The Kefir and Yogurt Thread

Yvonne Smith

Yvonne Smith

Greeter
Staff member
I seem to go in spurts of doing things and taking care of my health. Lately, I have not been making any kefir, and the yogurt, only sporadically. I think part of that is because I drink it cold, and in cold weather, I don’t enjoy cold drinks and want the comfort of hot coffee or tea instead,.
Anyway, I think it is time for me to add kefir back into my life again, and I have a quart of it sitting out to culture until tomorrow and then I can start drinking some again, and get the health benefits from it.
I just got a new book called “The Kefir Codex”, and since it is snowing heavily outside, today is a stay warm and read kind of a day for me.
 
I don't know if I would trust yogurt or kefir that I made myself. Although I eat yogurt, I only like the light kinds, like Yoplait, and don't like thinking about it.
 
Marie Mallory said:
Although I'd like to try to make it, not able now to do much.
I do eat store bought yogurt daily.
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Marie, there is not much you need to do to make kefir. Although you can do it with getting the grains, and that has a lot more probiotic strains; just using a starter from the store will work fine , too.

You need whole milk, and a bottle of Lifeway plain unsweetened kefir from the grocery store.
Put about a half cup of kefir in a quart jar, add milk, shake or stir it to mix, and let it sit in a warm place until it starts to thicken up. Depending on how warm it is, you should have kefir over night or at least in 24 hours.

It will taste a little sour, like buttermilk , and you can add it to smoothies, protein drink, or just drink it like you would drink milk or buttermilk . You can do the same thing to make your own buttermilk.
Just buy a pint or quart from the store, add a half cup to a quart jar, fill it up with whole milk, and let it sit in a warm place overnight. The next day, it will have cultured into buttermilk.

You can make yogurt the same way, but the yogurt needs a warmer temperature, around 100F, to culture, where kefir and buttermilk will both culture at room temperature. Just use plain unsweetened yogurt and whole milk, but it needs to stay warmer than room temperature.

I have a little heating pad that is for making sourdough, and it works great to culture yogurt, too. I also use it for kefir when it is cold because you can set the temperature you want it to be.

 
Yvonne Smith said:
Marie, there is not much you need to do to make kefir. Although you can do it with getting the grains, and that has a lot more probiotic strains; just using a starter from the store will work fine , too.

You need whole milk, and a bottle of Lifeway plain unsweetened kefir from the grocery store.
Put about a half cup of kefir in a quart jar, add milk, shake or stir it to mix, and let it sit in a warm place until it starts to thicken up. Depending on how warm it is, you should have kefir over night or at least in 24 hours.

It will taste a little sour, like buttermilk , and you can add it to smoothies, protein drink, or just drink it like you would drink milk or buttermilk . You can do the same thing to make your own buttermilk.
Just buy a pint or quart from the store, add a half cup to a quart jar, fill it up with whole milk, and let it sit in a warm place overnight. The next day, it will have cultured into buttermilk.

You can make yogurt the same way, but the yogurt needs a warmer temperature, around 100F, to culture, where kefir and buttermilk will both culture at room temperature.
I have a little heating pad that is for making sourdough, and it works great to culture yogurt, too. I use it for kefir when it is cold because you can set the temperature you want it to be.

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Yvonne I do plan on making it, just right now I'm not thinking too good, I'm trying to walk as much as I can on walker ,doctor said keep moving which I do often.
April 7th I'll know about xray, blood work and urine.
 
I buy kefir to take my probiotics with. I've read that probiotics have a better chance of surviving the digestive track if taken with dairy...and kefir also has its own probiotics. Kefir also should help prevent oxalate kidney stones, since the oxalate binds to calcium. I should be drinking milk with my meals but I don't like milk.
 
Shirley Martin said:
I made and drank kefir for a couple of years. It was good and good for me. I somehow got out of the habit. I froze some grains. Now that summer is coming on, I'll see if my grains are still alive. It seems especially good in the summer.
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I froze milk kefir grains 12. Months or so ago ..but I think they are dead cause I’ve been trying to revive them without success for 2 weeks changing the milk every other day , so I might have to buy some @Shirley Martin
I actually dried milk kefir grains….ive got some in the fridge …so I wonder if my dried ones will come back to life ?
 
Kate Ellery said:
I froze milk kefir grains 12. Months or so ago ..but I think they are dead cause I’ve been trying to revive them without success for 2 weeks changing the milk every other day , so I might have to buy some @Shirley Martin
I actually dried milk kefir grains….ive got some in the fridge …so I wonder if my dried ones will come back to life ?
Click to expand...
One way I've tested probiotics to see if they have active critters in them is to put them in a shallow bowl with a little milk (a few tablespoons), and let it sit out at room temp. If there are live critters, the milk will set like yogurt. It may take 6 hours, it may take a day and a half. It all depends on the strain and on how many live cultures there are. I've yet to have any fail, but there's no way to tell (a) how many live cultures there are or (b) what strain they are. It's sort of a Pass/Fail as to whether or not there are any live cultures...kind of like proofing yeast.
 
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