Homemade kefir
Kefir is a fermented milk drink with a sour-refreshing taste with a light note of fresh yeast (or a very light taste of beer), which is obtained with the help of a culture of kefir or kefir grains. Kefir grains, which look like boiled cauliflower, are a mixture of proteins, amino acids, lipids and soluble polysaccharides and contain a symbiosis between a large number of good, lactic acid bacteria, acetic bacteria and yeast strains. Kefir grains are fed and multiplied in milk and have no shelf life, they can live forever. Numerous attempts by microbiologists to produce kefir grains in the laboratory persistently end in failure. The question of where they come from and how they originated remains without a scientific answer. Legend has it that the kefir grains were a gift from God, a “manna from heaven” that God sent to the Israelites when Moses brought them out of Egypt to take them to the Promised Land.
Preparation steps
- Lightly pour the kefir culture into a plastic bowl, pour milk over them.
- Cover the bowl with a cloth and occasionally stir gently with a wooden spoon. Leave at room temperature. Depending on whether you use purchased (preferably Vindija if you do not have the opportunity to purchase homemade milk) or homemade milk, the time of preparation of kefir lasts from 16-20h.
- Kefir culture will float on top, the milk will be thicker even traces of whey will appear - very small. This is a sign that the kefir is done. Kefir must be strained exclusively with a plastic strainer with the help of a blender.
- Kefir grains, if we do not continue a new dose of kefir, are then washed under a light stream of water and placed in a plastic container into which a little milk is poured, the container is covered with a napkin and placed in the refrigerator, preferably a glass of ice cream or similar. So they feed until the next use. Kefir must be prepared exclusively in the manner described with these materials. It does not tolerate metal, care should also be taken not to let any insect fall into the glass because then the kefir "dies".