KEFIR grains-Mind if we give them their own thread?

[Dawn419]

As of yesterday, I am now officially a "keeper of kefir"!

I was sent enough grains to be able to share with my mom but she doesn't want to mess with them at her place for fear that my sisters family will see them and decide not to eat some of the things we plan on using the kefir in.


So, I've been reading up on dehydrating the extra grains but don't really have any place in the camper that I can let them "air dry" for 4 days and am wondering if it's possible to use a food dehydrator to do this?

 

[ORChick]

I have dehydrated kefir grains successfully in the dehydrator. I break them apart somewhat if they are very large, and put them on a piece of wax paper (keeps drips to a minimum, and also prevents sticking). I keep the heat very low, about 105*, and let them dry until hard. I keep the dehydrated bits in a tightly capped jar in a cool place. To re-hydrate just pop them into a jar of milk, keeping at room temp, and changing the milk daily. It will smell vile for the first few days, and I usually tip that down the drain, but will soon get back to proper kefir.

 

[Dawn419]

Thanks, ORChick!

Forgot to bring home the dehydrator from mom's so I decided to just go ahead and air-dry some of the grains. Have then sitting up on top of the fridge.

I haven't been impressed with the flavor of the kefir and realized that I had too many grains and not enough milk. The chickens and the dog have been enjoying it, though.

I attempted my first kefir cheese and will know tomorrow just how well I did. I just did a small batch in case it didn't turn out but I taste-tested after I added the chopped fresh rosemary and minced garlic with a pinch of sea salt and it wasn't too bad. Want to let the flavors mingle over night and taste it again. I can see the kefir cheese making becoming a full-blown addiction!

 

[taoist]

I just made my first milk kefir and water kefir this week. The milk kefir seems a bit grainy when I pour it off/take out the kefir grains but everything else seems good and the taste is good. I'm guessing the kefir bought at the store has some sort of thickening/smoothing agents added to it? The water kefir is still brewing so I'm not sure about it yet other than the grains have really grown in the last 24 hours. I made a great smoothie with the milk kefir, wheatgrass and pears today.

 

[mcostan]

I tried to make real kefir but could not get past the taste. I really love the store bought stuff but the real thing tastes nothing like it. Plus I was purchasing more milk to make kefir than I drank. I was just making it for one person though.

 

[Dawn419]

Hi and Welcome to the forum, mcostan!

I don't care for the taste of it either and still need to try using it in a smoothie, to mask the taste.

I've been making Kefir cream cheese and we love it!

 

[so lucky]

I was given some kefir grains today so I guess I will find out if I like it in a few days. I have been making smoothies for breakfast, and thought the kefir would be good for that. The girl I got it from said to let the milk sit for 48 hours with the grains in and lid loose, then strain and let it sit for 24 hours without the grains, with lid tightened. Is that about what you are doing?

 

[Dawn419]

sl,

I've read about leaving the grains in the milk from anywhere from 12 (mild), 24 (tangy) or 48 (zesty) hours, dependinding on the flavor that you prefer. I'm running mine between 24 and 48 hours before changing milk.

Just started straining my second batch to make more cream cheese. I over-herbed my first batch so I'll do part of this batch as herbed and the other have mixed wih my mom's strawberry preserves.

We're going through a bit more milk than normal but we don't use it a lot and we'd end up dumping the last bit of it because it had turned on us. That is no longer a problem and we love cream cheese so I feel like we're coming out ahead on this.

Hubby found out tonight that you can make a feta-like cheese with the kefir, he's added that to my experiment list!

I'm using store-bought whole milk but would love to find a local source for raw cow or goat milk eventually.

 

[so lucky]

Yikes, I better go drain my grains. I don't need zesty!

 

[Dawn419]

Well the strawberry preserve/kefir cream cheese was a huge success! I just added about a teaspoon and a halfpf the preserves to 1 cup of the cream cheese and mixed it all up.

Someone had given mom a couple of boxes of 1/2 gallon mason jars and I brought two of them home so that I can make larger batches of kefir for my cheese experiments.