Kefir

                                                                                  My first kefir smoothies


Have you heard of kefir? I've read a lot about it over the years and wanted to try it so I ordered some freeze dried grains from Cheeselinks.  You heat your milk (unless it's UHT) to 90 degrees, cool it to 25 and then add a tiny smidgeon of the grain. I poured it into my Easiyo container and left it in the Easiyo thermos thingy with a bit of warm water. Then refrigerate and presto, you have kefir ready.

The verdict :
Undecided. I didn't expect the kefir to set so much (like homemade yogurt) and I didn't like the taste on it's own. I made a smoothie with 500ml of kefir, a handful of mixed berries from the freezer, some tinned peach and some honey. I added some low fat milk to thin it out too. To me it tasted ok but not great. None of the kids liked it. Husband liked it.

Next time I will :
Not leave it to ferment for so long to try and achieve a milder taste.
Use low fat milk, as I prefer the taste to full cream.
Make a smoothie with banana, which I think would suit better.
Check out other ways I can use kefir so I can incorporate it into our diet in a way that suits everyone.

In the future :
I'd love to try fresh grains, which seem quite different in preparation and perhaps would also differ in taste.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has tried or uses kefir (perhaps some of my U.S. friends, it seems to be popular there?)

3 comments:

quilary said...

I'd never heard of kefir, so I've learnt my "something new" today.

I had hard time getting low fat milk into the kids (still no luck with 19 yr old son!), so I don't know how I'd go with something like kefir.

baukje said...

I never tried it because once at a friends house she let me smell ..... That was enough for me.!!!!!

Very Verdant said...

Thanks for the link. I used Kefir in the past but when we moved I let my Kefir go and lost the granules to poor care. I am so excited to start again.

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