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tcboweevil
338 Posts
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 Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 10:42:22 AM
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You may have all heard about kefir by now ( I am usually late on info and such) but if not, I'll share some info while I make butter with my mixer. I have live kefir grains that I use to make kefir and yogurt. It is the easiest way for me. If anyone would like some, they are free and shipping is is free too. It is easier to ship them in cool weather.
Kefir grains look like gelatinous cauliflower heads. I have used the same grains for so long now because they grow, multiply and I feed the old ones to the chickens or give them away.
I keep my grains in a quart glass jar, with 3/4 of it full of skim milk, and with a plastic lid on it. I leave it out on the counter in a warm place during winter and in a cool place during summer. If you have central air and heat, any constant room temperature spot will do.
Everyday, I add the cultured milk to a gallon of skimmed milk. The milk gets thick in the quart jar, so sometimes I add a little more milk, close it and shake it and then pour it into the gallon jar. Then I fill up the gallon jar with skim milk and leave it out to culture. It is usually overnight. In the morning, I put this gallon jar in the fridge to work later when I have time. It gets very thick, curd like.
In one night, the curd is very sweet and only needs 1/2 cup of sugar and a blending to be the best drinkable yogurt I've ever had. If I want thick, greek like yogurt, I line a colander with cheese cloth and let the whey drain out into a pot under the colander while in the fridge. That way it doesn't get sour. 1 tbsp. vanilla and 1/2 c sugar, blend well and great yogurt is made.
If I will be away, or not have milk, I put milk in the quart jar and put it in the fridge. It keeps the grain alive until I can culture again.
I use those gallon pickle jars, but you can buy nice gallon jars at an ace hardware. They order them and ship to the store for free. I only use skim milk because the cream cultures differently and favors yeast. The sugar in the milk favors lactic acid bacteria and curds the milk. If it sets out too long or too warm, it will separate into curds and whey. At this point it is very sour and I feed it to the chickens.
Sorry if I have been posting too much. I won't have this much time soon.
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 10:53:55 AM
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| No, never. You never post too much. What you post is informative and although I've heard of kefir and have some kefir culture in the refrigerator, I have yet tried to make it. So your post has my interest peaked. I should get the culture out and read it. Should probably use it in thermized milk. Thanks Theresa! |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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tcboweevil
338 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 11:24:34 AM
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| Now you've stumped me.... Thermized? And yes, the culture is wonderful. The end results are always delicious and constant. It always tastes the same. You can use your full milk and it will still taste great and that layer of cream on top will taste out of this world. I love the culture. It is more expensive than keeping grains. If you use the grains, you will have to adjust your culture time to the ambient temperatures to keep the symbiotic yeasts and bacteria in their balanced proportions. Too hot or too long in culture and you'll get a fizzy bubbly, yeasty tart kefir like an old fashioned soda. You'll need to triple the sugar to make a sweet beverage. Then the grains will have more yeast so to correct that balance, you'll change your milk twice a day or any time it starts to thicken until the lactic acid bacteria catch up to the yeasties. |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 12:12:15 PM
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| Theresa, do you have MaryJane's Milk Cow Kitchen book? On page 16-17 she talks about thermizing the milk. I use a pasteurizer like the one shown in her book. It heat-treats the milk. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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tcboweevil
338 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 12:32:40 PM
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| My friend, Glenda, loaned it to me. I read it ( not well enough - trying not to hog her new book) and found Maryjane's farm girl store online. That is how I first learned about MaryJane and all her wonderful cow adventures. I will get my own copy this month. I probably skipped over it because I have never studied pasteurizing my own milk. I heat it to make cheese, but drink it raw and culture it raw for kefir. I will be reading it again. Thanks. Do you thermize all your milk or just your cheese milk? |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 1:03:55 PM
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| This doesn't pasteurize the milk. It just heat treats it. When you get her book, it explains it much better than I, but it basically is heating the milk to 150 degrees for 15 seconds and then cool to 40 degrees within two hours. I drink mostly raw milk here, but I do thermize milk to make cheese and cultures. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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tcboweevil
338 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 2:15:36 PM
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| Thanks for sharing that with me. Also thank you, thank you, thank you! Your hospitality is warmer than a summer day. And in spite of your feeling down today. I think of the work that you have coming up with the thaw and limb cleanup and such. I hope your back stays strong and you are relatively pain free. |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 3:13:38 PM
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| Thanks Theresa. From your lips... I can't wait for the warmer weather to come. When I'm doing that sort of work, at least my back should have reason to hurt. I'd much rather have that. It's all good. I'm chomping at the bit so to speak and raring to go. ;) |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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maryjane
7072 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 4:36:26 PM
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Boy, all this talk of kefir has me wanting some. We haven't made any for quite a while.
Sally O'Mally, Etta Jane, game? You're my milk queens these days. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 5:42:09 PM
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| I may just get brave and try making some Cultured Kefir tomorrow using the culture kefir starter. It brings back memories of downtown Boulder, Colorado. That's where I drank my first Orange Julius and my first kefir. Wow, the things one remembers with just a word. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 5:43:10 PM
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Can we use honey instead of sugar? Or strawberries, cut up for sugar? Other high sugar fruits?
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 5:51:07 PM
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| Yes, I remember the orange julius was sweet. Probably loaded with sugar. Kefir was pretty good though. I don't even drink orange juice because it has so much sugar. So probably won't be making any orange julius. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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maryjane
7072 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 5:56:53 PM
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| I actually take my kefir unsweetened. I'm a tart kinda gal I guess. Love my yogurt plain and love just plain old buttermilk. |
MaryJane Butters, author of Milk Cow Kitchen ~ striving for the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain ~ |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 7:12:10 PM
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| I make my yogurt and eat it plain. If I really want to live dangerous I will add a bit of my honey. I will have to make some kefir and see how it is. I'm looking forward to the tasting experience, but really don't have nothing to compare it to. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Feb 05 2015 : 9:35:56 PM
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| Just wondered. I like kefir tart and lactic acidy. |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 06 2015 : 03:32:57 AM
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| Thank you. I will try everything plain and see how I like it. If it turns out okay, which I won't know. LOL. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Mike
1667 Posts
Mike
Argyle
WI
United States of America
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Posted - Feb 06 2015 : 04:40:27 AM
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Try some plain kefir from the store. I like the texture and flavor of the plain.
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 06 2015 : 05:02:23 AM
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| People don't even know what kefir is in these parts. I'd have to drive to Des Moines to find some. I'll just have to hope this turns out okay and like it. :) |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Ron
4666 Posts
Ronnie
Peever
SD
USA
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Posted - Feb 06 2015 : 06:59:03 AM
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| Theresa, you are all that and a bag of chips too! We are lucky you moved in! 😊 |
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo. |
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tcboweevil
338 Posts
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Posted - Feb 06 2015 : 12:30:41 PM
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Thanks, Ron! It's nice to be helpful.
Janet, I know right? Tell them you milk your own cow and people think you're weird. I just don't know..... |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 06 2015 : 1:13:10 PM
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| Well, I figure if people are talking about me then they should leave everyone else alone, right? ;) |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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tcboweevil
338 Posts
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Posted - Feb 06 2015 : 6:14:41 PM
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| Yes, absolutely! You have a great way of looking at things, Janet. |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 07 2015 : 07:46:59 AM
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| Theresa, the milk that I used to put the Kefir culture into and let sit for 24 hours, said to drain off the milk and put the kefir grains in fresh milk, and let it sit again like first time. Do I just discard the milk that I started with? New to me, and the instructions don't say anything about the milk I start with, so just wondered. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
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Ashley
167 Posts
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Posted - Feb 07 2015 : 08:48:52 AM
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Janet,
Theresa probably has more info for you, but I have used grains to make kefir, and if I remember right, you discard the milk from the first batch, and then after that the grains are good to go. The first batch basically re-hydrates and re-activates them. If you want to use raw milk, you need to start with pasteurized (or thermized) milk, and over time gradually add raw milk to the mix. |
Ashley (MaryJane's DIL)
MaryJanesFarm Food Guru |
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NellieBelle
11214 Posts
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Posted - Feb 07 2015 : 09:54:34 AM
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| Okay, thank you, Ashley. I thermized the milk that I started with, and now I have the hydrated, reactivated grains in the fresh thermized milk, sitting out on counter. I will discard the first milk. Thank you so much for the information. |
To laugh is human but to moo is bovine. Author Unknown |
Edited by - NellieBelle on Feb 07 2015 09:55:22 AM |
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CloversMum
3486 Posts
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Posted - Feb 07 2015 : 2:47:42 PM
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| I have kefir right now in my fridge from raw milk...I've always made it with raw milk and it seems to be fine. What problems have others had using raw milk with their kefir? Just curious...as maybe I'm doing something wrong? |
Loving life and family on our Idaho farm, Meadowlark Heritage Farm; A few Jersey cows; a few alpacas; a few more goats, and even more ducks and chickens |
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Free Kefir Grains
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