Kefir: Make it, Drink it!

Months ago, like MONTHS ago, we bought kefir grains...

We've always been yogurt eaters but one day, I couldn't find a brand of yogurt that I wanted to eat.  Now I've made yogurt from scratch but for the boy, the texture just wasn't what he wanted.  Because of the lack of yogurt choices, I went and bought kefir instead. Boy, has it changed our lives!!!

It is so much better in terms of good probiotics, which is why we were eating yogurt in the first place (you get older, you need a little more) and the changes in our digestive system was almost immediate.  We started drinking the stuff every day and buying 2 bottles almost every week.  Well, of course it started to get a little expensive, so in my research, I found out you could make it yourself and as long as you keep the grains happy and fed, you can make kefir indefinitely. 

Well, going back to MONTHS ago when I bought our keifr grains from Cultures for Health, I was excited and thought we would have drinkable kefir in a matter of weeks.  Not really.  It's taken me a good 3 months to figure this stuff out. Most of the problem was timing.  In the beginning, the milk kept separating and pretty much making cheese.  At that stage, if you drank the kefir, you could possibly have some bathroom issues, if you know what I mean. Kefir for me and living in a warmer area of the country would only take about 9 hours! Also, straining in the beginning was a pain in the ass! It was mostly about coordination and finding the right methods for straining the tiny grains.  And since you can't use any metal, it was difficult to find a small plastic strainer so I tried putting the grains in a nylon net "tea bag".  Boy that just ended up being messy.  Once the grains began to grow, though, it was much easier and I eventually found a small plastic colander. 

So, here's what worked for me....

Small colander, 1 long handled plastic spoon (I got the spoon when we went and got milkshakes. YES! milkshakes,which is amazing for someone with severe lactose intolerance. More on that later). And a larger plastic bowl. The jar on the right is the kefir and there's no separation!! YAY!

I just dump the kefir into the colander. While the kefir strains, I clean out the jar that had the kefir in it and a second glass jar with a lid.  Pour milk into one of the jars, I'm up to about 3 to 4 cups now. I just scoop out the grains with the plastic spoon and dump it into the jar of milk. 

This is what the kefir grains look like.  Slightly yellow and in clusters usually and kind of rubbery.

Once all of the kefir grains are scooped out and in the new milk, I pour the kefir into the clean second jar, screw on the lid and pop it into the fridge.  The other jar with the fresh milk gets to sit out on the counter covered with a coffee filter held with a rubber band for the next 9 hours. Basically, by this afternoon/evening depending on temperature, I'll have more kefir again.  EASY!! It now takes me all of 20 minutes and no freak'n mess!

Sometimes I'm busy and can't strain the kefir right away, I started putting the jar in the fridge to slow down the fermentation process.  I've actually kept kefir in the fridge for almost a week without the kefir separating. 

Going back to the milkshake!! One of the benefits of kefir is that if you are lactose intolerant, apparently drinking kefir on a daily basis allows the lactose enzymes to develop in your system and you can drink milk/milk products temporarily without issues.  I hadn't had a milkshake in over 20 years when we went and got some ( I got a salty caramel shake).... I had NO PROBLEMS!! It's a miracle! The only thing negative was that I had severe ice cream headaches. :-)