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

[cheepo]

YEAH!!!!!
I can finally join the group....
got my grains this weekend...
(from craigslist....as I wanted to start with live as oposed to dehydrated )
.....wow...I have almost a cup...and some are quite largish...
and...dosent...taste bad....

tips she gave....if you stir it...every 5 hours or so...first day...can get a much thicker kefir...

and if it seperates with more watery on the bottom...is the grain to milk ratio is off...

 

[taoist]

I just made the kefir cheese last week. I was really surprised at easy it was...and how good it was after it was made. I have found that the kefir is much thicker and much tastier/buttery if you make it with raw milk instead of pasteurized milk.

Unfortunately my water kefir grains died after I put too much ginger in that batch. I haven't been able to warm up to the flavor of water kefir though. It just tastes too much like cough syrup to me.

I think I'm going to give kombucha another try as soon as I can find a scoby.

 

[Dawn419]

tips she gave....if you stir it...every 5 hours or so...first day...can get a much thicker kefir...

and if it seperates with more watery on the bottom...is the grain to milk ratio is off...

Thanks for sharing those tips!

 

[cheepo]

taoist I would so love to get ahold of some raw milk...but haven't as of yet...
believe it or not selling unpasturized milk in chiliwack can get a 36 month jail term...
or a crazy maximum 3,000,000 fine...
no wonder no one answered my craigs list add.....

glad...to help dawn...
hope you have managed to get the ginsing planted

 

[taoist]

cheepo - wow! jail for nutritious food...and a pack of cigarettes is legal to buy. Go figure!

 

[Snowhunter]

Okie dokie.. I really should read back.. but I wanted to ask this before I went ahead and read from page 1...

Anyone here do water kefir? I'd LOVE to replace our coke intake with something else (plain water ).

 

[taoist]

Snowhunter...I did water kefir for about a month. I didn't really care for it because it was very sweet..syrupy almost, reminded me a lot of either cough syrup or prune juice. I'm sure that was the recipe I was following using molasses and organic brown sugar, etc. I tried it a couple of times with white sugar and it was better and lighter but when I tried adding shredded ginger root later, it died out in two batches. The other reason I didn't like making it was that it required a lot of ingredients...sugar, molasses, baking soda, egg shells, dried fruit, etc. and that's just too much for me to do every day or two.

So, now I'm working on making fermented soda. It seems lighter, there are more flavors to use and much less ingredients. I may also go back to making kombucha.

 

[Dawn419]

taoist,

Thanks you for your post about water kefir as I was thinking about trying that, too!

Decided I'll just stick with my milk kefir as I have finally found my groove! :bun

Living ina 22' camper, we lack space of any kind, let alone countertops for cultures. I was keeping my milk grains on top of the small fridge and in less than 24 hours seeing a lot of whey formation. Didn't like the flavor of the milk for drinking so I was making a lot of kefir cream cheese but sometimes the cheese had more of a yogurt flavor. I'm sure it was way too warm up there.

So I did some re-arranging of the galley (kitchen) and now have my milk jar hanging on the outer bathroom door storage rack and what an amazing difference it has made in just less than a week. My grain has grown and the kefir milk is thick and tastes like buttermilk. I have a half gallon baggie of bananas in the freezer and will be experimenting with smoothies....finally!

 

[citylife]

Good for you Dawn! Glad you have got your groove on with Kefir. It takes a bit to figure it out. Just like when you let is brew for longer you will have the curds seperate out to the top and the yellow (whitish) liquid is your whey. I took some whey yesterday and added it to some sliced carrots, a bit of salt, bay leaf, garlic and some pepper flakes and topped it with water. I will let it lacto-ferment for a few days and then try it. I am trying to use as much of the product as I can. I even took some whey and put it in the shower in a squeaze bottle. It is good for your skin and hair and can help tremendously with psorisos. I even use it as hair conditioner for my dogs.

My chickens love the kefir milk, whey and curds. And, I do not recommend feeding the chickens this product with your dogs loose.
My dogs know the chickens are the boss, but not all dogs see it that way. Its a good way to lose an eye!

I have made soft cheese's with it and have dabbled in hard cheese. Dom's site has all kinds of info on ways to use Kefir.

 

[Dawn419]

Thank You, citylife, for sharing your super-healthy milk grains with me!

I've really enjoyed experimenting with what I can do with the milk and the kefir cream cheese is a favorite. I will be trying Dom's Kefir Leban in olive oil and Kefetta for my next experiments.

Hubby made a comment the other day about needing to get started on the cabin so I'll have more room for all of the science projects I've got going on.

The chickens and our dog love the stuff. Tried giving the cat some and she sniffed it and then glared at me like I was trying to poison her. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right?

I try and give the chickens some daily. The other week, I didn't give them any as I was making a large batch of cream cheese and egg production dropped, significantly. Not sure if it was from the lack of kefir but I suspect it was.

I've been amazed at all the things you can use the whey for and have been saving it back for more experiments and will definately try fermenting some veggies with it. I also want to try using it as a plant fertilizer and will have to try using it in the shower, too!