Kefir from the Land of B
by Rachel Tayse • March 31, 2011 • Local Food, Make it Yourself • 5 Comments
Today is my final guest post as my time as a teacher at Franklin Park is winding down. Fellow chicken-lover and charcutier Rachell Bernhardt from Land of B contributes a post today about kefir. Kefir is one food we have never made for ourselves but I am inspired by her words to get started soon!
Cliff and I have a variety of things bubbling on the counter and in the fridge. One of those things is kefir. I took a yogurt, kefir, and butter class at Whole Foods offered by Snowville Creamery. We had already taken a great butter making class at The North Market offered by Snowville. Warren who teaches the classes has business cards that say he’s a dairy evangelist and he truly is. We had a thorough lecture on milk and milk fat, patuerization, and homogenzation.
Kefir is a fermented milk drink loaded with probiotics and other great stuff for your insides. It is made from what are called grains, that really look like cauliflower. The grains are cultured at room temperature in fresh milk for 24-36 hours. Then the grains are strained from the kefir. The kefir goes in the fridge and the grains get more fresh milk to start the process over.
One of the cool things about kefir is that the grains grow each time they are cultured. So, there’s always some to share with friends! The grains we got from Snowville have been in use since 1978. If you are interested in getting some grains comment below to let me know and I’ll contact you when we have more. View the picture slide show with descriptions.
What will you do with the kefir? I’ve seen it in yogurt, but what will you use it in or for?
I was thinking after I wrote the post that I should have mentioned that! So far, we use it mostly in smoothies with frozen fruit, kefir, honey, and wheat germ. I have also used it as a substitute for buttermilk in a recipe. I am still looking for more creative ways to use it because once you get going you have more kefir every other day. So, we have daily smoothies.
I would love to have some grains when they are available. I found a recipe to make kefir from milk and store bought kefir, similar to making yogert. It seemed to work o.k. when I tried it, but I wasn’t sure if the process was safe, as I couldn’t find any other recipes or information about making it this way. Everything I read talks about making it from the grains, and I had no idea where to get them!
Lori – I just saw your response. I have grains to share about every two weeks or so. You can e-mail me at racnyc (at) yahoo (dot) com and we can talk more when I have some surplus.
hi there, i just found your blog through a google search for kefir grains in columbus. do you have any available? i would be really appreciative if you had some to share. otherwise, im looking forward to checking out the rest of your blogsite and happy to find other people in the community working on issues and lifestyles i care about! thanks again.