Kefir

@Terry Page, I have been reading about what you and Yvonne have been doing with the kefir. I found it so complelling that I decided to start with what I could find in the grocery store.

I had diverticulitis in '08, and they preformed reconstructive surgery after removing a third of my colin and intestines. Since then I have had a lot of trouble just trying to find something that didn't hurt to eat. My doctors told my the lining of my intestine were raw, and that what was causing my pain.

The first few days, I drank a cup of kefira day for a week, and the pain lessened, and then I stopped drink it to see what happened. The pain started to come back.

So, now that my guru Yvonne is doing so well with make her own kefir, I'm going to ask her to walk me through the process of trying to make my own. I feel it might be the thing to heal my intestinal problems.

 

I have diverticulosis which was discovered when I had a colonoscopy, but I only had problems with some foods especially spicy ones, but I have found that now I can eat anything including hot spicy meals with no effect, so kefir has definitely changed my digestive system, I am no longer aware of my stomach at all in fact. We are of course all different so it may not work for everyone, but I hope you get some relief from using kefir.
If you can face making your own like Yvonne and I do it's worth it and so much better than the commercial products.

 

@Terry Page, I do plan on ordering the product that Yvonne uses soon. It is weird, but my income comes from three different sources at three different times a month, so I have to stagger my purchases accordingly. I'll order the Kefir starter by the end of the week, and hopefully be drinking my own Kefir by the end of this month.

Here's crossing my fingers that I can come up with something tasty.

 

I had a an interesting time yesterday morning after sieving the overnight batch of kefir, I left the jug with the grains in on the worktop, ready for the next fresh fermentation.
A short time later I returned to the kitchen to find Lisa had done the washing up and the jug was clean minus the grains luckily I found them caught in the sink drainer and carefully washed them in distilled water, thinking they were probably dead after a very hot wash in tap water. I was pleased to find this morning that they were fine and had produced a creamy batch as usual. It seems the grains are a lot hardier than is made out on some websites.

I transport my grains back and forth between Russia and the UK but did leave a small back up of grains in the freezer here in Russia, which I also defrosted yesterday to check, and they too were ok , so a couple of months in the freezer did no harm either.
I hope you are still getting good results Yvonne?

 

I found that during the first few weeks the grains didn't look like the cauliflower pieces either, but they have recently, and I have two complete ones now, will post a PIC when I next strain them.
I find one teaspoon size lump of grains will ferment 2 pints of milk in about 15 hours here. I am quite addicted to the slightly sour taste, but when home, I have added a teaspoon of honey which gives it a good less sour taste.
I also mixed some Belgian hot chocolate powder a few times, which does work for me, as I like the combination of sweet and sour, but this is really down to personal taste. I added a small amount of Russian Baileys with chocolate yesterday and Lisa and I both loved it, sort of like a healthier liqueur

Your banana smoothie sounds good so I will try that next. A second fermentation on orange peel with a little honey worked for me as well.

I think you are the Kefir Guru now Yvonne, I award you the official crown

 

Here are some photo's I just took of this mornings kefir Yvonne.I now have two pieces of grains formed so I will freeze the one. The small amount I made with the old frozen grains yesterday has produced a very thick result and the grains are just baby bits but they work just as well.
I hope Ina manages to get the one's you sent started.


The kefir before straining

Straining into bowl

The Kefir grains strained out.

 

@Terry Page @Yvonne Smith , Well I am surprised at how easy the process is. When I rceived the starter batch that Yvonne sent me through the mail I was expecting something that was soured, but not so. She had put about a tablespoon in a cup of milk and froze it before she mailed it.

I don't drink milk very often, but I do keep 1/2 & 1/2 around for my coffee, so being worried that I needed to do something before I lost the kefir grains, I put the starter in a warm cup of 1/2 & 1/2. I stored it in a good container, and put it in my dark pantry.

My kefir guru's were saying it would take from 15 to 24 hours to produce fresh kefir. Well of course it didn't work that way for me, it took over 36 hours, and didn't look anything like the pictures being posted. Mine came out with the consistency of heavy yogurt. I think it was that the 1/2 &1/2 was so rich, thank goodness I din't have heavy cream.
So Of course I went and bought some whole milk as I was adviced to in the first place.

Now I'm drinking at least a pint for my breakfast, which is good because I don't like to eat breakfast that often.

My IBS is getting much better, I can now eat without so much pain, and it hasn't even been two week yet. So thank you Terry and Yvonne, I am beginning to feel much better.

 

Good news that your IBS seems to be improving Ina, that is the biggest improvement in my health apart from feeling so much better generally. I no longer think of my digestive system it just works and I can eat anything I like now.
If I drink too much though I do tend to become constipated, but that is my fault for downing 3 pints a day
I hope your health continues to improve.

 

I found a older neighbor that was talking about some stuff that his old granny used to make them drink when them were peakish. He described it as some sourish mik, and said that he eventually got to wear it when his granny passed. I went to my house and got my kefir out of the refrigator, and took it to him to try. He said that was it, so I'm showing him how easy it is to make. I hope it works for him as well as his memory has him thinking. So I bought him a container like the one I use, and a strainer. Here are two pictures the starter kefir grains I am giving him. I think it looks like cottage cheese.

 

Very healthy looking grains Ina, is the Kefir still having a good effect on your health?

 

@Terry Page , I'm still drinking 8 to 10 ozs, a day for the last 2 & 1/2 weeks, and I'm tummy went through a rough period, but that is getting better.

I do have a question though. If you have to go somewhere, or you just can't do the daily routine for a few days, how do you store the kefir grains until you can get back to it? I would not want to loose what has been growing for me since Yvonne sent my starter batch.

 

It's easy to store them Ina, I carry mine back and forth between Russia and the UK in hold luggage to avoid awkward questions at security but I did leave some grains here from an earlier visit in Lisa's freezer compartment and after I defrosted them they were fine. I have also dried some in the fridge and they are back to normal after a couple of days.

For short term storage I use a small food storage container, see the one I used below with my current grains and a little milk added, they will keep for several days in a fridge quite happily.

 

Learned about Kefir and will research it. I like yogurt and like the bennefits of yogurt, so Kefir sounds interesting to me. I like to keep healthy. Hey maybe it'll help me with my LDL cholesterol! Either Kefir or soy beans will help me or both!