It's effervescent. Tangy. It dances on your tongue every time you taste it. It's not even alcoholic.
Kefir is truly an elixir of the Gods. It's so rare for a drink this nutritious to taste this good.
If you've had kefir and it was a bad experience for you?
You probably didn't get the real deal. You got scammed. Bamboozled. You tasted something pre-made in a supermarket shelf that wasn't made the proper way.
The harsh truth is that it's really difficult for most companies to ship, package and let real kefir sit on the shelves
So what do they do instead?
They come up with a concotion of live bacteria that at best only imitates the taste of kefir
But that's not REAL KEFIR
See, the origins of Kefir date back thousands of years
Legend has it the first cup was made in the Caucasus Mountains, in the middle of the Black & Caspian seas
From there, it spread amongst many cultures and has for long been lauded for it's tremendous healing & nutritive properties
But do you know WHY?
There's one key ingredient that injects the sauce
It also importantly is what separates the kind of kefir you'd find in the in a regular supermarket today to what's white champagne
And that's Kefir Grains. They're one of the most valuable & frequently traded commodities in communities of home bakers & cooks
Though unlike Sourdough Starters, you can't really make it yourself
Kefir grains live almost forever, and it's tradition for them to be passed down generation after generation
Where did they originate from?
Legend says it was a gift from a visiting prophet
Others have said it was from carrying milks in pouches made of animal skin & organs — of which essential bacteria created a perfect environment for fermentation to occur
Who knows!
All we know is that it's really sacred. So, if you manage to get your hands on some kefir grains consider yourself lucky! And make yourself & everyone around you plenty 🥂
Making Kefir At Home:
- Pour some milk (raw is best but pasteurized works fine) in a mason jar with some kefir grains. Use 1 tsp of kefir grain to 1 cup of milk, and leave it on the countertop for 24 hours.
- It should be ready when it has split (water at the bottom, curds on top). All you have left to do is to mix everything well and strain with a fine mesh strainer.
- The liquid you get is the kefir and the solid remnants are the kefir grains. Make sure you don't discard the grains!
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