses bread – specifically, rye bread – as starter for the ferment. It just so happened that there was some “extra” sourdough rye sitting around, so I started some traditional bread-based kvas.
Continue reading “Farm Ferments: Sourdough Bread Kvas (квас)”
I’ve been brewing the amazing elixir known as Kombucha Tea for years now. With this ferment, an unusual-looking culture transforms sweetened tea into probiotic goodness, thanks to the hard work of the Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY): the disc-shaped pellicle formed by the microbes responsible for performing the magic.
Figs and ferments just go hand in hand. Well, so does fig jam and fromage blanc on a raisin-rosemary crisp…but I digress. When I spied these fresh organic black figs at Trader Joe’s, I knew they were coming home with me, and that they’d be part of a very special live beverage.