Our Water Kefir Grains | Yemoos Nourishing Cultures

At our home, our cultures are given our constant time and care. We like to think of them as part of our family, (as odd-looking as they may be!) - because really, they are just like any other pet or child that requires time, nourishment and care. We lovingly refer to our cultures as 'The Greeshka', after a story from one of our favorite authors, where a strange collective entity of creatures join together to be better as a group (how fitting for these little symbiotic colonies of bacteria and yeast!).

Our water kefir grains never fail to fascinate us. They are so complex and full of life, it's like watching a mysterious live lava lamp every day. We are always combining grains and changing their diet through the seasons to create the 'best' mix possible. By 'best', we mean that the grains are not too over or under-active, grow at a nice rate, adjust well to changes in ingredients and produce a balanced kefir.

It's important to be able to rely on your grains to produce a good kefir, especially when most of us these days are seeking out kefir for its health benefits. Water kefir grains can change on a dime due to temperature, weather, or their own mysterious whim (they never tell us why). But they tend to always come back to a happy, balanced colony in a short period of time. Water kefir grains are more tricky than milk because just when you think you understand them, they have a propensity to change. For this reason, we are always experimenting, tweaking and giving them a diet full of variety to make a great kefir grain colony for us to drink from, and you to adopt from.

Our grains are fed many various nutrients (they prefer a diverse diet). Their meals include high-mineral water, blackstrap molasses, whole cane sugar, white sugar, baking soda, calcium carbonate, lemons, and various organic dried fruits (they adore their apricots, dates and coconut) and even carrot and fresh or dried ginger.

Our grains are fed according to their needs, which is somewhere between 24-72 hours, usually being about 48. We handle them gently (they are living, and part of our family, besides!) and we only use wood, food-grade plastic and stainless steel (and canning jars just like you see in our supplies, as their little homes).

When any of our grains seem out of balance, they are given a monitored diet change until they are back up to speed. They then re-join the larger colony when balanced and ready, or are tossed to our dogs or garden to reincarnate as veggies or fruit!

Why is there a cost for your cultures? You may ask, why do we charge for our cultures - isn't it a tradition to share and give these cultures away? While we would love to be able to offer all of them for free to everyone, we like to compare it to an 'adoption fee'. Putting a cost to the cultures covers the time and care we put into them daily, enables us to afford the best ingredients to ensure the best cultures (raw milk, whole cane sugar, organic tea, fresh home-ground flours). It also aids us people from all around the world the opportunity to try these cultures, and encourages those who people from all around the world the opportunity to try these cultures, and encourages those who invest in a culture to take the time and effort to care for their cultures. We also enjoy sharing our cultures locally, giving away our cultures to our family, friends, and neighbors whenever we can.

We'd like to leave you with one last note that we hope you'll be comforted to know that whatever you may spend or donate here goes right back towards our land, our animals, our garden and ultimately our cultures, time, research and ability to give you our very best. You can observe more of who and what you are supporting in our Photo Album. We truly believe what goes around comes around. Just as in culturing, however much we share with others is what can be shared back, and then some.