I agree with the yogurt and some other natural food. We actually have oats for breakfast sometimes for the natural health benefit that they say oats is rich in fiber. We make muesli from the oats so we also have additional vitamins from the fruits and the milk. But I haven't heard of Kefir. In the mall, I saw this wheat grass that looks like a grass which they press to extract the juice. It is sold for a price equivalent to about 5 times of milk. The vendor said wheat grass is very healthy. Is Kefir similar to that?
Yes Corie I agree about so called health products in general, but as Yvonne and Chrissy have pointed out this is not one of them, its simply a bundle of good bacteria which you ferment in milk or some other suitable liquid, which upon drinking sets about destroying any bad bacteria in you digestive system and replacing them with good ones to help the body systems function better. The results depend of course on your particular gut which if already dominated by good strains of bacteria not much improvement will be noticed. In my case I believe my gut was particularly full of the bad ones so I felt a lot of benefit. Its nothing new and dates back thousands of years to times when it was used to preserve food and prevent spoiling of milk products. If a product made me 10 inches taller Corie I would have problems getting through the doorways in my house and would need a new bed and new clothes, so I am not tempted
No its not Corie read this and you will get more of an idea what kefir is http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/27/health-benefits-kefir/
I had never even heard of kefir until this thread. I will look for it at the store and will try some If I find it. My wife and I each eat an Okios Greek yogurt almost every day. We like the different flavors. I doubt we will make kefir or yogurt at home.
Wheat grass is made from sprouting grains of whole wheat, @Corie Henson . It is actually very easy to do, providing you have some wheat berries (as the grains are called). Wheat grass is very nutritious, and when you have dogs and cats that are confined indoors, they enjoy chewing on the grass. Even though wheatgrass is a lot more tender than regular grass; it is too tough to be used (by people) unless it is put through a juicer. I tried growing some and then put it in the blender when I was making some carrot juice. It does chop up in the blender, but not enough to be easy to drink. Most people who make wheat grass have a regular juicer and juice it that way. Kefir is very similar to yogurt or buttermilk. It actually looks almost like buttermilk, just a little thicker; but the taste is more like yogurt. I like both yogurt and buttermilk, and have cultured my own before; and I think that I am really going to enjoy making the kefir as well. My first batch is cultured, and now in the refrigerator to finish, and will be ready to drink by tonight. The second batch is wrapped in a towel and culturing ; so I am off to a good start.
@Yvonne Smith, I have seen in the mall how they use the juicer. You are right, the wheat grass is just like an ordinary grass that you couldn't get the juice without using the juicer. And I think it is a special juicer. You caught my eye there, about pets chewing on wheat grass. Hmm, this makes me think because our dogs are fond of biting on something that's why I always buy a toy for them. And when they go outside the garden, our smallest dog, Barbie the pekingese, would come back inside the house with a frond of the money tree in her mouth. She would be chewing on that until that frond is shredded.
@Terry Page , it is delicious ! It came out thick and creamy, not too thick to drink, and with all the little culture bits in it. The second batch is starting to separate a little; so I am going to check out the taste and see if it is done. This morning, I made a kefir smoothie with a few blueberries, and a scoop of vanilla protein powder. It made a perfect breakfast ! We went to Walmart, and I got a few more quart jars to store the kefir in as I am making it. The information about the Yogourmet said that even though it doesn't form the actual kefir grains, I can save some as a starter and make the next batch from that, just like you would do with buttermilk or yogurt cultures. So, tonight, I will try saving a little and make the next batch from the starter and see how it goes. Making kefir from the yogourmet starter is just SO easy ! All I had to do was warm the milk a little, pour in the starter from the packet and stir it in good, and then just put it away and let it "do its thing" overnight. I used whole milk, and I think that it is richer than the kefir I bought at the store, which is only made with lowfat milk. I am also going to try making some ranch dip or dressing from the kefir. I usually use buttermilk so I think that the kefir should work just as good for that, and probably also for the blue cheese dressing, since I use butttermilk for that as well.
Web MD doesn't seem to think kefir is effective. http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-suppl...eIngredientId=1056&activeIngredientName=KEFIR
It doesn't really say much Sheldon apart from not proven scientifically, likely ineffective etc., there are 78 user reviews that are largely positive, an example: Comment: My god WedMD... where do you get this stuff? I've made Kefir in the Republic of Moldova. Its just unfermented milk with kefir grains added. Its a incredibly simple process- thus why its been done for hundreds of years! That said, wonderful for digestion and especially those trying to repair their stomach lining. Its not a drug nor is it made in a lab, this is whats in it: Micro-organisms: lactic acid bacteria, yeasts Fermentation Products: carbon dioxide, ethanol (alcohol) Nutrients: protein from milk, polysaccharide Vitamins or pro-vitamins: vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin D, vitamin K2, folic acid, nicotinic acid Minerals: calcium, iron, iodine Water The problem is being a natural product dating back thousands of years and of no commercial interest it doesn't attract scientific research, so the only way to evaluate it is to try it yourself, it's not for everybody and as I mentioned earlier in this thread it depends on the state of your particular digestive system. I have found it improved my general health and stopped my craving for sugar and alcohol, which is mentioned in some of the reviews on the site. In the end I feel we can only judge these health aids for ourselves. I do believe in all medications whether natural or pharmaceutical there is an element of the placebo effect, which we can't ignore either. The body is a very complex mechanism and we don't understand a lot about the mind/body interaction in my opinion.
How are you getting on with the Kefir Yvonne, did you get some grains in the end. It sounded as though you were getting on well with the Yogourmet Do you feel any improvement in your health? I have noticed recently that my joints feel particularly supple and free somehow. Last Monday I did a particularly difficult plumbing job for a senior which involved a lot of bending into awkward positions, I was very surprised that I had no aches and pains from my joints/muscles the following day, which was always the case previously; whether its down to Kefir or second childhood I am not sure, but I definitely feel my joints and muscles have improved recently. I have just now decided to give up doing odd jobs for the Age Concern charity, as I realise I am much older than the seniors I was helping, so am now fully retired.
I did order some of the kefir grains, @Terry Page , and so far I have not done real well with them; but I have only had them a couple of days. When the grains came, they were packed in milk, and they were very sour smelling, and also tasting; but the instructions said to just put them in a cup of milk and leave it for 24 hours, so I did. The batch did culture; but the taste was awful, so I separated out the kefir grains, and rinsed off all of the old milk, using filtered water. Last night, I put the washed grains in a fresh cup of milk, and tonight when I checked it, it is just barely starting to culture. Our weather took a major dip in temperature, so it was down to 30f last night, and I think that is maybe why it is culturing so slow. I tasted a little, and it is not as sour as that first batch; so that part is encouraging. I am going to warm it up just a tiny bit, wrap it in a towel, and then leave it until morning and see what happens. (It is a good thing that I like to experiment) I will just keep playing with it until I get it to turn out better, and the grains should keep growing. Once I actually get a good sample of the fresh kefir made with kefir grains, then I can do a better job of comparing it to the Yogourmet kefir. I will say that if someone wants to try making their own, and is not sure about taking care of the kefir grains, then the Yogourmet is about as simple as it can be, and it does make an excellent product that seems to be fairly consistant in taste. I was able to save some and start a new culture with part of that; so it is not like you would have to keep on buying the freeze-dried starter all of the time. Plus, it keeps in the refrigerator just fine, and you do not have to care for it every day like you do with the grains. I am usually pretty upbeat in nature, and not a depressed type of person; but I know that all of the extra B-vitamins are supposed to really help when people are depressed, as well as being good for pain relief. I am feeling better; but part of that is the recovery from the blood clots, and also being able to go back to the fitness center and exercise this week. I love the swimming, and I always feel totally renewed in mind and body after a good swim and dip in the hot tub. So, while I do think that the kefir is beneficial, I think that it is early for me to have definite results on that yet, too.
I found it took nearly a week for my grains to settle down Yvonne, and did wash them in Russia once as I got a sour batch (my fault). I have left some on a saucer in the fridge for a week and they dried out completely, but started to work again after a few days so I didn't find I had to be that particular in leaving them in milk. My house is around 20c (about 70f) most of the time and the grains take about 15 hours to produce a creamy result that is not too sour. Hope you get good results soon.
Another tip Yvonne is I find the fermentation time quite critical, it needs to reach the stage where its just started to separate into curds and whey, in my case at the moment its about 15 hours .....an hour before its still looks like milk an hour after its gone too far and is like the left jar in the photo below, its perfectly ok to use but very sour. I am starting the process in the evening at about 7pm and its ready about 10 ish the following morning and is like the jar on the right.
My new batch of kefir cultured overnight, and this batch tastes much, much better, @Terry Page . I strained it and got out the grains, and started a new batch this morning, and added last night's batch into what was left from the yogourmet kefir. I am drinking my morning cup of that right now, and enjoying it ! One of the articles that I read about kefir said it is good to drink one cup on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, and then another cup before bedtime at night, plus whatever else you might decide to enjoy during the daytime. So far, my Chipper dog has turned his nose up at drinking any; but I did get him to lick a little off of my finger, so that is a start for him. I am going to give him some with the eyedropper and see if that will help him to develop a taste for it. I remember when I was a kid, and one of our puppies got distemper, which was prevalent that year. Mom started giving the little fellow curdled milk with a spoon, and that is what saved him when most dogs that got the distemper were dying from it. Years later, I had a puppy that got parvo, and the vet said that he would die. I remembered the curdled milk remedy, and it also saved that puppy from the parvo. If I had known about kefir, I am sure that it would have worked even better with its amazing healing powers. There are just so many nutritional benefits from the kefir, and I am glad that you brought this topic up in the forum, Terry !