Homemade raw milk kefir

Homemade kefir is easy to make.  We buy raw milk from a local farmer, Clover Hill.  Their milk has a lot of cream (as you can see from the picture below) and I know it really is very nutrient dense because the cows are on an orgainc pasture fed diet with occasional sprouts and hay.  I adapted this recipe from nourishing traditions by Sally Fallon.  We use this kefir for our homemade kefir smoothies for lunch as well as a yogurt substitute in foods.

I usually use old spaghetti sauce jars or old coconut oil jars, whatever I seem to have on hand. I you can see the fermented kefir on the left side and the raw milk on the right.  The kefir grains work best if you use them most every day but if you need to you can store them in a jar of fresh milk or water in the fridge. The coolness of the fridge will put the kefir grains to sleep.

Here is what you are going to need:

1 jar (I usually use an old spaghetti sauce jar which is 24 ounces) 

1-2 Tablespoons milk kefir grains 

about 2 1/2 cups of milk, or however much to fill up your jar but leave a little room at the top (preferably raw milk)

I can usually tell when the kefir is done by holding it sideways like this to see if it has solidified a bit or by doing a taste test.  This kefir was a little more done than I would like, probably because it is so hot in my kitchen right now.

The kefir grains kind of float on the top like this.

 

Here is what the grains look like when you scoop them out. (I always use a plastic fork because sometimes the grains do not seem to like metal.)  Just take them out and put them in the room temperature milk.  (you can put your jar of cold milk in a pan of simmering water to heat up the milk for a couple minutes or you can do what I usually do by leaving the milk out on the counter for a couple hours to warm up.  Occasionally I have put the kefir grains into cold milk and they seem to be ok, it will just take a little bit longer to ferment the kefir.)

 Here is what the grains look like in the fresh milk.

After I transfer the grains, I put the lids on and keep them on the counter or in my cabinet.

Let them sit and ferment for anywhere from 12 hours to 48 hours depending upon how warm it is in your kitchen.  In the summer the ferment time could be 12 hours and in the winter as long at 48 hours.

**There are many benefits of adding raw milk kefir to your diet.  Kefir is a fermented food and has a lot of probiotics in it which can help to strengthen our gut flora and strengthen our immune systems.  There are some strains of bacteria in kefir that are not found in yogurt.  In our society with so many people taking antibiotics we are all in need of more probiotic foods in our diet.  Kefir has naturally occurring bacteria and yeast which usually occurs in items that are fermented.  Kefir has many vitamins and minerals and is a protien that is easy to digest.  Kefir can often be consumed by lactose intolerant people because the yeast and bacteria provide the enzyme lactase which is an enzyme that eats up most of the lactose during the fermenting process.  

If you live in the KC area and would like some kefir grains, let me know. I might have some extra you could have!