How to make Kefir

Everyone I've spoken to about Kefir has just been grossed out. Usually because when asked what it tastes like, I respond with "Fizzy cheese!". It doesn't really taste like fizzy cheese, but I just can't think of a better way to describe it!

Basically, it's is a fermented milk drink, made by leaving Kefir grains in milk for 12-24 hours. These grains look like cauliflower and will grow with each batch you make. Once you have too many grains and are producing more kefir than you can drink, you can just eat them!

Here is the equipment you need to make the stuff...

All you do is put the grains in with the milk, and leave it. Agitate it now and again if you really want, but generally there's no need. In the picture below, you can see the separation of the curds and whey (the curds are the top layer, and the whey the bottom). When it gets to this stage, it's time to retrieve your grains and start again.

For some reason there are lots of videos on youtube of how to do this, but hardly any seem to use a funnel, it makes life much easier and less messy so I'm not sure why.

Once you've got your grains back out, you can either mix the curds and whey together, or use them individually to make cheese from the curds or sour bread from the whey.

You'll find that when the seperation starts happening in less than 24 hours and you are ending up with too much whey and not enough of the good stuff - then you probably have too many grains and not enough milk. So it is time to eat some, or find a second container.

In addition to the length of fermentation (which affects the sourness), you can also affect how fizzy the kefir is by leaving the lid screwed on tightly - this will be much fizzier than if you just lightly covered the container with clingfilm.

You may wonder why anybody would want to go through this rigmarole on a daily basis - well, the benefits are numerous and once you've got into the routine and made it an efficient one it's takes hardly any effort at all.

• Has loads more beneficial bacteria than any of the commercial products like Yakult etc.
• Contains an abundance of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes.
• Easily tolerated by lactose-intolerant individuals, due to the bacteria eating up most of the lactose
• Is antimicrobial and an immune stimulant
• Tastes great as a smoothy when mixed with bananas etc.