Kefir

It is actually supposed to be fermenting as it cultures, @Ruby Begonia . The information that I read said that the first couple of batches might not be good because the grains have to readjust. Plus, I may have had that batch too warm because I had put in closer to the heat vent. The mixture of bacteria and yeast grow at different temperature, and I think that I read that the yeast will grow when it is warmer more than the bacteria do.
Anyway, this batch, I just left underneath the kitchen cabinets wrapped in a towel, like I usually do with the milk kefir. It probably changed the ferment just enough that the flavor was better this time and not so sour.
It is fun playing around with this stuff and seeing what the results are. I am pleased that the second batch turned out better.
I added just a little lemon juice to it because it was still a bit sweet, and now it is somewhere between lemonade and cider.

 

I stopped making kefir this spring because it seemed to just take up a lot of time with all of the straining out the curds and making more. Then, I forgot the last batch in the back of the refrigerator, so it just sat in there way too long.
I imagine that it was probably still good; but it smelled pretty sour, and I am sure that the cultures were starved to death from lack of fresh milk to eat.
So, I dumped everything out and am starting over.

This time, I am just going to use the Yogourmet kefir starter, and not bother with getting the grains. It is simple to just save a little bit of each batch as the starter for the next batch, and I really didn't notice much difference in the results between the two, although the grains are supposed to add more kinds of the healthy probiotic bacteria and yeasts to the culture.
Tonight, I warmed up a quart of milk, added the starter culture, and I have it sitting on the counter-top covered with a towel. It should be done be tomorrow evening, and then I will refrigerate it overnight, and have some for breakfast the next morning.
This is one of the healthiest foods we can eat, and I definitely want to start making it part of my food plan again. I have been reading Dr. Mercola's e-book about effortless healing, and having yogurt or kefir is definitely something that he recommends for digestive health.
In fact, he said that more of the neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine are manufactured in the gut than in the brain.
He said that is part of the reason why prescription anti-depressants don't work sometimes. Adding the probiotics to your diet gives you natural B+ vitamins and anti-depressants.

 

Last night , the kefir was done culturing, and tasted almost like buttermilk when I put it in the fridge to chill overnight. I love buttermilk; so this seemed to be just the perfect length of culture time.
This morning, I woke up thinking that I wanted kefir, and barely even drank the coffee. In fact, the coffee tasted terrible to me this morning, through no fault of the coffee, I am sure.
I sipped a half cup of kefir with a crystal or two of the Himalayan sea salt added for the minerals, and it tasted like the most delicious drink imaginable.
I guess my body was telling me that I was in need of the vitamins and enzymes from the kefir; and I put another quart out to culture because the rest of this batch will be gone by tonight or in the morning at the latest.
I have a good energy level today, my feet don't hurt. Actually....... Nothing hurts ! Good news, there, for sure.

 

I think that the reason I was not liking the kefir before when I was making it was that I simply had been culturing it too long, and it was just way, way too SOUR !
Now, I am only leaving it until I see the kefir start to thicken, and the flavor and texture is much better.
Before, I let it culture until the kefir had separated into distinct curds and whey at the bottom, and now I refrigerate it as soon as I see the kefir beginning to thicken up and not stick to the sides of the jar.
I have been drinking about a half cup in the morning and a half cup at night, and when I have even that much, I feel full and do not crave any kind of food at all. I am going to drink a little before meals and see how that works, too.
I also made some ranch dresing using the kefir, and it is delicious ! I am going to start incorporating more of this healthful food into my diet, for sure, now that I am doing better at making it correctly.

http://www.budwigcenter.com/super-health-benefits-kefir-probiotics/#.VznhxdQ8KrU

 

I like the looks of that, @Terry Page ! I usually ended up adding some fruit and turning mine into a smoothie when I had let it go too long and it was too sour to just drink plain.
I ordered another package of the freeze-dried starter packets from Amazon, and will start making my kefir again with those. Since I can re-use a dab of the batch as a starter for the next quart of kefir, the packets will last quite a while. Those should be here today, and I bought a gallon of milk to use to make the kefir.
I like the idea of making a cheese spread with the curds, and if I let mine sit out too long, then I will try that and see how it goes. I have read about kefir cheesebefore, where you just put it through a cheesecloth and then let it sit overnight and drain the whey out, and that would be something similar to how yours turned out, Terry.
The bruschetta looks delicious ! !