K is for Kefir & Kombucha

 is for KEFIR and KOMBUCHA .   I started my journey along the fermented road a few years ago.   I was not a fan of yogurt; I ate it but meh; and back to start of my journey;  I ate some chicken one night (yeah I did it to myself)  and  you know what happened afterwords.  I had a horrid case of food poisoning.  I called out of work and I am not known for doing that.  I can count on one hand the number of times that I have stayed home.

I was so miserable that I didn’t even realize that my phone was on silent and yeah it exploded when I did eventually emerge pale and still feeling yucky.   I ate an entire pint of vanilla yogurt and honestly that was the only thing that stayed in my system.   So that began my love affair with vanilla yogurt.

Zip to the future:  Last year on my birthday my best friend Jeff from my Navy days and Guam sent me a KEFIR culture and a book Cultured Food for Life by Donna Schwenk  who is also the creator of the Cultured Food Life website.   Thank you Donna!!!   And thus my journey of KEFIR  and KOMBUCHA  began.   

My VERY energetic batch of KEFIR,  which needs to be shifted to fresh milk.

I received this package in the mail. It literally was a box with a glass jar with milk and a culture inside.  I made the mistake of opening it before reading the instructions:  there might be some pressure build up and to be careful upon opening.  And yeah KEFIR literally exploded into my life.  KEFIR cultures are odd looking.  The best description that I have found and agree with is they look like a head of cauliflower.   My batch is rather vigorous and very hungry.  (I have had to prune them back several times lol) They love their diet of whole milk.   The end product resembles a liquid form of yogurt which you can add fresh fruit and other flavors.  I love mixing it with honey, oatmeal, and chia seeds, which then thickens into a breakfast pudding overnight. 

This is my current brew of KOMBUCHA.  I am sorry for the blurry pic!

I will say honestly I am still in the experimental phase of KOMBUCHA .   I am not a fan of vinegar and if you let the brew go for too long; it tends to add a rather tart, tangy flavor to the tea.  The KOMBUCHA journey started with a bottle of raw  unflavored organic  KOMBUCHA  and a glass jar from the thrift store.  I have since graduated to a gallon pickle jar which is working out better overall. (I am so glad the pickles are now gone!!! No more pickles for me for a long time!) So far my favorite favors tend to lean towards the bubbles and the soda like textures of ginger and cranberry. 

 Have you experimented with either KEFIR or KOMBUCHA ?  Tell me below I would love to read your responses.