Kefir — history, information and a kefir recipe

Centuries old cultured milk beverage from Russia

Kefir, traditionally pronounced ke-feer', but spoken as kee'-fer in the West, is a many-centuries-old cultured milk beverage from Northern Russia. Kefir is a fermented milk drink prepared with kefir grains (see the spoon in the picture).

Flavored kefir drinks, mostly, have found their way to market in the USA because North American consumers have not scored unflavored kefir high in sensory evaluations — it has a tart, somewhat "yeasty" taste with a mouthfeel described as "prickly" or "sparkling" due to the liberation of the carbon dioxide gas (CO2) as the culturing progresses. The addition of fruit or other sources of sugars, however, may cause unwanted fermentation by yeasts used in commercial packaging for shelf-life — but adding taste enhancers to your own home-brew makes for delicious and nutritious smoothies, snacks, and desserts that scientific research is confirming are supremely health-giving.

An assortment of some 40 compounds contribute to the unique tang and slight effervescence of this simple-to-make beverage: a fermentation process old as time itself denatures the milk protein, resulting in smaller protein pieces that are more susceptible to break-down by the stomach's gastric juices. In simple terms — it's so easy to digest that even those with milk allergies often find they can take advantage of all kefir has to offer.

The list of serious conditions that recent research has indicated can be helped by drinking kefir is impressive. The Canadian publication The Handbook of Fermented Foods edited by Edward A. Farnsworth provides a comprehensive digest, meticulously footnoted, on the effect fermented foods have on human health — the latest facts from Japanese and European scientific in vivo (in human bodies) studies over the last decade.

• Provides digestibility of milk-based products
• Produces it own antibiotics, eliminates unfriendly bacteria
• Rebalances the intestinal flora and stomach acid to heal ulcers
• Regulates metabolism through improved digestion to benefit the colon.
• Leads to good heart action, blood circulation and blood pressure.
• Reduces serum cholesterol levels only IF they are too high for safety.
• Regulates bile and improves the liver/gall bladder to help fight hepatitis
• Acts on the immune system and so improves resistance to disease
• Produces anti-cancer compounds and prevents metastasis (spread)
• Allows eczema, acne and skin disorders to fade away
• Reduces anxiety and depression; increases energy and joy in living.
• Produces every vitamin and bacteria needed for healthy daily living.

Authentic Kefir

Authentic kefir can only be prepared by the culturing with kefir "grains" of fresh milk from any of several species of ruminant mammals (cows, goats, sheep, horses, and water buffalo being the most commonly used). The healthy bio-matrix (or, active molecules) in kefir is created through the symbiotic relationship between a complex mixture of specific lactic acid bacteria (lactobacillus) and beneficial yeasts as they literally eat the lactose sugars in milk for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It is said that kefir has been such a well-kept secret for centuries because, according to legend, Mohammad, whose gift it was, strictly forbade the secret of kefir preparation to be given outside the faith. In the beginning, it was made in skin bags hanging near the door. Milk was poured in periodically, and everyone gave the bag a swing for good fortune as they entered; this ensured thorough mixing. Kumys, kefir made from mares' milk, was consumed as food and as an alcoholic drink (2-3%) some 25 centuries ago and was mentioned by Marco Polo in Asia as being a pleasant milk drink.

How to make kefir

Because it cultures (ferments) at warm room temperature — unlike yogurt — traditional kefir is one of the easiest of cultured milk products to make at home IF you can find some of the soft, white gelatinous "grains" to begin. Folks like to share them; it's easy because they GROW when they are happy. A supply of fresh, preferably unprocessed, milk keeps kefir grains fruitful and multiplying, and it is good to remove some from the batch periodically to maintain a constant culture-to-medium (grains-to-milk) ratio. About 1 teaspoon (9 grams) is all you need to make a quart (1 liter) of this drink. It tastes like buttermilk but has been made way more nutritious by protein hydrolysis (culturing).

Through the magic action of the lactobacillus making it ever more tasty, kefir keeps without refrigeration and is a premium road food and beverage all in one package. I like it with a generous sprinkle of Himalayan Pink Crystal salt and a drop of Black Pepper Oil.

Lynn's Kefir Method

One quart is enough for two adults every day. It will take about a day and a half to make each batch. I stagger two batches going at once; it takes very little time or expertise.

To learn more about kefir, see this Australian website. One of my own kefir strains comes to me from down under. http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage

Contributing Author Lynn Cameron owns the AromaVital.com website and has conducted her own research into the complementary health field since the early seventies.

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13 Comments for "Kefir — history, information and a kefir recipe"

1. Bryan - oz4caster
   Comment posted on 03/28/08 @ 9:12 pm

   I drink kefir every day. I prefer to let is separate for a more tart flavor. I like it plain, with nothing else added, although I usually run it gently in the blender for a nice smooth texture. I have found that when on rare occasions I get indigestion, drinking a little bit of kefir immediately sooths my stomach and stops the indigestion.

2. elwi
   Comment posted on 06/22/09 @ 9:09 pm

   I drink kefir daily every morning for few months now. First I tried to make it from milk powder and it tasted so awful, then I used pasteurizes fresh milk, and it taste fine. I had some acne on my face before, I dunno if this is because of kefir, they just cleared up, leaving my skin smooth and soft.

3. Diane Vigil
   Comment posted on 06/29/09 @ 11:58 am

   Bryan, sorry I missed your comment. I'd never thought of blending it — what a great idea!

   Elwi, glad the kefir seems to have helped.

4. Anita
   Comment posted on 10/10/09 @ 5:57 am

   Don't blend your kefir. You lose some nutrients by this processing. Plus, it's not necessary; it tastes smooth & thick just as it is.

5. Lynn Cameron
   Comment posted on 10/10/09 @ 8:11 am

   I've been feeding to my family for 3 years kefir made from farm-fresh milk cultured with kefir grains I have from Australia. The little beasties must be ecstatically happy because they have proliferated very well! I don't have any idea how old their parent stock is, but have heard that true kefir culture has never been able to be processed/powdered to full potency for mass production. I make a quart of it every other day for 2 of us.

   After about a day and a night of culturing in a wide-mouth glass qt. jar placed in a dark, warm place, the liquid is just starting to become softly solid. It is mild flavored and very creamy at this point. If I leave it another 12 hrs. or so, it separates into curds and whey and becomes more tart and, ironically, less creamy. If I leave it for another 12 hrs. (all times are approximate and depend on several factors of temperature and milk quality) I get true curds and can place the jar contents in cheesecloth to make kefir cheese. I save the whey for culturing all kinds of things and for adding to my pets' food; the kefir cheese can be used as store-bought cream cheese would be used to much greater health advantage. It keeps for a long time in the fridge.

   My uses revolve mainly around morning smoothies mixed half and half with raw milk, a glass of it for afternoon snack and sometimes a wine-glass of it with supper.

   While it is true that whirring in a blender incorporates air and light that would somewhat diminish the food value, it seems a small price to pay for utilizing it for sustenance in a fortified morning beverage/meal. More importantly, before separating the grains from the beverage, is to place the jar into the fridge directly from the culturing cupboard for a cool-down period of a few hours; this allows the yeast cultures which make kefir distinctly different from yogurt to be neutralized. You may notice it will taste less yeasty and smoother. Then I whisk it right in the jar (the grains love this) and strain it into another one for storage. The grains go into a clean jar with milk and back into the culturing cupboard.

   I know this may sound complicated and time-consuming, but once the daily routine is established, it becomes simple and takes just a few moments of time for enormous health returns.

   Keep on kefiring,
   Lynn

6. Dy
   Comment posted on 11/14/09 @ 1:36 pm

   Lynn,

   What a wonderful resource you've put together, here. Thank you, for taking the time to share your knowledge.

   We've just begun our kefir adventure. The children love the water kefir, so that's been a good experience. Now, I am turning to the milk cultures, and that's proving a bit more involved. (Why does the learning curve seem to much steeper, the older I get?) ;-) The information you've provided, here, helped tremendously.

   There are seven of us, and I'm not clear on just how much kefir I should be aiming for – not just for production, but overall daily incorporation into our diet. If you have any thoughts to share on that topic, they'd be much appreciated by this member of the Peanut Gallery.

   OK, I'm off to peruse the rest of your site for information! Thanks, again, so much.
   Dy

7. Diane Vigil
   Comment posted on 11/14/09 @ 7:14 pm

   Glad you found Lynn's Kefir recipe helpful, Dy. I seem to recall Lynn mentioning drinking it a few times a day, but perhaps she can weigh in here.

8. Lynn Cameron
   Comment posted on 11/26/09 @ 7:47 pm

   Dy and Diane,

   Sorry to be so tardy in replying but I've been out of the US of A into the countryside of the REAL kefir drinkers. Yes, Greek yogurt, the real homemade stuff, is better and more satisfying than ice cream, creme fraiche, sour cream and whipped cream all rolled into one. It keeps amazingly well with very minimum refrigeration, too.

   I've just made my first batch of kefir since getting home a day ago. I made it from kefir grains I'd kept in fresh milk in the fridge and summer milk I had put by in the freezer and labeled "milk for kefir" because I'd skimmed off the top milk before freezing. It's perfectly passable & I'm thrilled to have it, but I'm looking forward to my next fresh milk club delivery Dec. 3rd so I can make both yogurt and kefir from whole milk again.

   For 3 adults, I place 2 wide-mouth qt. jars filled with milk to shoulders and grains into a cooler in a warm place for 24-36 hrs. Every time I decant them, I replace them with fresh milk. This keeps us in all the kefir we wish to drink – a couple times daily. Often we'll have a wine glass of it with our evening meal sprinkled with a little pink salt. Some like it first thing in the morning; some just before bed (probiotic beasties do their best work during the night); some when just in hot from the field when salt is particularly tasty.

   Kefir is the easiest to make. When you branch out into yogurt, it can be a little trickier. I recommend finding a yogurt maker and buying some powdered culture to start. The longer you keep your yogurt milk at scald temp, the more firm will be your finished yogurt.

   Good luck, Dy – and remember that over-kefired kefir that has defined kurds makes the most delicious cream cheese ever with the whey left over to culture veggies and make sourdough breads.
   Discard nothing of this white gold – if humans choose not to consume it, feed it to your animals or put into the garden compost.

   Best,
   Lynn

9. Ashley
   Comment posted on 11/30/09 @ 6:29 pm

   I was first introduced to kefir by my aunt, Lynn Cameron, and over the past year I have come to love it. In addition to the many health benefits I find myself craving it at certain times through out the day. I have recently been hired as a crew member on a very large private yacht and really miss having my raw milk kefir. I can\'t help but think of the potential to turn the custom kitchen on this boat into a culture friendly yacht galley. How easy it would be for a like minded owner to create a temperature regulated \"incubator\" for kefir and other cultured products. It could be built right into the galley like the expresso machine and probably be just as easy. I hope someday people will be educated enough about the benefits of cultured food that it will be as common place as your morning cup of coffee.

10. Diane Vigil
    Comment posted on 11/30/09 @ 11:01 pm

    Ah, the famous niece! Welcome to We Want Organic Food.

    Thanks for giving your input regarding kefir. I find myself craving certain things (raw milk, for instance) and can understand how kefir might be one of those things.

    Good luck on your stint on the yacht. That sounds heavenly … and I hope you're able to set up the kitchen as you wish.

11. nick
    Comment posted on 03/29/10 @ 8:08 am

    I have keifer stored in a mason jar in refrigerator for about 6 months have not have separated grains is it still good to use HELP

12. Diane Vigil
    Comment posted on 03/29/10 @ 8:17 am

    Hi, Nick. You didn't mention whether you'd looked at it. Does it still look okay?

13. Lynn Cameron
    Comment posted on 03/29/10 @ 3:40 pm

    Hi Nick,

    Whether your kefir is still good depends upon a couple factors.
    1. The quality of the milk it has been stored in. Clean, organic milk (http://wewantorganicfood.com/2008/01/26/key-to-safe-raw-milk-from-cows/) from grass-fed cows that has not been pasteurized (http://wewantorganicfood.com/2008/01/26/pasteurizing-milk-destroys-essential-nutrients/ ) would have given the culture its best chance.
    2. The grains, after half a year, may have run out of food – lactose (milk sugar).
    3. Its color should be completely white with no other odor but the clean, tart aroma of buttermilk or yogurt. There may be a faint yeast bread smell but the long refrigeration should have deactivated the yeast. Pink or green is NOT good and happens with truly spoiled dairy that has been heated to high temperatures.
    4. Because it has cultured so long, the taste will probably be extremely tart; good for cooking or pet supplement. Lately, I’ve been making kefir cream cheese by letting it culture a long time to get the curds really separate from the liquid whey before dripping it through cheesecloth. If I do not want to drink the kefir or make cheese, I find other ways to use it. As a last resort, the compost pile. Never waste it down the drain unless it was a pasteurized dairy product – in my opinion already spoiled by processing.

    Try to make more; remove or strain the kefir grains from the B-vitamin rich whey liquid and place them in a glass container with sweet farm-fresh milk – about 2 Tbls. per qt. Give them 2-4 days in a dark, cozy place and transfer to the refrigerator for a day or overnight as soon as you have tipped the jar and seen a soft jello-like consistency. If no soft curds form, the wee beasties have expired, and you’ll need to obtain fresh kefir grains with vitality.

    Good luck! I hope this helps.
    Lynn

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