If you love baking bread with homemade sourdough, preparing your very own liquor or simply like to experiment with food, then KEFIR could be your next challenge!
For those who never heard of it, kefir is a fermented milk drink made of kefir grains, a specific type of symbiotic culture, which originated in the North Caucasus, spread to Russia and then came to Europe as well. It is prepared by inoculating milk with kefir grains, looks and tastes similar to yogurt but is more liquid and definitely more sour. Also, kefir is very healthy. It contains several dietary minerals, vitamins and probiotic bacteria and it has a very low lactose content. Sounds like a deal to me.
When I first discovered kefir, almost a year ago, I did not quite like it. It looked like white thick saliva (that’s what he said) and tasted intensively sour in comparison to the regular yogurt I was used to. I was, however, fascinated by these little living grains and by the idea of creating something of my own to cultivate with love. So, I tried it after all.
The fermentation process is very simple. You take a big glass or a jar, you put the kefir grains together with milk and let it do its work for a couple of days. Once it’s ready, you filter it to separate the grains from the liquid and there is your kefir! And what’s more, once you’ve filtered your grains, you can use them again and start all over! Pretty amazing! After the first week I got used to the taste and the fermentation process became for me a sort of a morning ritual. My kefir grains started growing and I experimented with different recipes to really make the best out of them. I now enjoy eating my kefir in the morning with homemade crunchy muesli, fresh fruit and dark chocolate! So delicious!
Check my next post on how to start your first kefir drink!