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Make Kefir Yourself: The Best Tips and Tricks

You can easily make healthy kefir yourself. It is particularly important to handle the fungus correctly and hygienically so that the production is successful.

Make kefir yourself – it’s that easy

To make half a liter of kefir, you need 500 ml of UHT milk at room temperature and a kefir mushroom. You will also need a clean, sealable jar, a plastic spoon, and a plastic sieve.

  • Rinse the mushroom thoroughly under running water and carefully transfer it to the clean jar with the plastic spoon.
  • Add the milk to it. The ratio between kefir grains and milk should be a maximum of 1:5.
  • Seal the jar. However, it should not be closed tightly so that the carbonic acid produced during fermentation can escape. Use a screw cap and only tighten it slightly. Alternatively, put some cling film around the jar with a rubber band.
  • Tip: Instead of a glass, you can also use a special fermentation container or a fermentation lock, which can be bought in stores.
  • Put the jar in a dark place at room temperature. After two days you can separate the now fermented milk from the fungus. To do this, pour the kefir through the plastic sieve into a clean glass bottle.
  • Store the finished kefir in the fridge if you are not going to enjoy it right away.
  • Rinse the mushroom thoroughly in a sieve under running water. Until you use it again, put it in a sterilized jar and store it in the fridge. There he stays for a week.

Tips for making kefir

While making kefir is easy, there are a few things to keep in mind.

  • Hygienic handling of the fungus is important. Only use clean glasses and clean plastic cutlery. There must not be any detergent residue on the utensils used. These would destroy the fungus.
  • Contact with metal is deadly for the fungus. For this reason, you must not use a metal spoon, a metal sieve, or other metal objects when processing.
  • You are free to choose the fat content of the milk. You can make kefir with whole milk as well as with the low-fat variant.
  • Kefir should ferment for at least 16 hours. With a shorter fermentation time, the kefir can have a laxative effect.
  • You should not let the kefir ferment for longer than 48 hours. Drinking it for too long can cause constipation.
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Written by John Myers

Professional Chef with 25 years of industry experience at the highest levels. Restaurant owner. Beverage Director with experience creating world-class nationally recognized cocktail programs. Food writer with a distinctive Chef-driven voice and point of view.

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