Guest guest Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Actually, agave is the boiled sap from the *agave* plant, not the prickly pear plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave I do not know what it would do to water grains, but there is quite a bit of furor over the health of the product (or lack thereof) right now. We have ditched it as a sweetener due to the questions raised, although we used to use it regularly in our regular kefir. You might try separating out some grains to see what the agave does as a source of sugar (food) for them - I wouldn't try it on my whole batch of grains unless I had some extras lying around. GL Grace, Sue Wife to Mark Mama to n (8) Our God is a God who uses broken things: broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. " -Vance Havner~ Gen224 <http://www.twitter.com/gen224> Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/gen224> *A Mother's Heart* <http://www.mamasheartblog.com/>: first ( & second) takes on marriage, motherhood, & life latest post: pondering black & white thinking … again<http://www.mamasheartblog.com/?p=1499> On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Lee Barney <EvBarney@...>wrote: > > > > > I read on someone's WK site: *It is thought to have originated in > Mexico, originally fermented with the juice of the Prickly Pear > Cactus.* So - would that mean that Agave nectar would be good for the > grains? I know the current thinking is that agave isn't all that good > for us, but then, neither is sugar. > > I just happen to have some Agave, and figured if it was good for the > grains, I'd let 'em have it. > > Anyone have any experience with or ideas about this? > > Ev > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2010 Report Share Posted October 10, 2010 Thanks for the clarification, Grace. On 10/10/2010 6:43 PM, Sue Talbert wrote: > Actually, agave is the boiled sap from the *agave* plant, not the prickly > pear plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave > > I do not know what it would do to water grains, but there is quite a bit of > furor over the health of the product (or lack thereof) right now. We have > ditched it as a sweetener due to the questions raised, although we used to > use it regularly in our regular kefir. > > You might try separating out some grains to see what the agave does as a > source of sugar (food) for them - I wouldn't try it on my whole batch of > grains unless I had some extras lying around. > > GL > > Grace, > Sue > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 11, 2010 Report Share Posted October 11, 2010 I use a mix of agave and sugar and my grains are bigger and strong! 1 tbs agave 2 tbs organic sugar Have a nice day Azi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 The big issue with Agave is that it is a fructose, now that all sounds natural, but that is not the issue. How the body metabolizes the fructose is the issue, the work load falls almost completely to the liver putting undue stress on it. Using a natural cane sugar is much better. Cane sugar when consumed becomes glucose which can be used directly by most any cell of the body, thus the metabolizing load is spread across the body. To read more about fructose and the issues with overuse here is a good article. http://www.cookinggodsway.com/fructose-is-it-killing-your-liver/ For more info on Agave and its issues. http://www.cookinggodsway.com/agave-nectar-natural-or-not/ Hope this helps. Jeff On 10/10/10 5:43 PM, " Sue Talbert " <sbtalbert@...> wrote: > Actually, agave is the boiled sap from the *agave* plant, not the prickly > pear plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave > > I do not know what it would do to water grains, but there is quite a bit of > furor over the health of the product (or lack thereof) right now. We have > ditched it as a sweetener due to the questions raised, although we used to > use it regularly in our regular kefir. > > You might try separating out some grains to see what the agave does as a > source of sugar (food) for them - I wouldn't try it on my whole batch of > grains unless I had some extras lying around. > > GL > > Grace, > Sue > > > Wife to Mark > Mama to n (8) > > Our God is a God who uses broken things: broken soil to produce a crop, > broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give > strength. " -Vance Havner~ > > Gen224 <http://www.twitter.com/gen224> Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/gen224> > *A Mother's Heart* <http://www.mamasheartblog.com/>: first ( & second) takes > on marriage, motherhood, & life > latest post: pondering black & white thinking … > again<http://www.mamasheartblog.com/?p=1499> > > > On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Lee Barney > <EvBarney@...>wrote: > >> >> >> >> >> I read on someone's WK site: *It is thought to have originated in >> Mexico, originally fermented with the juice of the Prickly Pear >> Cactus.* So - would that mean that Agave nectar would be good for the >> grains? I know the current thinking is that agave isn't all that good >> for us, but then, neither is sugar. >> >> I just happen to have some Agave, and figured if it was good for the >> grains, I'd let 'em have it. >> >> Anyone have any experience with or ideas about this? >> >> Ev >> > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 >>>>> How the body metabolizes the fructose is the issue, the work load falls almost completely to the liver putting undue stress on it. Using a natural cane sugar is much better. Cane sugar when consumed becomes glucose which can be used directly by most any cell of the body, thus the metabolizing load is spread across the body.<<<<< Cane sugar is sucrose, which contains exactly half glucose and half fructose. You are right about glucose being usable by almost all cells in the body, while fructose burdens the liver. When the kefir critters digest cane sugar/sucrose, they consume the glucose and only some of the fructose, leaving most of the fructose as a residue in the water kefir. Seshat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 >When the kefir critters digest cane sugar/sucrose, they consume the glucose and only some of the fructose, leaving most of the fructose as a residue in the water kefir.< Ooooh. That settles it for me - no feeding my WK grains anything with agave. yowza. We avoid fructose w/o the added benefit of fibre & pulp, and there is no fibre OR pulp in my WK. :\ Thanks for the information, Seshat. Grace, Sue Wife to Mark Mama to n (8) Our God is a God who uses broken things: broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. " -Vance Havner~ Gen224 <http://www.twitter.com/gen224> Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/gen224> *A Mother's Heart* <http://www.mamasheartblog.com/>: first ( & second) takes on marriage, motherhood, & life latest post: pondering black & white thinking … again<http://www.mamasheartblog.com/?p=1499> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Hi. I'm new to the group and just going through old posts. Thanks for this one, it was put in such a simple way that I finally get this issue with Agave. The first article I read was from Mercola a few months ago. Tks. NB > > > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> I read on someone's WK site: *It is thought to have originated in > >> Mexico, originally fermented with the juice of the Prickly Pear > >> Cactus.* So - would that mean that Agave nectar would be good for the > >> grains? I know the current thinking is that agave isn't all that good > >> for us, but then, neither is sugar. > >> > >> I just happen to have some Agave, and figured if it was good for the > >> grains, I'd let 'em have it. > >> > >> Anyone have any experience with or ideas about this? > >> > >> Ev > >> > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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