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 Fulltime Mama
My name is Elizabeth, and I am the happy wife of ten years to Fabio and fulltime mama to four beautiful children: Joshua-9, Dominique 7, Israel- almost 5, Johann-3 and expecting a new baby in April 2012! We are currently living in Brazil as missionaries and life never ceases to be an adventure!!!
I love motherhood with a passion and am passionate about providing a place here at MamaKnowsBest where mothers can learn, grow, and share ... pooling the wisdom of many into one big jackpot for mothers.
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Kefir is a cultured milk product, originally from Russia. I like to think of it as a sort of drinkable yogurt. It isn’t yogurt, but they do share some of the same properties of friendly bacteria and rich in nutrients. It is also interested that, although many people these days seem to not handle drinking milk well ( generally due to lactose intolerance), they typically don’t have a problem with cultured milk products such as kefir and yogurt.
The following quote explains it better than I could. It is from Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon:
Like the process of sprouting grains, fermentation of milk results in numerous beneficial changes. Fermentation breaks down casein, or milk protein, one of the most difficult proteins to digest. Culturing restores many of the enzymes destroyed during pasteurization including lactase, which helps digest lactose or milk sugar, and numerous enzymes, which help the body absorb calcium and other minerals. Lactase produced during the culturing process allows many people who are sensitive to fresh milk to tolerate fermented milk products. Both vitamin B and vitamin C content of milk increase during fermentation.
Research has shown that regular consumption of cultured dairy products lowers cholesterol and protects against bone loss. In addition, cultured dairy products provide beneficial bacteria and lactic acid to the digestive tract. These friendly creatures and their by-products keep pathogens at bay, guard against infectious illness and aid in the fullest possible digestion of all food we consume. Perhaps that is why so many traditional societies value fermented milk products for their health-promoting properties and insist on giving them to the sick, the aged and nursing mothers. In the absence of high-technology sanitation systems, lacto-fermented dairy foods, as well as lacto-fermented beverages and vegetables, provide essential protection against infectious disease.
Doesn’t that make you want to just go out and make/drink kefir??
The good news is that it is super easy to make! The bad news is, you have to have “kefir grains” to start. I don’t recommend that you buy kefir already made from the health food store, because it is typically loaded with a bunch of sugar and flavorings which cancel out the healthy reason why you would want kefir in the first place!
To get started making kefir a few years back, I just googled “kefir grain sharing” and came up with several groups that share grains, just because they are nice. J I paid a lady $6 to cover her time and postage, and she sent me a small packet of them, which was enough to keep half, and give half to my sister-in-law.
The grains “grow”, or multiply, as you make kefir, so after a while you will have some to share with a friend, too. I would also suggest that, once your grains double, you put some in your freezer as well. That way, if you ruin the ones you’re using or something happens to them, you will have some “spare” ones in the freezer.
Okay, so once you get your grains, the process is super simple. Here is the pictorial tutorial!
This is what the grains look like:
I like to use a wide mouth jar to culture my kefir in. Just put your grains in there and cover with milk. Once the jar is full, cover with cheese cloth or something similar, so they get AIR. This is necessary for the milk to culture properly. Then, just set it aside (at room temperature) for 12-24 hours. I like mine at 12-15 hours because it's not quite so strong that way. If you're brave, you can leave it longer. :-)
 Then, after the allotted time, you simply strain the milk-now-turned-kefir into another jar to remove the grains so you can use them again. Put a lid on your kefir and put it in the fridge. Put your grains back in the jar you made the kefir in without washing the jar. This is because there are baby grains growing on the sides of the jar that you don't want to get rid of. I only wash my jar every month or so. So, you put the grains back and put a lid on this too. Put them in the fridge until you are ready to culture some more kefir. If you don't put a tight-fitting lid on your grains while they are not culturing anything, they will get gross and you will have to throw them away.
And, for good measure, one more close-up picture of kefir grains, just because they are so purty. :-)
Now, what do you do with it?
You drink it, of course. I have to admit that I havent gotten brave enough to drink it "as is", but a lot of people really like it that way.
I also have a friend that drinks it with a little honey and cinnamon in it.
The important thing is that you drink it, however you can get it down! :-) |
...Tedd Tripp speaks on parenting...
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Posted by Fulltime Mama on March 16, 2009
