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making kefir
Rather than sending a separate long e-mail each time I send out kefir grains to various folks who have requested them from me, I have put up this page.
I discovered kefir in Belarus (former Soviet Union), where it's an almost-staple drink, but the kefir I make at home is far better than any kefir I've tasted there, including homemade! So now I'm spoiled, alas.
Topics covered on this page:
Benefits of Homemade "Real" Kefir
My Grains
Basic Kefir-Making Instructions
More Detailed Instructions / Tips
Eating Suggestions
To Find out More
Benefits of Homemade "Real" Kefir
First off, "real" kefir (made from living, self-reproducing grains, not from powder starter) made at home is vastly superior to kefir you can buy in a store. It tastes better and, since the probiotic elements in the kefir are still active, is more beneficial healthwise.
There are seven active and helpful little bacteria in kefir (as opposed to three in yoghurt), and there are websites and discussion lists (see below) where you can find out all you'd want to know (and possibly a good bit more than you really care to know) about how great that is. Kefir provides a way for lactose-intolerant folks to get dairy in their diet, since the kefir grains actually pre-digest the lactose in milk while they make your milk into kefir. Folks with Crohns' have found it helpful for controlling their symtpoms, people have smeared it on sunburn and claimed it helped (no joke), &c.
Personally I have found that my nails are stronger, skin clearer, and digestion healthier since I started enjoying kefir on a daily basis. Keep in mind that often those things seem to get worse before they get better, as the kefir actually starts to clear your body of toxins before it can start maintaining your cleaner and healthier system. So everyone stresses that you should stick with it for a few weeks before tossing your kefir-making apparatus out the window in frustration just because you had a little extra gas after trying kefir for the first time. However, as in everything, it's best to start out having just a wee bit and increase your daily "dose" over a week or so. Having four cups at once the first time you try kefir can create some highly unpleasant gastrointenstinal pyrotechnics.
Most importantly to me, kefir is very yummy and makes the best fruit smoothie on the face of the planet.
My Grains
For those who have requested grains from me, I can boast that there are indeed various strains of kefir grains, and the ones I send out are quite fabulous. They are hardy, multiply quickly, and once they recover from being transported or refrigerated (which yours will have been) they make a smooth, not-bitter, rich kefir. I bought my original grains from GEM Cultures in California, as recommended by Dominic Anfiteatro of Dom's Kefir In-site -- the internet authority.
I don't sell my grains; I give them away for the cost of postage. Kefir grains want to be free! Grains only multiply so fast, so I have a limited supply, but if you have not already requested grains from me and you're in the Philadelphia, PA area, e-mail me to request some. If you're in a different area, check out the Clarkson Database or the Rejoice in Life Database.
Basic Kefir-Making Instructions
The rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon of grains per 1 cup of milk per 24 hours. I normally send out about 2 tablespoons. So the basic instructions run thusly:
Put the grains and 2 cups of milk in a glass jar and leave them there for about 24 hours at room temperature, maybe gently shaking once or twice (I find shaking rarely even necessary with my hungry and aggressive little grains). After about 24 hours you'll see a layer of clearish yellowish whey at the bottom of your jar, and pure white thick curds at the top. That's when you stir it all up, strain out the grains, and there you go... it's kefir.
More Detailed Instructions / Tips
1. Don't use metal utensils or metal anything, because metal reacts with the kefir and you get unhealthful elements in your kefir. Stainless steel is the most inert metal, but it still does react.
2. Glass jars and storage bottles are preferable to plastic, since the kefir actually eats away at plastic and then -- guess what -- you eat the plastic. Yum. Limited contact is fine (I use a plastic fork to mix up my kefir and a plastic strainer) but prolonged contact is not good.
3. Keep your kefir covered while it is "kefiring" to keep bugs and dirt out. Best to use something that will let a little air in. Linen or seersucker or a tightly woven cheesecloth works well.
4. Straining out the grains from finished kefir is, simply, a pain in the butt. You'll easily be able to tell the difference between a curd (pure white and disintegrates when smushed) and a kefir grain (almost translucent, and rubbery and solid when smushed). But the curds gloop up and make straining a challenge. My favorite method is to use wide-mouthed mason jars with plastic seed-sprouting lids as strainers. I got my lids from the SproutPeople, but one can probably find them cheaper with some effort. I just screw the 1/4"-holed (largest-sized holes) lid right on my jar, and then turn the whole thing upside-down into the blender.
5. Many people drink lumpy kefir (curds and whey loosely mixed) straight after straining, but come on, that's gross. Strain it directly into a blender and blend on high for a few seconds, and you'll get a smooth, creamy, even slightly frothy kefir... with no lumps. The curds and whey will separate again if you let the kefir sit after blending.
6. Some folks like to "ripen" their kefir in the fridge for a few days after straining. This gives it a more sour taste and actually adds a tiny bit of alcohol to the mix as the yeast in the kefir eats the wee bit of sugar that's in there. I prefer it fresher, but that's a matter of taste.
7. Whole milk will yield thicker, sweeter (more sweet curds and less tangy whey) kefir than skim or 2%.
8. Don't be alarmed if your grains change shape and do weird things. That's part of their growing process.
9. You can short-term store kefir grains by just putting them in a jar with a lot of milk and leaving it all in the fridge. I did for as long as a month once, after which I just changed the milk and let it sit for another two weeks with no ill effects. For longer-term storage, see below.
Eating Suggestions
Kefir is great on muslix. But the kefir fruit smoothie is my favorite kefir use, a most sublime work of gastronomical joy on-the-go. If you use non-tart fruits and berries (ie., not blueberries, but bananas, canteloupe, peaches, strawberries and the like) and blend them up with whole-milk kefir and maybe some coconut milk &c... it is a remarkably luscious and healthy concoction.
A warning about the fruit smoothie: Don't try to make it too far ahead. If you let a kefir fruit smoothie sit for more than, say, 12 hours, you will find that you've made kefir fruit smoothie cider. The yeast in the kefir just goes to town on the great concentrations of sugar in the fruit, and the byproduct is alcohol... so you wind up with a fizzy, beery smoothie that is just plain weird. Sometimes it's harder to notice if there was less yeast in a particular batch of kefir, but sometimes... be prepared for some of the most bizarre burps of your life.
Some other uses: You can kefir heavy cream and make a kind of sour cream. You can strain the whey and make something akin to cottage cheese. You can kefir coconut milk or soy milk for interesting tastes and benefits, but keep in mind that your grains won't multiply and will slowly die if they're not in a dairy medium.
To Find out More
You can find out almost anything else you could possibly want to know about kefir at Dom's Kefir In-Site, including the health benefits of kefir, how to store kefir for months at a time, how to make cheeses out of it if you're ambitious, &c. I've put this page here since I can't say Dom's is the most concise or well-organized site, but his is definitely the most comprehensive; the guy is a kefir guru. He's a regular poster on the kefir-making and real kefir-making discussion lists, which are other good sources of wisdom (and, since they're discussion lists, good sources of foolishness too).
Happy Kefiring!
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