The art of cherry kefir juice

I’m becoming obsessed with making water kefir juice drinks these days. This is made from black cherry juice, and it should be ready to drink in a few days. It will probably taste like cherry coke, but with a hint of alcohol, more tart, and an overall stronger flavor.

I used the blueberry kefir recipe, but substituted black cherry juice for blueberry juice and added 2 tablespoons of water kefir grains to each jar instead of 1 like I did in the blueberry juice recipe(I have a kefir grain surplus). I also used 2 jars instead of 1.This may cause it to ferment even faster and we’ll likely end up with an even stronger probiotic drink. I will skip the secondary fermentation step this time to see what happens.

This cherry kefir juice may be one of the most ideal things a distance runner can drink after a long run. I’ve already posted how cherry juice can help speed recovery in “Exercise Recovery is Just a Bowl of Cherries“, but the fact that this is a probiotic cherry drink may make it even better. So many of us can’t eat much of anything after very long runs, and some of us may even feel nauseous. Yet it is important that we eat or drink something within 30 minutes after endurance training, otherwise we can’t refuel and recover properly.

This kefir cherry juice may help resolve this issue since as a probiotic it may stimulate digestion and allow you to eat something protein rich without causing digestive problems. You could even add vegan protein powder or soy milk to it to make a more easily digestible protein shake.

I realize that black cherry juice isn’t the same exact thing as tart cherry juice. Tart cherries seem to have more healing potential, but black cherries have similar benefits, even if their anthocyanin content isn’t as high. I used black cherry juice because it is cheaper.

Echoing my previous post, it is sometimes difficult to classify these vegan kefir drinks. Are they “beer”, “wine” or should kefir be its own category? Because it is based on fermented fruit this will eventually taste more like wine than beer.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions I would love to hear from you!

Kombucha is considered beer

Look closely at the labels

Kombucha, which is similar to the kefir juice I made except that it is fermented tea instead of fermented juice(juice extracts are often added to kombucha it) is now legally considered “beer”. I didn’t realize this until recently. It has been a while since I’ve bought kombucha from the store or even looked at the label. Last time I bought Synergy Kombucha it it was not legally considered “beer”, and you didn’t need to be 21 or older to purchase.

Since the blueberry kefir juice has a similar amount of alcohol(0.5% to 2% max) and maybe more, it is also a “beer”, legally speaking.