Making Kefir At Home

Tietze, in his book "Kefir for pleasure, beauty and well-being" he says;
Kefir is a living relationship, a symbiosis, of a number of bacteria and yeast which form grains or cauliflower-like structures. These living organisms ferment milk into the living food kefir.... Kefir grains or starter cultures have to be grown from existing grains and cannot be manufactured.

The quote above speaks volumes about why you haven't heard more about kefir and why you are having to search out information to heal yourself.

This culture cannot be 'manufactured' and must be shared from person to person. The finished brew is so inconsistent that it cannot be bottled and isn't shelf stable. It cannot sit in warehouses for weeks or months waiting on sale. It is a living culture that must be fed to LIVE. Any kefir culture that is mass produced is NOT a complete kefir made from the mother culture. You are only purchasing strains that have been taken from the original mother culture.

Why pay those costs for an inferior product?

Here is a list of the pro-biotic (pro-life) strains found in milk kefir;

LACTOBACILLI

Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lb. brevis
Lb. casei
Lb. casei subsp. rhamnosus
Lb. casei subsp. pseudoplantarum
Lb. paracasei subsp. paracasei
Lb. cellobiosus
Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
Lb. delbrueckii subsp. lactis
Lb. fructivorans
Lb. helveticus subsp. lactis
Lb. hilgardii
Lb. kefiri
Lb. kefiranofaciens subsp. kefirgranum subsp. nov *
Lb. kefirgranum sp. nov **
Lb. parakefir sp. nov **
Lb. lactis
Lb. plantarum

Microbial Composition of Kefir (after fermentation)

Lactococci : 1,000,000,000
Leuconostocs : 100,000,000
Lactobacilli : 5,000,000
Yeast : 1,000,000
Acetobacter : 100,000

If the kefir that you are purchasing doesn't have this list of strains, you are purchasing a pseudo kefir that will not give you the same benefits as making your own. Kefir is a protobacterium that metabolizes lactose. Lactose is a dissacharide (carbohydrate composed of two mono saccharides) composed of glucose and galactose which is found in milk. Saccharides is a synonym for sugar. The lactose-eating bacterium commonly known as 'kefir" is composed of gelatinous textured white-yellowish material called 'grains'. Various components of kefir have been studied extensively by bacteriologists. Some of the results have been published regarding the intricate composition of this bacterium. The grains are reported to be composed of proteins, lipids, polysaccharides and yeasts. Kefir is called the mother-culture of dairy cultures.The genera of friendly bacteria that thrive in the kefir-milk medium are too many to name in this article. The pro-biotics produced by this medium have been re-acquainted with occidental culture through holistic nutrition movement. The value of pro-biotics is without limit as the world is beginning to learn.

These kefir 'grains' are necessary for the vital preservation and nutritional supplementation of milk . This kefir fortified milk has been used to make spoil-proof cheese, yogurt, butter, and etc. The kefir bacterium has been used to preserve dairy since time immemorial. The value of probiotics is having a renaissance for reasons uncertain; nevertheless, mankind is benefiting from the result of an increased interest in folk nutrition and healing.

Before the french physicist Sadi Carnot (1796-1834) invented the reversible heat pump (a device that physicist used to developed the concept of the refrigerator), mankind learned how to use friendly bacteria to preserve food thereby improving their health. Fermentation is the process of converting sugars through friendly bacteria mobilization into alcohol and/or acids in near anaerobic conditions. This process enables the 'friendly' bacteria or probiotics to flourish; furthermore, creating a hostile environment for harmful bacteria and yeasts. Fermentation is essential to the stability and additional nutritional value of our food supply. Bacteria was vilified during the 20th century as the culprit of mysterious illnesses in humans and animals. The typhoid, influenza, tuberculosis, diphtheria and scarlet fever epidemics of the early 1900's were actually related to cost-saving poor hygiene practices of industrial food processors. These poor industrial hygiene practices created an environment appropriate for pathogenic bacteria propagation and dissemination. Instead of improving hygiene by integrating traditional and modern practices into industrial food processing, anti-biotic processing (e.g.Ultra-Violet Irradiation and Pasteurization) has been praised as the latest secret weapon to improve food quality. Industrial processors could hereafter neglect the importance of sanitary processing conditions and exponentially increase the volume of production.

"Pasteurization prevents 'dirty' milk from souring as well as permits 'old' milk to be sold as 'fresh'." So, it can be ascertained that pasteurization makes industrial dairy food processors lots of money. Dairy processors do not have to radically upgrade their hygiene practices with this outlook. The current medical and nutritional regime only dictate that food sterilizing equipment is acquired and used for all dairy, which translates into huge savings. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), lactose intolerance, colitis, candida are chronic diseases of our age directly related to the near exclusive consumption of pasteurized dairy products. More people are beginning to seriously study health, fitness, nutrition and food safety following the rise of chronic illness such as the those listed above. Traditional health movements are giving rise to a renaissance of primitive living. More people are seeking out ancient remedies to their health problems: In the wake of a dissatisfaction with the academic and industrial medical establishments failed promises of improved quality of health.

What You'll Need

• Kefir Cultures also called 'grains'
• Milk
• Glass jar

Instructions

1. Add 3 cups of milk along with the cultures to the glass jar.
2. Cover and agitate the jar.
3. Allow mixture to ferment for 18-24 hours.

*Be sure to agitate the jar at least twice during the fermentation process. When you see a clear whey line your kefir is done. See picture for example. Pour through a strainer (collander) or use a slotted spoon to recover the grains and begin again.

That's all there is to it; it's a very simple process.

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