Once you have a good half a cup of grains, you can now make up a flavoured coconut water kefir.
In a one litre jar, dissolve ¼ cup sugar in a few inches of boiling water, then add cold coconut water – leave some room at the top as you’ll need to add the grains and fruit next. Note – the coconut water naturally contains sugar – if you wanted to use filtered water instead, use ½ cup of added sugar.
After adding the grains, pop in the chopped pineapple and a date, cover with a paper towel and leave to culture 48 hours.
After 48 hours, you’ll notice the mixture is well and truly carbonated, and the sugar content will have been greatly reduced. It may look a little cloudy, and should taste slightly sweet, slightly sour. Decant the kefir into a glass bottle, taking care to use plastic sieves/funnels. Discard the fruit and date, but keep the kefir grains for your next batch. Store in the fridge for a few days and enjoy.
Notes
Don’t stop at pineapple – there are so many gorgeous flavours to experiment with – try berry, ginger, orange… even vanilla bean.