Milk Kefir – is a fermented dairy drink filled with loads of good bacteria and their products, that were created during fermentation. It originated roughly 2,000 years ago in the Caucasian Mountains between Europe and Russia, which makes kefir one of the oldest milk ferments in existence. Kefir is a wonderfully delicious slightly carbonated fermented milk beverage similar to yogurt (or buttermilk).

Due to numerous probiotic bacteria this fermented dairy drink has many wonderful health benefits, a great flavor and is also usually tolerated well by the lactose intolerant. It’s much easier to make than yogurt, and kefir has a much larger spectrum of probiotics than yogurt. The reusable, sustainable grains also make it more economical. The popularity of this trendy drink is growing rapidly but it’s quite pricy like kombucha.

Here are some of the health benefits of milk kefir:

  1. It can improve lipid profile in serum as per recent randomised clinical trial. Specific strain of Lactobacillus fermented ME-3 isolated from kefir was also shown to improve blood lipoprotein profile which means it can regulate a healthy cholesterol levels in you body.
  2. Kefir has been shown to contribute to weight loss in high-fat-diet-fed mice by changing microbiota and mycobiota (composition of fungi in the gut).
  3. Kefir showed anti-tumor effects in a breast cancer model in mice.
  4. Anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory properties.
  5. Shows antimicrobial and protective properties by inhibiting the growth of such pathogenic bacteria and Streptococcus sp.
  6. Helps with lactose intolerance and lactose digestion in adults when consumed together.
  7. According to the recent study from researchers in Ireland regular consumption of kefir improved stress parameters and increased GABA production by gut microbes in mice.
  8. Another recent study on fly model for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) showed that kefir consumption in its natural form improved neurodegeneration index and overall neurological status of flies. Similar results were obtained with the mouse AD model.
  9. AD patients from a clinical trial in Brasil also benefited from using kefir on a daily basis for 3 months. 2 ml per kg of weight of kefir was used daily.  Number of factors improved such as memory; oxidative stress and blood cell damage were reduced. If you weigh 50 kg then you should drink 100 ml of kefir a day according to this study to get the same benefit.

Milk kefir grains

Here is what you need and how to make it.

Equipment:

Ingredients:

Milk Kefir Preparation Method

  1. Clean the surface first to make sure kefir grains don’t get contaminated by the bacteria from the environment. Advice from a microbiologist 🙂 I don’t like using toxic chemicals therefore I clean my surfaces with cloth and water.
  2. Pore milk in a glass jar.
  3. Add the grains into the milk using clean spoon. You can use as little as 1 tsp and as much as 1 tbsp. The more grains you will use the more sour it will turn out. So you can experiment with the amount of grains you prefer. They will be multiplying pretty quickly, therefore you can store the extra in refrigerator covered with milk or share with a friend.
  4. Cover the jar with a cheese cloth, coffee filter or any other tight-woven but breathable towel or and secure with a rubber band.
  5. Leave the milk with grains to ferment at room temperature for 24 hours. This stage is also called – feeding the grains. The grains are feeding on the lactose present in the milk
  6. Mix the mixture of fresh kefir and the grains. The mixture can be as thick as the sour cream. Be gentle to not smash the grains.
  7. Strain the grains using the fine mesh strainer. You may need to mix the mixture gently with the plastic spoon while straining because the mixture is pretty thick.
  8. Cover the jar with a cheese cloth, coffee filter or any other tight-woven but breathable towel or and secure with a rubber band.
  9. Repeat from step 1. Place the strained grains into fresh cold 0.5 milk jar.
  10. The strained kefir drink is ready to drink or place it to the refrigerator.
  11. Enjoy

 Milk kefir grains

 

Recipes

Recipes about how to make smoothies with kefir, home made cottage cheese and “syrniki” (cottage cheese fritters) are coming soon on my blog.