Kefir: Supercharge your gut health

If yogurt is your “go to” for daily probiotics, maybe it’s time you give yogurt’s big brother a try.

Enter “Kefir.”

kef•ir kĕ-fîr′  *

• n.
  A creamy drink made of fermented cow’s milk.

  * from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

 

Yes, I love yogurt too, but I’ve discovered several reasons to include kefir in my daily diet.  Here are just a few:

1. Kefir tends to have a higher probiotic count and more diversity of bacterial strains and yeasts.
2. Kefir has twice as many bacteria strains and 4 times as many CFU,(Colony Forming Units) compared to yogurt.
3. Kefir is higher in protein and lower in lactose than yogurt and possibly more tolerable for those who are lactose intolerant.
4. Kefir can be made on your kitchen counter easily in just about 12-24 hours.
5. Unlike yogurt, there’s no need to heat milk before making kefir as it cultures at room temperature. It’s possible to continuously make kefir using kefir grains if they are fed and kept alive.
6. Kefir’s taste and consistency are controllable based on the length of fermentation.  The longer the milk is fermenting, the stronger the yogurt taste.  Many kefir lovers drink kefir while it is still sweet, lightly thickened and tasting more like buttermilk.
7. By fermenting with a lid secured tightly, kefir can even be carbonated.

So you want to give it a try?  Here a a few resources to get you started:

1. Obtaining your kefir starter “grains”.
2. Your first batch.
3. 2nd fermentation option.
4. Searching for your grains.
5. Growing your grains.
6. Helpful tools and hacks.
7. Keeping your grains alive.
8. Pausing your kefir production.
9. Kefir recipes
10. Call for help?

 

Obtaining your kefir starter “grains”

Yes, we call them grains, but the little starter “grains” are not grains at all, but rather the culture that is required to ferment milk for kefir.  Think of it like sour dough starter.  You need a little bit to get you started, but every time you make a batch, the grains will grow and multiply allowing you to make more and more kefir or share your grains as you would sour dough starter.

So where do you get your starter grains?  Perhaps you have a friend willing to share his/her grains, but most people aren’t aware that making kefir is super quick and easy so they purchase kefir at the grocery store and store brands have the grains removed.

You can purchase kefir grains (not the powder, and not water kefir grains) online or at a local health food store.  Purchase from a reputable seller who will package them properly and ship them out to you immediately.  You can buy them from our Authentic Health Store and receive our kefir guarantee and support hotline.   While they’re quite resilient, you’ll want to drop them into a cup of milk as soon as you receive them to reactivate the grains.   You may need to discard the first couple of cups of milk (after recovering the grains) while the grains get acclimated to their new home, but once adjusted, you’ll have prolific kefir for years to come.

 

Your first batch

Once you receive your grains, drop them into a cup of milk, cover and place on your counter.  You may notice your milk thickening after about 12 hours and you can give the milk an occasional “swirl” to distribute the culture.  If you haven’t noticed any thickening by 24 hours, discard the milk through a strainer and place the strained grains into another cup of milk and repeat.  Once you have thickened Kefir, strain into a clean mason jar and once again recover the strained grains and place in a new cup, (or pint) of milk and begin the process again.

Now decide what you’d like to do with your first batch of completed kefir.  You can refrigerate for a thick and slightly sweet drink, or you can mark the jar with date and leave out on the counter for a 2nd fermentation.

 

2nd fermentation option

Your completed kefir with the grains removed will continue to ferment at room temperature on the counter.  Continue with this option if you prefer a thicker and more tart flavor.  Just put it into the refrigerator after another 12-24 hours.

 

Searching for your grains

Sometimes your grains can be difficult to find in your fresh kefir.  I have a simple process for recovering my grains using 2 mason jars, 2 lids, a nylon mesh colander and a wooden spoon.  Here’s how I do it:

 

1. Place the colander over the empty mason jar.
2. Gently spoon the kefir through the colander into the empty jar and stir gently to push the kefir through without harming the grains.
3. Generally, the grains are found near the bottom of the kefir, but they can be found anywhere so
4.  continue to sieve slowly until all of the kefir is in the new mason jar and you are left with only the grains in the colander.
5. Place the grains in the emptied kefir mason jar, (no need to rinse) and cover with milk thus beginning your next batch.

Visit our Authentic Health Store for my favorite kefir tools.

Growing your grains

With each new batch, your grains will grow in size and multiply.  This will cause your milk to ferment much faster which may not be desirable.  Your grains live on the lactose in the milk and if you have too many grains for the available milk, they won’t thrive.  You an divide your grains and either share with a friend or store in your freezer in a snack size zip lock bag covered in a small amount of milk.  Then, when you’re ready to revive them, just thaw and use.

 

Helpful tools and hacks

1. 2 mason jar system
2. Coffee pod method:
   1. Visit our Authentic Health Store and purchase a couple of inexpensive reusable k cup filter.
   2. Place 1/2 teaspoon of grain into filter and drop into mason jar.
   3. Cover with 1-2 cups milk.
   4. Swirl vigorously after a couple of hours to distribute culture.
   5. after 12-24 hours, remove filter and place in fresh cup of milk for next batch.
   6. Refrigerate finished kefir or complete a 2nd fermentation.
3. Temperature:  Cooler room temperature results in slower fermentation and a slightly thicker kefir.
4. Over-fermenting will deteriorate your culture.  The culture feeds on the milk lactose, and when the lactose is depleted, the culture will starve.

 

Keeping your grains alive

Your grains are resilient, but must remain covered in fresh milk to thrive.  Replace the milk as soon as you see that it is thickened.  If you prefer a more tart kefir, you can allow the milk to continue to ferment without the grains, but make sure the grains are placed in a fresh jar of milk.

 

Pausing your kefir production

Are you making more kefir than you can consume or give away?  No problem!  Just cover the grains with fresh milk and place in the refrigerator.  They’ll be ready for you when you’re ready for more kefir.

Kefir recipes

Kefir is not just for drinking!  Try it in smoothies, puddings, dips, ice cream and more.  Check out our cookbook for great kefir recipes and more!

 

Call for help?

If you purchased your kefir grains from our Authentic Health Store, you’ll receive a customer hotline number to help you troubleshoot any problems you may experience with your kefir and provide kefir recipe support.  Call us anytime. . . we’re here to help you succeed!