Makin' kefir

I've been wanting to do this post for a while and don't want the blog to be all weighty all the time, I DO have other interests and this is mostly a blog about food, weight loss is just a fun part of eating tasty things! (0.5kg down for the week) Moooooving along.

Kefir! This is some interesting stuff, I first heard about it as a teenager - of course nothing sinks in then - my mom made kefir at home but none of us ever drank it, she said she liked to experiment on herself first and foremost lol


Well, it all starts with a jar of fresh milk we get from a local organic pasture farm, they have set up a tap to the refrigerated raw milk tank so you plop in a 1 euro coin and get a fresh jar of raw milk anytime of day or night, tada! Awesome. We also get meat and eggs from them, they're good people doing good work.



The milk is the easy part really, you can use any milk you want. Getting the kefir grain may be a bit trickier. I paid 6 euros, that's including the delivery. for approx 50g which was .... mmm maybe 2 tablespoons? Mine have grown quite well in the past couple months, I have a strainer full now.

They are squishy and interesting and smell like beer (yeasty and a bit alcoholic) They grow in all shapes and I have a few almost as big as walnuts and a weird one that looks like a question mark, his name is Frank.



Milk + Kefir SCOBY + room temperature dark space (pantry) + 24-48hrs = Kefir ready to strain!




Straining the kefir, careful not to sploosh everywhere.



I tried to catch a photo of the stringy web-like substance that comes with these little guys but it was a bit difficult



The stringy web-like coating is supposedly called 'keiferan' and it's the good stuff according to the kefir guru's website.

As a side note a lot of people say to rinse the grains before reusing, I really don't see the point in doing so... I've never rinsed them except after accidentally dropping one on the floor or in some coffee. Don't rinse them, there's no need.



Kefir all strained and ready to wait in the fridge till breakfast. I like making smoothies with it, or stirring a few drops of vanilla in or cinnamon (neither mixes very well, it has to be done in stages) or a spoonful of jam is always nice. Plain is a bit of an acquired taste, I don't really CRAVE it plain but it's not entirely unpleasant. It's like beer'y, tongue-tingling, extra sour drinkable yoghurt. In a nutshell.




Oh look, it's a parrot riding a bicycle!