Strawberry Kefir Soda

This is probably one of my favorite flavors of kefir soda. It’s pretty, too! Strawberries give kefir soda such a wonderful light and refreshing flavor. You should always eat more berries. They have so many properties that we need. Check out this article. Why You Should Eat Berries Every Day.

Course: Beverages

Servings: people

Equipment

32-ounce bottle Make sure you use thick glass bottles made for brewing. Craft store bottles will explode.

Ingredients

Strawberry Extract

1 pound Strawberries chopped or sliced so the juices will run out
1-3/4 cups Sucanat (Or coconut sugar or regular sugar)

Strawberry Kefir Soda

1 packet Kefir Soda Starter Or ½ cup Kefir Whey
2/3 cup Strawberry extract
Water, spring or filtered with minerals lightly filtered or spring

Instructions

Strawberry Extract

Place strawberries and sugar in a bowl and stir until well coated. Keep stirring from time to time to let sugar dissolve.
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter for 12 hours.
Using a strainer, strain the extract into a bowl.
Place extract in a bottle. Save it in the fridge or use it to make kefir soda.
You can use the strawberries to mix with kefir cheese to make a fruit dip.

Strawberry Kefir Soda

Add the Kefir Soda Starter packet OR kefir whey to your juice and stir till dissolved.
Pour 2/3 cup of strawberry extract into a 32-ounce bottle. (Make sure you use bottles such as Grolsch or Bormioli thick glass bottles. Bottles bought at craft stores can explode.)
Fill the rest of the bottle with water leaving an inch of room at the top.
Allow it to ferment for 3-7 days or until bubbly and fizzy. If your home is 75°F or warmer it will usually take 3-4 days. Colder homes can take 5 days or longer, but you'll need to check it by popping the top and see if it's getting fizzy. It will start to bubble out the top if it does.
When it's done, place it in the fridge right away. You can pour it into a glass and enjoy it right away, but keep it stored in the fridge or it will explode. Consume within 1-2 weeks for the best flavor and most benefit.

Re-Culturing From Your First Bottle

You can use ½ cup of this finished kefir soda as a starter to make a new bottle.
Add the other ingredients and ferment again. It should only take a half to a full day to ferment. It ferments faster on subsequent batches and you can make many bottles over and over again!