Make your own KEFIR
Anyone who enjoys the lactic-tang of live yoghurt will enjoy drinking a cold glass of fresh kefir.
It’s quickly becoming the most popular fermented dairy product that you can buy. The process of making at home is easy to fit into your daily routine. With minimal planning you can culture milk into a refreshing and versatile drink with a slightly sour taste and effervescent texture, that lifts smoothies or marinades to the next level. It also contains beneficial strains of bacteria, so is excellent after antibiotic treatments to restore intestinal balance.
INGREDIENTS
Makes: 1 litre / 1 ¾ pints)
1 litre whole milk
1 tsp Kefir Grains
Equipment
Large 1.5 litre Glass Jar
Mulsin or cheesecloth and elastic band
Sieve – plastic or stainless steel not a reactive metal
METHOD
1. Warm your milk to 32˚C and then stir in your kefir grains. Leave in a glass container covered with a square of muslin for 12-24 hours for the milk to ripen and kefir to develop flavour. I shake or stir the mixture every few hours to help ferment evenly through all the milk. Fermentation will take less time if it’s a warm environment and sometimes longer if it’s colder.
2. The longer you leave, it the stronger the taste will become. After you’ve cultured your kefir then strain off your grains and restart the process with more milk. Store the fermented kefir in the fridge and consumer within 7-10 days.
3. To keep making more kefir, place your kefir grains into another 1 litre of warm milk and leave again for 12-24 hours at room temperature.
Trew Tip:
Maintenance: Rinse the grains in between batches in cold water and avoid any strong cleaning for the container as these could taint the fermentation. If you are going away then you can feed your Kefir mother and leave in a little milk in the fridge until you return to reactivate them with more warmth and milk. Only do this after 3-4 weeks of culturing them regularly.
