Kefir

[Ozark Lady]

I have been playing with Kefir grains all year.

I have milk kefir, it grows slow, but it does grow!

Then I got water kefir grains. They grow fast.

I debated about putting this into the recipe section, but this isn't really about recipes. I debated about gardening, because they are alive and do grow and reproduce. I even considered in swaps, because I will soon have water kefir to share with folks, at the rate they reproduce.

Google kefir you will find they are probiotics and they are very good for us.

Problem is: I like growing kefir, and I can find ways to use the milk kefir (it is in storage at the moment due to goats being dried off) but, I just don't care for water kefir.

Does anyone on here use water kefir, or have an idea of how it is suppose to be? Online folks let it set for 5 days, gee, in 2 days it is like mucus... slimy... why would anyone want to drink that? So, I have tried it at 1 day, and still, it just isn't to my liking.

I understand that it needs "something" but can't put my finger on what. I have looked at the ways other folks post that they use it, and it doesn't work for me. I keep decreasing the amount of grains that I am using in a quart of water, but, I just don't like water kefir... maybe I should just plan to use it in recipes?

Help, does anyone use kefir?

[applestar]

Hi Ozark Lady! You came back and bam! You're posting a topic of interest to me!

I haven't ventured into this particular subject but I did some research a while back. The thing is, though, I have the vague recollection that I thought this might be a good alternative to fizzy/carbonated drinks.

At the time, I was short on funds and was looking into several new projects, and had to drop this one. I'd be interested in any insights you have.

[Ozark Lady]

I love milk kefir, problem is: it always ourproduces what I can get used up, so my animals get alot of it.

It isn't so great for drinking straight. I see folks online drinking it and loving it. I love buttermilk, but not milk kefir. I can drink it straight, but it isn't something that is enjoyable to me. I do like to make smoothies out of it... I strain out the milk grains, and then pop the kefir milk into the blender, throw in a handful of my frozen blackberries, a couple strawberries, and some frozen banana. Once these blend a bit, I add a bit of sugar, or other sweetener, then I taste it, when it is just a little bit too sweet, I start adding ice cubes and blending, until I have a milkshake consistency... folks will kill for this concoction! ha ha And it usually isn't very sweet by the time I get a couple ice trays dumped into it and blended.

My husband likes to take milk kefir and add sugar and vanilla to it, he says it tastes like drinking cheesecake. I use milk kefir in place of milk in all my baking, waffles, etc. It definitely makes things rise!

I honestly haven't played with the water kefir, I just dried up the goats, and am at the end of the fresh milk, so it will be time to learn to make smoothies with the water kefir.

I grow the water kefir, and I have just been pouring the water down the sink. It fizzes and acts just like soda when you pour it out. It does not look like anything that I would want to drink!
I keep promising myself that I will learn to use it. It is fun to feed it, and watch it float up and down, and all the carbonation bubbles.

I even tried eating the grains, the milk kefir taste surprisingly... like green olives to me... not exactly but kind of tart and salty like them.

The water kefir is chewy, and a bit sour... maybe from the apple juice that I use in fermenting them.

I could have baby goats as early as March, if we had an oops! If not it will be May or June before I am back to working with the milk kefir. I am playing with a small bit in dry milk, reconstituted to see if they will live in that, but most of them are frozen or dried for later use.

The water kefir, I can feed for production and soon have it in a quantity to be able to share, then several of you can play with it too and see if we can find a way to use this great probiotic, together.

I had the beginning formula for raising the water kefir, and have continued using it. I noticed online that folks keep one quart for growing, and then ferment other quarts differently for drinking... maybe that is my problem, I am trying to drink the growing formula? I just found that last night online. I have fed alot of water kefir grains to my animals.

[Ozark Lady]

I don't recall where I got this list of the bacterias and yeasts present in Kefir, so I hope I am not violating any copyrights, it does cite where the info came from originally. And Dom is online with wonderful kefir pages, maybe I got it there?!

Tests were done on many kefir cultures, and they found that they were not identical. Seems they change to match their environment or food sources.

When E-coli or Salmonella or even fecal contaminants were dropped into Kefir, no, not to drink, but as an experiment... the Kefir grains were able to defeat the contaminant and restore the kefir to a healthy balance.

I want to learn to use excess kefir in the garden, perhaps in a compost tea?

Here is what is generally found in Kefir:

Water Kefir Strains

Water kefir is typically composed of Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Pediococcus and Leuconostoc
bacteria with yeasts from Saccharomyces, Candida, Kloeckera and possibly other minor yeasts.

Bacteria

Species Lactobacillus
L. acidophilus
L. alactosus
L. brevis
L. bulgaricus
L. casei subsp. casei
L. casei subsp. pseudoplantarum
L. casei subsp. rhamnosus
L. casei subsp. tolerans
L. coryneformis subsp. torquens
L. fructosus
L. hilgardii
L. homohiochi
L. plantarum
L. psuedoplantarum
L. reuterietc
L. yamanashiensis


Species Streptococcus
S. agalactiae
Sr. bovis
S. cremeris
S. faecalis
S. lactis
S. mutans
S. pneumoniae
S. pyogenes
S. salivarius
S. sanguinis
S. suis
S. viridans

Species Pediococcus
P. damnosus

Species Leuconostoc
L. mesenteroides

Species Bacillus
B. subtilis
B. graveolus

Yeast

Species Saccharomyces
S. bayanus
S. boullardii
S. cerevisiae
S. florentinus
S. pretoriensis
S. uvarum

Species Kloeckera
K. apiculata

Species Hansenula
H. yalbensis

Species Candida
C. gueretana
C. lamica
C. valida
*does not contain C. albicans - the yeast associated with human yeast infections and 'candida' in
general

Species Torulopsis
T. insconspicna
*does not contain T. glabrata, also associated with yeast infections and 'candida'


The above research is largely from the work of Dolores Sanchez-Penalver, Aidoo, Dominic
Anfiteatro, and Ronald S. Brown, with additional resources from Abosluteastronomy Encyclopedia.


Milk Kefir Strains

The following strains are grouped by type, and are the result of years of research from Dominic
Anfiteatro, a leading researcher in kefir.

LACTOBACILLI

Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lb. brevis [Possibly now Lb. kefiri]
Lb. casei subsp. casei
Lb. casei subsp. rhamnosus
Lb. paracasei subsp. paracasei
Lb. fermentum
Lb. cellobiosus
Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
Lb. delbrueckii subsp. lactis
Lb. fructivorans
Lb. helveticus subsp. lactis
Lb. hilgardii
Lb. helveticus
Lb. kefiri
Lb. kefiranofaciens subsp. kefirgranum
Lb. kefiranofaciens subsp. kefiranofaciens
Lb. parakefiri
Lb. plantarum

STREPTOCOCCI/LACTOCOCCI

Streptococcus thermophilus
St. paracitrovorus ^
Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis
Lc. lactis subsp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis
Lc. lactis subsp. cremoris
Enterococcus durans
Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris
Leuc. mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides
Leuc. dextranicum ^

YEASTS

Dekkera anomala t/ Brettanomyces anomalus a
Kluyveromyces marxianus t/ Candida kefyr a#
Pichia fermentans t/ C. firmetaria a
Yarrowia lipolytica t/ C. lipolytica a
Debaryomyces hansenii t/ C. famata a#
Deb. [Schwanniomyces] occidentalis
Issatchenkia orientalis t/ C. krusei a
Galactomyces geotrichum t/ Geotrichum candidum a
C. friedrichii
C. rancens
C. tenuis
C. humilis
C. inconspicua
C. maris
Cryptococcus humicolus
Kluyveromyces lactis var. lactis #
Kluyv. bulgaricus
Kluyv. lodderae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae #
Sacc. subsp. torulopsis holmii
Sacc. pastorianus
Sacc. humaticus
Sacc. unisporus
Sacc. exiguus
Sacc. turicensis sp. nov
Torulaspora delbrueckii t
* Zygosaccharomyces rouxii

ACETOBACTER

Acetobacter aceti
Acetobacter rasens


Legend

t Teleomorph. Sexual reproductive stage. Yeast form pseudo-mycelium as in Flowers of Kefir.
a Anamorph. Asexual reproductive stage. Reproduce by budding or forming spores or cell
splitting [fission].
# Can utilize lactose or lactate.
^ Aroma forming.
subsp. Sub specie type.
sp. Specie type.
sp. nov. New strain or new specie strain type.
biovar. Biological variation strain type.
var. Variety type.

Units Count of Microbes in Gram Stained Kefir Grains
Bacilli [single cells, pair, chains]
Streptococci [pair, chains]
Yeast [single cells]

The Means Range
Bacilli 66, 62-69%
Streptococci 16, 11- 12%
Yeast 18, 16- 20% [11]

Evolution Sequence among Genus Groups during Kefir Culture Cycle
Lactococci > Lactobacilli > Leuconostoc > Yeast > Acetobacter

Microbial Composition of Kefir at End of Fermentation [colony forming units/ml] **
Lactococci : 1,000,000,000
Leuconostocs : 100,000,000
Lactobacilli : 5,000,000
Yeast : 1,000,000
Acetobacter : 100,000

And so, how would one mix this for the garden? The tartness is what concerns me, since vinegar is so deadly on plants. But this isn't vinegar, I know that, is it still a concern?

[becster]

I have been using WATER keifer... I think people "over" ferment it - My recipe is:-
1 cup of rinsed keifer grains to 2 lts of water, add 1 tbs of ORGANIC molasses and 1/2 cup organic raw sugar.. you can also add coconut sugar as well but the flavor will change... a little pinch of Epson salts or Himalayan salt - only leave to ferment for 12 - 18 hours bottle and refrigerate... every week or so do a batch with 1/2 a sulpher free fig or apricot 1/2s
The water should still be on the sweet side when bottled so the last bit of the fermentation process happens whilst bottled in the fridge giving the spritz! should never be vinegary - if this happens you've let ir ferment too long... you can tell visibly by the colour - once the minerals have been consumed by the keifer it gets lighter... hope this helps

[MB3]

thanks for posting that.

I have wanted to use kefir grains for long time.

I am not vegan but rarely buy and use dairy, so I would probably do better to look for water kefir.

[tomf]

It isn't so great for drinking straight.

I tried it for a while, as I understand it is an infection, but somehow is good for you.

[jessjasjam]

I've put the water kefir in fresh oj, and it makes something kinda like Orangina (those weird round italian sodas), or if I can get some windfall apples, I've put it in the cider/juice from that, and it gets super fizzy and tangy. Sometimes I'll mix those up with ice like a smoothie too. Granted, I don't love super-sweet stuff, so I really like the tart and tangy aspect. But you're right, it's sorta slimy straight. I don't typically add the full "recommended amount" of grans, or brew it for less time.

I actually like the milk kefir, but I do kinda like your husband and add vanilla/honey or some pureed berries.

It's a great substitute when baking Gluten free, since it helps replace the fluff and elasticity usually provided by gluten.

And I'd guess the list of bacteria is a "potential" list, maybe, as not all of those exist in the same temperature range and conditions...but I am often wrong!

I don't have any grains at the moment, but now I've read this I'm wondering about water kefir and flavoring...maybe essential oils, citrus zest, extracts? Or maybe cutting it with more water after production to thin the goopiness, though I bet you have tried that.

Be sure to post more about it on here if/when you do more

[Ozark Lady]

I lost all of my kefir grains.

Some friends gave me some more milk kefir grains, but they are presently resting. I dried part of them, and froze the others.

I decided to take the winter off from milking, first time in a few years. I am glad I did since this winter has been so severe here.

It is possible to process water kefir from the milk grains, but they will no longer grow and reproduce, but they will make water kefir. However, I thought the fun of water kefir was watching the beads go up and down!

I do plan on replacing the water kefir at some time, I still don't want them to drink. But they are fun to play with.

[applestar]

I'm glad this thread became active again, because I wanted to try this the last time. Now to see about where to get those kefir grains....

That bit about gluten-free baking was interesting as I know someone who needs to do that. Thanks!

[A Happy Seedling]

Where do you get kefir grains? Are they bacteria?