Kefir grains are a bit like the Mariah Carey
of the fermented world.
They can be absolutely magical
but they can also be a bit of work.
And if you found yourself struggling to understand them,
you're going to love this video,
where I answer the top 16 most asked questions
on kefir grains.
Not only will I show you what they are and how they work
but I'll also teach you how to use them the right way.
And if you've been trying to get your hands
on quality grains, stay tuned
as I reveal my favorite place to buy them.
Let's go.
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So here are some milk kefir grains.
And as you can see, they're creamy and a bit gelatinous.
And I know to the naked eye,
they just kind of look like cottage cheese
or tiny cauliflower florets.
But guess what?
Inside each one of these little grains
lives an entire universe of live bacteria and yeast
that are responsible for health
and responsible for turning milk into probiotic-rich kefir.
And in case you're wondering,
they're not really grains like wheat or rice.
We just use this term to describe them
because, hey, they kind of look like grains.
Well, here are my milk kefir grains
and my water kefir grains.
As you can see, the water kefir grains
looks much clearer and less gelatinous,
kind of like crystals,
because they really just don't have the protein component
that milk provides.
Apart from looks,
the big difference is what's inside of them.
So while water kefir grains also contains
a diverse mix of beneficial yeast and bacteria,
it is just nowhere near as large as milk kefir grains.
I like to think of them as Batman and Robin.
And obviously, the other big difference
is in how they're going to be used.
Milk kefir grains, you can use them to culture cow's,
goat's, sheep or coconut milk,
and really to a lesser extent,
you can use them for non-dairy milks like almond milk.
Meanwhile, water kefir grains,
you can use them to culture sugary water,
as well as coconut water or fruit juice.
Fresh kefir grains are kind of like fish,
meaning they can't be out of liquid for too long.
So if you're going to buy them,
just make sure you get them shipped fast.
And the minute they arrive, pop them in some fresh milk
or sugary water, depending on which type of grain it is.
If you're like me and don't want to worry about this
when you buy your initial grains,
then go with the dried kefir grains.
You can see, I have them right here.
They're in their dormant state and they're shelf stable,
making it pretty able to travel well.
Of course, when you do receive them,
you'll have to go through about activating them,
which I'll talk about next.
So when you get your dried kefir grains,
you basically have a baby on your hands.
And just like a newborn,
it is going to need lots of nourishing food
to grow into its fresh and active state.
For milk kefir grains
that food is going to be fresh whole milk
and for water kefir grains, it's going to be sugary water.
So water mixed with cane sugar.
Now, I'm not going to lie, they need a bit of nourishing.
For milk kefir grains,
you're going to have to feed them increasing amounts
of milk over the next three to seven days.
And once they're able to easily turn fresh milk
into thick kefir, in about 24 hours, they're ready.
Meanwhile for water kefir grains,
you simply need to feed them one big serving of sugary water
and let 'em sit for three to four days.
And once they're able to turn flat sugar water
into bubbly water kefir, in about 24 hours, they're ready.
You can see here, the bubbles are forming.
Well, if your home is cooler than normal,
it may take a bit longer for your grains to make kefir.
And on the flip side, if it is warmer than usual,
it can ferment much quicker.
Ideally, you want to have your room temperature
somewhere in the 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit range
or 20 to 30 degrees Celsius.
Since I live in Seattle,
our house is usually around 69 degrees,
which means a new batch of milk kefir
often takes around 30 to 40 hours
and water kefir takes about three days.
Kefir grains are so powerful,
but you don't need much at all to make a batch of kefir.
For example, usually just one to two teaspoons
will be enough to culture four cups of milk.
Although being the kefir lover I am,
I sometimes go with about one tablespoon per batch.
Since they are packed with good bacteria and yeast,
we basically wanna make sure we handle them with care,
meaning anything that could disrupt their balance
should be limited.
That's why it's best to avoid touching them
with metal utensils, since metallic ions can react
with the naturally acidic grains.
It's also wise to not touch the grains
with your own fingers since the bacteria on your skin
can transfer to them.
Although stainless steel is somewhat okay,
plastic utensils are best for handling kefir grains.
This is what I love about kefir grains.
They're just so simple to keep using.
All you need to do is take them out
of their finished milk or water kefir
with a strainer or a slotted spoon,
transfer them over to a new fresh container of milk
or sugary water and repeat.
Best of all, if you take care of them,
you can keep doing this indefinitely.
For milk kefir grains,
there's generally no need to rinse them
between making batches.
The only time you would need to do this
is if they just stop making kefir properly.
In this case, a good rinse in filtered water
can help to remove any excess yeast buildup on the grains
and get them back to being their best.
Meanwhile, for water kefir grains,
it's a good practice to soak them in spring water
for about 15 to 20 minutes between batches.
If you want to drink the milk as kefir
then 48 hours is about max.
After this point, the grains
will likely over-culture the milk and separate
into curds and whey.
Plus the grains will probably start
to run out of food to eat
since they've most likely gobbled up all the lactose sugar.
That's why for me personally,
I'm pretty vigilant and wanna make sure
to always take them out after about 30 to 40 hours or so.
Now if you simply want to store the grains in milk
and plan on discarding the milk later,
then you can leave the kefir grains in milk
for roughly two weeks.
Just make sure to keep them in the fridge
during the entire time.
The easiest way to tell if they've died
is to pop your kefir grains into fresh milk.
Leave it at room temperature
and then check back in 24 hours.
If the thin milk has not fermented
and taken on that thicker texture of kefir,
then they may be dead.
But before you throw them out,
try reactivating them over three to seven days
using the activation process we talked about before.
After all, they may not be dead,
just really really sleepy.
And feeding them, it might just do the trick.
If you're still getting nothing a week or two from now
and find them discolored, chances are, they're likely dead.
If you wanna take one to two weeks off making kefir,
you can simply put the grains
into three to four cups of milk
and leave it in the refrigerator.
Then when you're ready to go again, simply strain the kefir,
discard the milk and put the kefir grains in some fresh milk
and you'll have kefir ready to drink in 24 hours.
If you wanna take a few months off,
then your best bet is to dry the grains.
This is pretty simple.
You rinse them in filtered water.
Then you put them on a non-stick surface
to dry at room temperature for about three to four days.
Once done, mix them with some powdered milk,
pop them in a container and refrigerate.
Once you are a few months into your kefir journey
and making fresh batches of kefir regularly,
you might find your kefir grains
are multiplying quickly and leaving you
with just way too much.
So what do you do with them?
Well, my favorite option is to give them
away to friends and family
so they can start making their own kefir.
The beauty of this is that they'll get
to start with fresh grains
and skip the tedious activation process.
Seriously, how lucky is that?
The next best option
is to actually eat the grains themselves.
This is super healthy because the grains
contain their own unique, beneficial bacteria and yeast
and due to the protective polysaccharide shell around them,
they have an even greater chance of surviving stomach acid
and then populating your intestines.
From my experience, kefir grains,
they can be quite slimy and chewy.
So really the best way to consume them
is to blend them into a smoothie.
I know kefir grains can be high maintenance
so I'm not surprised when patients ask me
if they can make kefir without grains.
And the answer I always try to give is yes and no.
You see it is possible to buy a kefir starter culture
which is a proprietary blend
of usually about five to 10 probiotic species
that try to mimic the magic of kefir grains.
And this powder is super easy to store and use.
You can even re-culture it a few times
to create a couple days worth of kefir, but then it dies.
And most importantly, a kefir starter culture
doesn't produce nearly the same amount of diversity
of probiotics as traditional milk kefir grains.
So I like to think of it as milk kefir light,
meaning it is not bad
if you only want to make kefir occasionally,
but not great either.
Finally, there's one other way
to try making kefir without grains
and that is by using some existing kefir milk
but given the probiotics found in kefir milk,
they differ from those than the actual grain itself.
Therefore, I really just don't recommend it.
Plus from my own personal experience,
it can be really tricky and yield very inconsistent results.
So although you can grow kefir grains at home,
you just can't make them from scratch.
And that's because the milk kefir grain culture
is a very unique blend of microorganisms
and polysaccharides, which it just existed
for many, many years.
But thankfully, it is easy enough to acquire these grains
from companies or even friends that already have the culture
and are growing them, which I'll talk about now.
You can find dried kefir grains
in most health food stores these days,
and of course online, but not all kefir grains are equal.
Instead, you really need to make sure you buy them
from a quality source that knows
how to store and ship the precious grains
without causing them too much distress.
For me, I've tried so many different companies
on my kefir journey,
and there is one company in particular I love using
and I put that in the link description below.
Not only do they have both high quality milk
and water kefir grains,
but they also have great starter kits
with all the equipment you need to make kefir.
So as we've seen,
kefir grains are just magical probiotic machines
but they're also high maintenance.
So whether you try milk or water kefir grains,
you need to be prepared to take care of them.
From my experience, as long as you buy
from a trusted source and then use them consistently,
you really shouldn't have too many issues.
And most importantly, you'll be sending your gut
billions and billions of probiotic friends every single day.
Your body will thank you.
For kefir grains, the big question I'm sure people
would love to hear your answer to is,
have you found a good place
to buy high quality kefir grains from online?
And if you and enjoyed this video
as part of our Fermented Food Series,
I'd love for you to join our Essential Stacks community
by clicking the subscribe button below.
We research the most important ways
you can improve your digestive health
so you can love your gut again.
Bye for now.
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