Ordered kefir grains from www.culturesforhealth.com. They came last Wednesday, and I began rejuvenating them immediately. Now (Sunday evening), I have my first batch of real kefir. It's good stuff.
If you're out of the loop, let me fill you in: kefir is fermented milk. Sounds gross?! Yes, at first. This drink is basically liquid yogurt. You buy "grains" that have been freeze-dried. You put them in a cup of milk on the counter in your kitchen - the little bacteria and yeasts that make up the "grains" feast on the lactose in the milk, breaking it down. You change out the milk periodically for fresh milk so that the bacteria have more deliciousness to eat and don't starve. Once they've fully awakened from their hibernated state, you get some properly fermented milk - a.k.a kefir.
The kefir tastes like plain yogurt - tangy, a bit sour (almost like buttermilk), and slightly effervescent. It can be used in recipes, drank plain or with flavors added, and can be made into cheese. It is loaded with healthy live bacteria cultures (the same way yogurt is) that can help boost your immunity and can help with "gut health".
And you just keep a-brewin'. Making cup after cup. Easy-peasy.
Except mine wasn't so easy to begin with - variances in room temperature can change your fermentation times. Mine was fermenting too fast, leaving me with curds and whey in my mason jar. So rather than simply straining the old milk through cheesecloth and putting the tiny little grains (and yes, some of them are smaller than rice to begin with) back into the jar, I was having to comb through a bowl of cottage cheese to find my minuscule grains. It would take 45 minutes to complete each milk change. But then I got smart and reduced my culturing time from 24 hours to 12, and things moved along more smoothly after that.
Live and learn.
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