Tibicos

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Tibicos

Tibicos, also known as tibi, water kefir grains, sugar kefir grains, Japanese water crystals and California Bees, are a culture of bacteria and yeast held in a polysaccharide matrix created by the bacteria. As with kefir grains, the microbes present in tibicos act in symbiosis to maintain a stable culture. Tibicos can do this in many different sugary liquids, feeding off the sugar to produce lactic acid, alcohol (ethanol), and carbon dioxide gas which carbonate the drink (i.e. makes it bubbly).

Tibicos are found around the world, with no two cultures being exactly the same. Typical tibicos have a mix of Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Pediococcus and Leuconostoc bacteria with yeasts from Saccharomyces, Candida, Kloeckera and possibly others. Lactobacillus brevis has been identified as the species responsible for the production of the polysaccharide (dextran) that forms the grains.

1 Preparation
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Preparation

Tibicos colony under microscope (200×)

Basic preparation method is to add tibicos to a sugary liquid and allow to ferment 24 to 48 hours. A typical recipe might be:

1/4 to 1/2 cup of tibicos
1 dried fig, halved
1/2 lemon
60 grams or 4 tablespoons of sugar
1 litre (4 cups) of water
2 litre jar with lid

Method: dissolve the sugar in the water, and add the juice of the lemon and any fruit and spices. After mixing, drop in the tibicos and cover the jar. If the lid is on tightly, you get a carbonated drink; if loose, a still drink. Set the jar aside to ferment at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours. When finished, strain out the tibicos to add to the next batch.

It is important to use ingredients that will not inhibit the fermentation. This means:

if using tap water, filter or boil to remove chlorine (note that boiling does not remove chloramine)
fresh fruit should be washed to remove pesticide residues, and ideally be organic fruit
dried fruit should be preservative free

Additional precaution has to be made in order to keep culture healthy - all the handling needs to be done without usage of metal, since it can cause considerable damage to the grains.

[edit] References

Pidoux (1988). The microbial flora of sugary kefir grain (the gingerbeer plant): biosynthesis of the grain from Lactobacillus hilgardii producing a polysaccharide gel. Abstract
Moinas, Horisberger, Bauer (1980). The structural organization of the Tibi grain as revealed by light, scanning and transmission microscopy. Abstract
Daker WD, Stacey M (1938). Investigation of a polysaccharide produced from sucrose by Betabacterium vermiformé (Ward-Meyer). Article