Kefir, I Have Just Been Introduced To It, Weird Stuff!!

[RATTER15]

So I am just making my first batch after being given some grains. What I find really strange is that no one appears to know exactly what it is or the origins of it, just that it has been handed down over many generations as an amazing health drink/food.

[Mamyalynne]

Fermented foodstuffs probably came about accidentally but they have a huge following.

[jno]

I was just talking to a doctor friend yesterday, not about kefir (in fact I can't remember exactly *what* we were discussing) but she was saying fermented food does seem to be beneficial.

[Jackdaw33]

As far as I am aware kefir is fermented mares' milk, popular in the eastern regions of the former USSR.

[RATTER15]

very similar to yogurt apparently, maybe a bit more sour, it certainly looks similar. Food of the gods from what I read about it. I love natural yogurt, not that sweet flavoured stuff.

[LadyCG]

I tried a large quantity of it to see if it helped my IBS. It was completely inefficacious.

[RATTER15]

Jackdaw33 I think the mares milk maybe added to the kefir grains to make kefir but where did the kefir grains come from or how were they created in the beginning?

[Rosie29]

TV doc Michael Mosley very enthusiastic about fermented foods - kefir, Kimchi, sauerkraut etc.
But most sauerkraut you buy has been treated in some way which destroys beneficial properties. But I've never tried making it myself.

[Mamyalynne]

https://www.nourishkefir.co.uk/what-is-nourish-kefir/where-do-kefir-grains-come-from/#:~:text=They%20are%20living%20micro%2Dorganisms,region%20of%20the%20former%20USSR.

[RATTER15]

Mamyalynne. Ive read that Mam, no real answers there either.

[Hopkirk]

I thought about getting some, when Tom Archer in "The Archers" started making it.

Then I saw the price.

[Prudie]

Thanks hopkirk, I was trying to remember where I'd heard about it from.

[Hopkirk]

Tom gave up

[Captain2]

We started selling it in Morrisons about 6 months ago (plain, strawberry or cherry) - wondered what it was. Sells well though.

[RATTER15]

Hopkirk, The price? once you have the grains, its just the cost of the milk, the grains last indefinitely and increase in size so you can give some away or even sell it as the grains grow bigger!

[Hopkirk]

Oh, you want me to maker it Ratter?

I pay people to do that sort of thing for me.

[RATTER15]

But Hopkirk, make it yourself so you know where it came from, home made has got to be better you!

[Hopkirk]

Sounds like hard work.

No thanks.

[Mamyalynne]

Hard work?

Add milk to grains, stand a while,strain,consume.

[Hopkirk]

If it's that simple, why is the professional stuff so expensive?

[jno]

because everyone pays someone else to do it for them?