Once upon a time I was addicted to Coca Cola. When my eyes were opened to the world of real food, I learned to start reading ingredients instead of calories, and here is what I found:
- Carbonated water
- High fructose corn syrup (A probable GMO)
- Caramel color (A probable GMO and linked to cancer)
- Phosphoric acid (derived from a rock. Seriously! But don’t worry, they remove the arsenic compounds before they put it in your drink.)
- Natural Flavors (A probable GMO/excitoxin/addictive element from “natural” sources including bugs, beaver butts, and other deliciously savory things.)
- Caffeine
Ya’ll, there is not one redeemable quality about drinking conventional soda. Not one.
But don’t despair my friends. I wouldn’t depress you and then just leave you hanging. There is hope! With a few simple ingredients you can make your own homemade healthy soda that is tasty and full of live probiotics. I even promise there is no rock by-products or beaver-butt ingredients in it. 
Score!
Water Kefir
This homemade soda is made with water kefir grains (not to be confused with milk kefir grains). If you are new to the world of fermentation, water kefir grains are….well, they are…well it’s hard to explain. Here’s a picture of some:
They are clear, gummy-like “grains” that when placed in a sugary solution like sugar water or juice, eat away at the sugars creating a probiotic-rich, lacto-fermented beverage that is carbonated. You can buy some through Cultures for Health, or Amazon, but I would first check for local fermentation groups on Facebook or Craigslist. Often people have so many grains they give the extras away for free.
Water kefir contains more probiotics than yogurt and is a frugal way to nourish your gut.
There are many different ways to make water kefir, but there are a couple of important things to keep in mind:
- Water: You want to make sure your water source is free of flouride and chlorine which could kill your kefir grains. You also want mineral-rich water. If your water is purified, but stripped of minerals, you can add a couple drops of Concentrace Minerals to it to increase the mineral content. For more info on water quality and water kefir, go here.
- Sugar: You have several options for sugar. You want to make sure your sugar is non-GMO. You can do this by buying organic sugar or pure cane sugar. This is the only thing we use refined sugar for in our household. You are only using it to feed the kefir grains, if it ferments long enough there won’t be any sugar left in the final product. You do not want to use honey. Honey will kill the kefir grains. I have had success using a mixture of cane sugar and coconut sugar and sometimes brown sugar.
- Container: You will want to store your kefir in glass jars. Stay away from plastic and aluminum containers because the kefir could leach chemicals from them when there is long-term exposure.
DIY Healthy Soda
Step 1: Start with about 1/8-1/4 cup of hydrated water kefir grains. Put them into a quart size jar.
Step 2: Add 1/4 cup of sugar. I added half cane sugar and half coconut sugar. My grains came from a person who cultured them in only coconut sugar, so I am gently weaning them off the coconut sugar and towards the cane sugar. I also added a teaspoon of molasses since our water is purified and lacks minerals. Kefir grains NEED minerals. Other people add a pinch of baking soda or a cleaned egg shell or Concentrace Mineral Drops. You have to experiment to see what will make your grains happy. Happy grains multiply.
Step 3: Stir it all up. I stick a wooden spoon in the jar and give it a good stir. Then cover the top with a breathable surface. You can use cloth or a paper towel. I used a napkin and a rubberband.
Step 4: Let it sit for 24-48 hours. How fast your water kefir ferments depends on many factors including how warm it is in the house. My kefir ferments much quicker in the summer than it does in the winter. You can see from the picture above that the grains nearly doubled in both the jars. This was after a 36 hour ferment.
Step 5: Strain out the water kefir grains.
Step 6: Now for the fun part. Put the strained water kefir into a jar with an air-tight lid. You can see some examples of jars I use in the picture above. Next, add your flavoring. I like to add about 1/2-1 cup of fruit juice, but lots of people add dried fruit. Some people skip the second ferment and just add a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract to the water kefir. If you do choose the second ferment, close the lid and let the kefir ferment another 24 hours. You may want to “burp” the jar once or twice during the ferment by opening the lid and closing it again to let some of the gas escape. Warning: The longer you let the kefir ferment, the more of a sour taste it will have and the more carbonated it will be.
Step 7: Pour over a glass of ice and enjoy a delightfully fizzy and tasty glass of homemade healthy soda. Drink it knowing you are filling your gut with beneficial probiotics.
Do you drink water kefir? How do you flavor it?
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