Kefir is a various food and can be used in place of milk to increase the nutritive value of your favorite dishes .
What is white , creamy and delicious ; invigorating to imbibe ; and chock - full of nutrition ? Milk , of course of study . But , what if we start out with all that goodness and add a few other quality , such as refreshfully sharp , effervescent , probiotic , longevity - promoting and immunity - edifice ? Then what do we have ?
Answer — kefir ( enunciate keh - fear ): expect for it often to delight a natural , round-eyed , inexpensive way to augment your culinary proficiency , as well as your health .
An Ancient Enigma
Kefir is perhaps the oldest known fermented Milk River drink . Although its exact origination is a enigma , it is commonly recognized as hailing from the Caucasian Mountains realm of Eurasia , approximately 2,000 year ago . Some theorists consider that a natural fermenting occurred inside the leather traveling bag in which the local goat herder stored milk . This method acting of culture was then repeated purposefully for its preservative effect . Others claim that the ability to make kefir was a divine natural endowment . Regardless of its rightful origin , the value of kefir was recognized , and the mean value of making it became a guarded category secret , passed down through the generation and never leave the Caucasus for hundreds of old age .
It was n’t until the early 1900s that kefir ventured from its homeland . Legend has it that fellow member of a Russian doc ’s beau monde , eager to see kefir ’s purported wellness benefits for themselves , contacted two comrade who owned a cheese - pass water manufacturing plant in the Caucasus Mountains and asked them to discover the means of making kefir . The pal sent a unseasoned woman of their employ to the Caucasian prince to require for the secret . The prince refused but became desperately struck by the woman . When she decline his marriage marriage offer , the prince ordered her held captive . After her deliverance , the woman petition the czar ’s court to take legal military action against the prince . As fixing for her trial by ordeal , the woman demanded the means to make kefir . Finally , the prince handed over his cherished “ grains of foresightful life , ” as kefir was prognosticate then , and the woman brought them to Moscow in 1908 , where they were like a shot put to use as part of the discussion of tuberculosis . It is said that all modern kefir can trace its filiation to the “ grain ” the womanhood acquire from the prince .
The Grains of Long Life
metric grain ? Is n’t kefir a dairy product ? If you are a act confused , you have honorable rationality .
The word “ grain ” is a misnomer ; kefir is not touch to wheat nor any other cereal plant . It ’s merely milk that has been ferment by the presence of a female parent culture , similar to the way tea is acted upon by a self-coloured mass of barm and bacteria which forms a culture get laid as a “ mushroom cloud ” to knuckle under the drink called “ kombucha . ” Because the kefir mother culture is bumpy and coarse-grained in show , it has been termed “ grain . ”
Imagine a cross between cottage cheeseflower and Brassica oleracea botrytis and you are very close to picturing kefir grains . They are small , unintelligible , irregular clumps that feel dodgy and squishy to the touch . They will culture dairy farm Milk River , as well as its soy- or nut - based reserve . ( Another case of grain , cognize as H2O kefir , grows in sweetened water . ) When placed in Milk River , kefir grain will metabolise and turn the milk while growing and multiply . The liquid leave behind when the grains are sieve out is the kefir drinkable . The grains are then reprocess to make successive batches of kefir . If cared for decent , kefir grain can inhabit and continue to ferment indefinitely .
Kefir is a versatile food and can be used in place of milk to increase the nutritive value of your favorite dishes.
For success with kefir , it ’s important to call up that what we call grain are , in fact , several living organisms . Kefir texture are a instinctive , self - prepare residential area of microflora known as a SCOBY , or Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast . The specific being that be kefir grain change from sample to sample , but certain genus of microflora are always represented . Working together , these inconspicuous life forms work up a place out of the protein , lipid and simoleons in their environs , transform it in the process . Although you’re able to not see the individual bacteria and yeast , you’re able to see the dependency .
Perhaps because kefir grains are seeable , hoi polloi tend to treat them with a certain reverence not generally accord other intellectual nourishment culture . possibly the chronicle of near - adoration and a awful litany of wellness benefits create an posture of deference . Or simply , the fact that they require daily care to keep them levelheaded makes kefir grains seem like a hybridization between a deary and an esteemed house guest . as luck would have it , they are very low - upkeep .
Bringing Home the Grains
The first step on the kefir path is to larn grains . While powdered kefir dispatcher are available online and in health - food for thought stores , they do not have the indefinite lifespan of the grain , and many find the drink they grow to be inferior in feel and probiotic population . If you wish to make traditional kefir as it has been pass down from the Caucasus , you will need to find some grains .
Happily , it is no longer necessary to seduce a prince to hold them , because kefir grain are wide useable via the cyberspace . Since the grains reproduce fairly rapidly , masses who make kefir at home oft have more than they need and are often uncoerced to portion out grains for the toll of postage . Many websites sell grains , usually include teaching or ongoing reinforcement to justify the monetary value ( see “ Kefir Resources ” on pageboy 61 ) . Unless the grain you are fuck off are inactive or dry ( this would be particularize when you order them , and they should hail with instructions for resuscitation ) , your grains will arrive in a small amount of culturing medium and be quick to go . just use the survey instructions to begin a lifespan adventure in culture .
Get Started
One of the overnice things about make dairy kefir is how unmanageable it is to mess up it up . Yes , you may make a stack that is too sour for your liking , but that is hardly a calamity . The worst you could do ( speak from experience ) is forget that that shock of dark - smelling milk in the back of the electric refrigerator has grains in it and either toss out them out during a cleanup of leftovers that have become science experimentation or leave them to starve and digest themselves into nothingness .
To make kefir , here ’s what you postulate :
• 2 to 4 tablespoonful milk kefir grains• 1 quart fresh Milk River of any kind• a clean , quart - size jar with credit card lid• spoon• strainer / colander ( fine strainer will not work)• bowl
To start , station your grain in the jar . impart Milk River ( can be cold ) , and evoke softly . Leave a few inches of headspace at the top of the shock as the kefir may effervesce and extend . Cap the jar loosely . Put it away at room temperature , out of unmediated sunlight .
Let it ferment for 24 hours , gently shake two or three times during this period . You should notice the grains float to the top , the Milk River thickening and a pleasantly sour smell gather . If after 24 hr the milk is still slight and smells unfermented , let it culture another eight hour and recheck . preserve this until the Milk River is thick and morose . If you see yellowish liquid pooling in the bottom of the shock , do n’t panic . This is the milk whey separating from the curd ; your kefir is definitely done ferment at this point . lightly stir until the liquid is uniform , and go .
Now that tempestuousness is complete , escape from or stir the kefir , send the strainer over the bowl and pelt the kefir into the strainer . The strainer will catch the grains and the cultured Milk River will pass through . Take the grains and put them back into the jolt . ( Some people lave the jolt first to keep it looking clean . Some , follow the practices of the original goatherds , do not , trust that the kefir Milk River clinging to the interior of the jounce will aid the fermentation of the new batch . Make certain to at least keep the ribbon of the jar clean as this is where contamination by other bacterium is most likely to occur . There is no need to wash the grains . )
Simply contribute more Milk River to the jar containing the grains , and duplicate the fermentation process for the next daytime .
I Made Kefir … Now What ?
You now have a bit less than a dry quart of kefir milk and many options are available to you . Here are a few of the basics :
1 . wassail it as is . Trying at least some from each batch while experimenting with the fermenting cistron will instruct you a great deal about your texture and your predilection preference .
2 . fuse the kefif with fruit succus before you booze it . This is more scrumptious than you might think !
3 . Store the kefir Milk River in the refrigerator for later . The kefir will proceed to sour but very slowly . Your taste bud will tell you when it is no longer a toothsome beverage . For most people this is between two and four week . additional - sour kefir is an fantabulous buttermilk or yoghourt replacer in baked commodity and marinade . If you see a color modification or mold forms on top of the kefir , best to get rid of it .
4 . Ripen the kefir milk . Jar it and exit at elbow room temperature up to 48 hours . Cap tightly only if you want to produce a carbonated potable ( and risk a little runoff or explosion ) . Taste it periodically to see how the flavour and texture modification . Many user find it most pleasurable after ripen and feel this is the traditional way of cook kefir . Kefir is often ripen before being made into cheese .
5 . Make cheeseflower . Kefir Malva sylvestris is smooth and creamy , tart and yummy .
Kefir Cheese
Cheese is one of the most versatile and fun ways of eating kefir . Use it as a spread on sandwiches , dollop onto salads and into soups , tot up herbs and spice to make a dip , sweeten for afters topping , or strain it in your favorite cheesecake formula .
This may be the easiest cheese on the major planet . You simply use somberness to separate the liquid whey from the solid curd . All you ask is a tightly woven cloth , a way to tie it exclude , a place to hang it to drain and a bowl to enchant the milk whey .
Kefir whey is a useful and nutrient food in its own right . pack with amino acids , vitamins and minerals , it is a bracing pick - me - up drinkable . Kefir whey also makes an excellent culinary soak medium as its lactic back breaker content render the nutrient in bean plant and grains more usable . My preferent utensil for make kefir tall mallow is a jelly outdoor stage with a cup of tea . you may feel these in the canning section of kitchen store . The stand is a metal ring that have a go at it onto three branch that have curved ending . The leg balance on the brim of a bowl , hold the mob suspend above . The old bag are presewn to correspond inside the ring and descend with a drawstring top .
ensure the bag is clean and inside out ( seams showing ) . Place it over the pack of the tie-up so you could tighten the string and the base hangs down inside it . ( If your tie-up is not unsullied brand , encompass the rim with formative wrapping before tie on the bag . ) Pour your kefir Milk River into the bag until the bag is about one-half full . permit it sit for eight hour or more . The milk whey will drip into the trough , and the curd will pick up in the dish .
When it ’s done , take the bag off the stall , turn it right - side - out and dump or scrape the cheese into a container . As with everything kefir , you could make modification to suit your orientation . A longer draining time produces a drier cheese .
Use immediately , or store in an airtight container in the icebox for two weeks . Four cup of Milk River kefir yields approximately 1 1/2 cups of kefir cheeseflower .
A Lifelong Relationship
Most people who know kefir ’s health benefits , culinary flexibility and ease of preparation get attached and do n’t care to go without it for long . So if you discover yourself savour the feeling and properties of kefir , make a lasting space of honor for it in your kitchen . A housemate this generous deserves no less .
