Belisama kefir, 6 June 2019

The winter 2018 has made us discovering the value of the fruit kefir, a fermented drink based on citrus fruits and tibicos cultures. The final drink is sparkling, slightly fermented, very refreshing and particularly healthy because of the probiotics it contains. Tibicos cultures are a stable mix of bacteria and yeast in symbiosis. They present as grains. They can be bought on the Internet or given by anyone engaged in producing kefir.

Tibicos culture on board Belisama

We decided to produce it locally on the boat.

Ingredients

You need:

• A three litre mason jar. No need to have a tap at the bottom as on the picture. Yet the jar has to be preferably in glass.
• Three litres of water. Chlorinated water should be allowed to rest uncovered for few hours to decrease chlorine content.
• Two lemons, preferable from bio farming to avoid that chemical and pesticide affect the growth of the tibicos culture. They should be thoroughly washed. Any citrus (acidic) fruits can be used, e.g. lime, grapefruit... 
• 150 g of sugar (50 g per litre). It can be white or brown sugar, but sugar substitutes such as Stevia will not feed the tibicos culture and therefore fermenting will not occur. The final drink will not contain sugar as it is used to feed the tibicos colonies that will ferment the drink. After couple of days, the sugar will have disappeared completely.
• Three table spoons of tibicos grains.
• One dry figue.

Basic ingredients for fruit kefir

Preparation

Fill the jar with water, leaving some room to add the fruits. Cut the lemons in quarters and put them in the jar. Pour in the sugar and the figue. Stir gently to dissolve the sugar. Add finally the tibicos grains in the preparation and cover gently, allowing air to get out.

Prepared jar. Note the figue and the kefir grains at the bottom of the preparation

First fermentation

Leave the jar at room temperature for two to three days to allow the first fermentation to take place. We have equipped an area in the hull of belisama where the jar (and flip-top glass bottles) can be safely secured in a plastic container, with no risk of breaking even in rough seas. The warmer the shorter period is needed for the first fermentation. When first fermentation is achieved, the figue will move to the surface of the jar.

This is the time to bottle the kefir!

Kefir in the jar after first fermentation. The figue has moved up. The orange colour compared to the picture above results from having used brown sugar in this particular kefir.

Second fermentation

The second fermentation takes place in bottled kefir. Use good flip-top bottles to handle the carbonating of the kefir.

Open the mason jar and remove the figue as well as the lemon pieces. You can squeeze the lemons in the kefir for additional taste. Use a sieve to filter the kefir before bottling it. Save the kefir grains for a new preparation.

Bottles should be kept at room temperature for 48 hours to allow the second fermentation, and then kept in the fridge until consumed. During the second fermentation, you can let the gas escape the bottles by gently opening the flip-top lid.

Filling the bottles for second fermentation

Should you wish to add taste to the kefir, you can filter the kefir in a second jar rather than in bottles, therefore removing the figue, the lemons and the tibicos grains. You can add in the jar all sorts of fruits for giving different tastes: strawberries, raspberries, pears..., and leave it for two days in the second jar, before bottling it. The jar should be closed tightly to allow the carbonation to take place, while letting the pressure escape from time to time to avoid over pressure.

Conservation

Finally, put your bottles in the fridge, and enjoy!



Useful links:

• Water kefir on fasting at home
• Kefir de fruit on "ni cru ni cuit" (in French)