Anyone have kefir grains?

[ForTheHunt]

So I'm looking to start a kefir culture with my milk. Does anyone have any nice spare grains they'd be willing to spare? I wouldn't ask usually, but people in the kefir community seem to be very eager to share their grains, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

They can be sent as just a normal letter in an envelope, it worked fine when I once bought it online, so it shouldn't be too much of an hassle

If anyone is willing then that'd be really appreciated, thanks

[kurite]

Mine died not all that long ago but I got them off of ebay. They were organically grown and always fed raw milk.

[Alomonger Pete]

I heard this site sells some high quality kefir grains: http://www.kefirlady.com/

[raw-al]

If you have access to raw unheated honey just put 1 teaspoon in a 1/2 litre jar full of milk.

You will get excellent kefir without the fuss of the grains. Plus the honey gives an exquisite sweet flavour

We had grains but we don't have kefir in the summer so the grains went a bit wierd. Probably OK but a friend wanted the grains so we gave them away.

[Fermenter Zym]

If you have access to raw unheated honey just put 1 teaspoon in a 1/2 litre jar full of milk.

You will get excellent kefir without the fuss of the grains. Plus the honey gives an exquisite sweet flavour

We had grains but we don't have kefir in the summer so the grains went a bit wierd. Probably OK but a friend wanted the grains so we gave them away.

I don't think that qualifies as Kefir. I think that would be sour milk. Kefir Lady or CulturesForHealth would be good resources.

[raw-al]

I don't think that qualifies as Kefir. I think that would be sour milk. Kefir Lady or CulturesForHealth would be good resources.

Not so. It is kefir. In the summer it works at room temperature overnight. Aajonus Vonderplanitz described it in his book "Recipe For Living Without Disease" That's where we heard about it and it pretty much works all the time except if it's too cold in the house in the winter. He says that there are bacteria in raw honey that make it perfectly with another type of bacteria that prevent the bad bacteria from taking over... or something like that. I loaned my copy out and haven't seen it since so I cannot check the exact details.

I have bought kefir culture and it was temperamental and you are forever buying the culture.

As I mentioned the grains are no great deal as some places on the web charge a fortune for them and one place gives you an unbelievable story of how you have to care for them and says they are the one ond only good source.... hmmmm..... marketting.

[Fermenter Zym]

Not so. It is kefir.

I'm sure adding honey to milk and letting it sit out makes a wonderful fermented drink, but I don't believe it's kefir. Kefir is a drink made from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast from the Caucasus region known as kefir grains. Without these grains, you you don't have real kefir. ( See the almighty wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir )

There's a pretty fascinating story about how these prized and secret grains were acquired by Russians. You can read it here: http://www.bedrokcommunity.org/id159.html

As I mentioned the grains are no great deal as some places on the web charge a fortune for them and one place gives you an unbelievable story of how you have to care for them and says they are the one ond only good source.... hmmmm..... marketting.

Most kefir grains I have found were only about twenty dollars and if you take good care of them -- which is really just making perpetual batches of kefir in healthy milk to drink -- they last forever. They are rather resilient cultures.

[raw-al]

I'm sure adding honey to milk and letting it sit out makes a wonderful fermented drink, but I don't believe it's kefir. Kefir is a drink made from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast from the Caucasus region known as kefir grains. Without these grains, you you don't have real kefir. ( See the almighty wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir )

There's a pretty fascinating story about how these prized and secret grains were acquired by Russians. You can read it here: http://www.bedrokcommunity.org/id159.html

Most kefir grains I have found were only about twenty dollars and if you take good care of them -- which is really just making perpetual batches of kefir in healthy milk to drink -- they last forever. They are rather resilient cultures.

Thanks for the link from Wackipedia the online source for all the people in the world that have an opinion.

Here is what it says-
"Kefir (pronounced /k??f??r/ k?-FEER)[1] (alternately kef?rs, keefir, kephir, kewra, talai, mudu kekiya, milkkefir, búlgaros), purportedly[citation needed] from either the Turkish "keyif" (joy/pleasure) or "köpür" ((milk) froth, foam), is a fermented milk drink that originated with shepherds of the North Caucasus region, who discovered that fresh milk carried in leather pouches would occasionally ferment into an effervescent beverage."

They (the originators) had no grains and neither do you have to unless you are attempting to make some mythical drink which is at best a pain to keep the grains as most people do not drink the stuff every day and thus run into the situation like we did where what do you do with the grains while you are not using them. It's not as if they are nice neat little marbles. They are a sloppy gelatinous mess if you do not use them constantly.

You have to store them and it all gets to be a pain not to mention now you have some uber fermented rotten milk in a jar in the fridge unless you "wash" them.

Then the issue is where are they as they get mired in the sludge in the jar.

My GF was thrilled when someone asked if we had some grains to give away. We had long since stopped using them.

The honey causes it to ferment very nicely in room temperature and prevents it from going rotten for a longer period of time. It's utterly practical.

The whole idea is to predigest the milk especially for anyone who has difficulty digesting milk.

What difference which strain of bacteria it is?

You can buy a lot of honey for twenty dollars and it keeps indefinitely with no mess and it takes away some of the extreme sour flavour and adds digestive power to the kefir which can be difficult for a lot of people to digest due to it's density and the fact that it clumps up.