What is the difference between water kefir and ginger beer?
Ginger beer, or ‘Gingerbeer Plant’ is very similar to water kefir, but is a separate culture. Though they look alike from a distance, ginger beer crystals are known to be smoother, tinier and more opaque than water kefir crystals. They also tend to ferment more slowly. They are composed of different bacteria and yeast strains as well, which particularly flourish on ginger juice. Some stories of water kefir tell of it originating in much further back, when monks gave Mother Teresa of Calcutta the grains as a gift. They were later introduced to Europe (the Ionian Islands) and the west by the British Soldiers after the Crimean War in the 1800’s. This story however most likely refers to the Ginger Beer Plant. Some suggest that one might have evolved from the other, but it’s not known for sure. Ginger beer is widely known in many areas and is still made by the locals in the rural village of Corfu as a local specialty. Today in Eastern Africa (especially in Kenya and Tanzania), ginger beer i
