Kefir, Wonder food of lactic proportions, or nothing but a sour taste in your mouth?

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Permalink Reply by Laura too on August 13, 2008 at 13:21

When learning to use surplus milk and starting to make milk products, make cheese etc, I also came across Kefir. It is often touted as a wonder food by its users. See here: http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

When researching it, I found that it is a fungus, and as such limited in its uses as food. Kefir will always be Kefir - there is not much else that can be done with it. Like camembert cheese it should be consumed in moderation.

With lots of goats milk available to try out different things I found that yoghurt and fresh cheese was much versatiler and may I suggest a healthier alternative to Kefir.

Yoghurt especially is known for its probiotic health giving properties. It has valuable lactic acids and its whey can be used to start a very healthy sauerkraut fermentation when surplus cabbage is at hand in autumn or early summer.

So with no regrets I gave the nodules away to a new Kefir fan, and never missed it.

If you want to buy Kefir then try these people here:
http://www.cuisineaccessory.co.nz/cheese_making_equipment.htm
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html#order

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Permalink Reply by Johanna Knox on August 14, 2008 at 22:22

Hi Simon - Try contacting someone from the nearest Weston A Price chapter to you. There's a list of contacts about halfway down this page:
http://www.frot.co.nz/wapf/wellington_nz.htm

Are you after milk kefir or water kefir?

Milk kefir is relatively easy to get hold of in NZ. Water kefir is a bit harder to find. Partly because it is quite labour intensive to keep alive. I am hoping to get some soon though, from a friend who is ordering some from Australia. Keep in touch if you like, if it's water kefir you're after.

I've used milk kefir for a few different things - and it makes quite a nice tasting sour cream too. It contains both lactic acid bacteria and fungus (it's a symbiotic colony). I certainly agree with Laura that it's probably best in moderation though!

I'm also experimenting with using milk kefir grains to ferment non-milk drinks. Some people say doing that will eventually kill them, but in his book 'Wild Fermentation', Sandor Ellix Katz says they should be okay if you regularly swap them back into milk as well.

My milk kefir grains made a good 'cheat's cider' the other week from apple juice, and now they're back in milk to recover ... :o) Will be interesting to see if they survive long term.

Happy to provide any further info or contacts if I can.

Best wishes
Johanna

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Permalink Reply by maryanne on August 31, 2008 at 8:44

kefir as I am discovering is awsomne. It has balanced my intestine flora. ie less flatulance! I have just made my first batch of marscapone. made with kefir its even nicer than the shop stuff but way too addictive.

maryanne

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Permalink Reply by maryanne on March 29, 2009 at 10:20

I just took a piece of my milk kefir put it in a small strainer and carefully cleaned most of the curds off with warm water. I use it in juice diluted 50/50 with pure water. If the juice is not diluted it is far to intense in flavour. So I now have a permenant supply of fizzy drink though it is an 'aquired taste'.

maryanne
tawa

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