Fermented drinks are so delicious and have a way of bringing out the kid out in all of us. While some fermented drinks take a little more effort, making water kefir is one of the easiest ferments you could learn!
We’ve enjoyed the light bubbly flavor of water kefir and now we’re upping the flavor by showing you how to make fruit water kefir! If you love water kefir, try adding fruit! Once you’ve tasted fruit water kefir it’s sure to bring a smile to your face. We’re giving you three recipes today with a BERRY theme!
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How to Make Fruit Water Kefir (Secondary Fermentation)
Since we’ve already taken you through the simple process of how to make water kefir, we’ll keep it short and get right into it.
Once you have your finished water kefir after 24-48 hours, simply strain off your water kefir grains. They’ve worked hard and done their job of adding life to your drink so they’re not needed any longer. Also if you’ve added citrus peels like lemon or lime, you can either strain those off as well or just leave them in for the next step.
Now we’re ready for water kefir secondary fermentation!
At this stage you have a few options. You can add fresh fruit, frozen fruit, or even fruit juice. The important thing to remember if you’re using fruit juice is to make sure there’s no added preservatives that would harm your new living water kefir.
Basic Fruit Water Kefir Secondary Fermentation Recipe
Makes 1 quart mason jar
Water kefir is delicious on its own but adding fruit turns it into a truly fabulous drink that you and others are sure to enjoy.
Equipment:
- 1 quart Mason Jar
- Cloth to cover or Fermentation lid <– These silicone lids work well for us
Ingredients for basic fruit water kefir:
- Finished water kefir, ~ 3/4 quart
- 1/2 cup fruit or 1/4 cup fruit juice
Strain off water kefir grains and set aside or store in sugar water in the fridge. Removing your water kefir grains makes it easier to strain the fruit later without having to pick through fruit mixed with water kefir grains. Your grains are also delicate and could be harmed by mixing fruit.
Add fruit or fruit juice. Make sure there’s no preservatives added that would harm your living water kefir. Top off with non-chlorinated water and fill to one quart. You want as much of this delicious ferment as possible! Stir to combine.
Cover with a cloth or airlock and ferment from one to three days in the mason jar (or to taste). If you like carbonation, instead of using a mason jar use a flip top glass beer bottle made for pressure to allow the carbonation to build up and make a fizzy drink. Be sure to use a plastic tester bottle so you can test the pressure and avoid exploding glass bottles!
While fermenting, stir occasionally to keep your fruit covered to avoid mold. You can alternatively use an airlock to keep out the oxygen but traditionally we’ve only needed to use a cloth and to stir occasionally.
Once you like the taste, enjoy your fruit water kefir with the fermented fruit or strain off the fruit for a delicious clear fruit water kefir. Yum!
While you can add any kind of fruit or fruit juice, these recipes are pretty amazing!
Raspberry Lime Water Kefir
1/4 cup raspberries, mushed
Peel from 1 lime
Blueberry Pomegranate Water Kefir
1/4 cup blueberry
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
Strawberry Mint Water Kefir
1/4 cup strawberries
10 or so mint leaves
Create Your Own Adventure
You can upgrade the flavor of water kefir by adding really any kind of fruit using the above template. If you like a stronger flavor, add more fruit or fruit juice. Change up the types of fruit and you’ll have exciting new flavors all the time and get a spectrum of nutrition and antioxidants. Drink the rainbow!
What to Expect During Fermentation – Fruit Water Kefir
On the first day after adding fruit, you shouldn’t expect too much to be happening. Most likely you’ll only see the color change according to the type of fruit or juice you’ve added.
After 24 to 48 hours, you might notice some bubbling action or you might not. We noticed a lot more bubbles in our jars that had fresh fruit compared to the jar that had frozen fruit.
If you’re covering with a cloth, the smell of your fruit water kefir might start smelling a tiny bit like vinegar or kombucha which is normal for an open-air aerobic ferment. Using an airlock decreases the vinegar flavor a bit and keeps out the oxygen which means it’s an anaerobic ferment.
By day three all of our jars had bubbles and definitely smelled more fermented! The taste was slightly acidic and still slightly sweet like you’d expect with the light flavor of water kefir.
Fermented Fruit Water Kefir is Heavenly!
If you haven’t tried fruit water kefir you’re missing out on an incredible drink! With an uplifting, slightly sweet, slightly fermented flavor, consider adding fruit water kefir to your repertoire. It’s an amazing ferment to keep in your knowledge base of delicious fermented drinks.
Once our fruit water kefir is done, we like to put these leak-proof pour spouts on top of our mason jars to pour into glasses.
It’s filled the gap as a light alternative to some of the harder ferments like pineapple tepache, ginger ale, and ginger bug sodas. We tested the alcohol after five days and couldn’t detect much alcohol at all compared to our other sodas.
Fruit water kefir shines bright as an all around crowd pleaser and we now enjoy it often! If you have any unique ideas for flavor combinations or tried this recipe, let us know how it’s going! Leave a comment below and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Happy fermenting!
