non pill probiotics; kefir at home

Marynb said:

LaCh
I know how good kefir is for us, but it is just one of those foods that turns my stomach. I have tried several times. Thanks for posting this though! I do think in order to stay healthy the focus has to be eating clean foods and, for the most part, that means making foods at home to avoid chemicals.

Just can't do it!  I just recently got where I could stomach Greek yogurt. 

LaCh said:

NY in Tx

Once the grains (they're more like pea-sized, soft blobs) are stablized (which took about 10 days and entails simply feeding them milk without stopping; cows, goats, sheep, any milk) there's nothing to do except...keep doing it.  I'll tell you what I do and after about about 5 weeks now, the grains are plump, happy, healthy and producing delicious kefir that's clearly fermented and full of probiotics because it's 1) tart 2) fizzy, and 3) thick.  I add a cup of goat milk to the grains, which are in a glass mason jar (always use glass). I let it ferment for 12 hours, which simply means covering it with a handkercheif and a rubberband and letting it sit. I do it for 12 hours because I suffer from constipation and the probiotics that grow in 12 hours help with that. If you tend towards diarrhea, you let it ferment for 24-36 hours because the kefir that's produced in that period of time helps with THAT. To add strawberries or blueberries, you just add them. Put them in, that's all.  The kefir is thick but not thick enough to spoon, so I drink it. If you like tart things, you'll find it to be delicious. If not, add something sweet, like the berries or stevia. You can blend the berries if you want and it'd be a smoothie.  I love the tart taste so I add nothing. The advantage to homemade kefir over store-bought is that the probiotics are many more times what you find in a pill or capsule and of a greater variety; you're drinking live, living fermented bacteria and in greater quantities that you can buy in pill form. The variables in preparation are the ambient room temperature and the amount of milk that you use so I expect that my 12 hour ferment may be a bit shorter during the summer. I ferment a cup in the morning to drink before I go to sleep and refill the jar for the morning cup.  In the morning, I drink the batch I prepared the night before and refill the jar. It took a while for the grains to wake up and stablize but now that they have, I'm thinking of dividing them into two different jars because they've multiplied so much.  This is as easy or as difficult as pouring milk into a jar.  That's what you do; that's ALL that you do. Then, when you're ready to drink it, you strain it so that the liquid goes into the mug and the grains are held back, then you put them back into the jar and add the milk.  It doesn't get easier than that.   If you want to try it you can google places that sell milk kefir grains (there are water kefir grains too so make sure you google what you want). If you want the link to the place where I bought mine, ask, and I'll post it.  My opinon--just my opinion--is that when you buy kefir, even health food kefir, you have no idea what kind of probiotics have gone in, HOW they've gone in (was it fermented or simply added as a powder) and how many survived to the point that you ingest it?  With the kefir you prepare, you know what's gone in because you're the one that put it there and you know that it survived because it's fermented when you drink it.   

I have printed your instructions and hung on refrigerator....so you make it fresh daily?? I am sooo lazy but it sure beats Lifeway or $5.00/qt organic goat kefir at Whole Foods, or $40/month probiotic supplements....thanks. I love tart, I love goat milk, goat cheese, any cheese for that matter, and havetook bottles of kefor with me on century bike rides ehen I was still doing these 2 years ago....now to get serious about managing my own health with my own kefir. THank you again. No wonder the Caucasian mountain folk live >140 yrs, but that is not one of my remaining goals....another day is good enough. 

mp327 said:

kefir

Just can't do it!  I just recently got where I could stomach Greek yogurt. 

Try Oikos greek yogurt. It's creamy - like eating pudding. The banana cream is yummy. There's also key lime and orange cream. However, it shows on the label that it contains active cultures but doesn't say what kind. Activia greek yogurt is pretty good and the active cultures are listed on the label.

Ann

LaCh said:

NYinTX

Try it; there's nothing to lose. 

I'm on it