Preparing Kefir: It’s That Easy to Make Yourself

Kefir is a popular milk drink, which you can easily prepare yourself. How exactly this works and other interesting facts about the drink can be read in this article.

Prepare kefir yourself: This is how you proceed

If you want to prepare the delicious milk drink yourself, you need to follow a few simple steps.

• Preparing your own kefir offers a number of advantages compared to kefir from the supermarket: You know all the ingredients. In addition, the production succeeds very cheaply and quickly.
• To make the kefir, you must first buy a kefir mushroom. This could also be called “Tibetan mushroom”, “kefir bulb” or “Caucasian mushroom” in the trade.
• You will also need organic UHT milk, a glass, ceramic or plastic container and a spoon made of the same material. There is also household rubber, some cling film and a plastic sieve.
• You will also need a glass or plastic funnel and a large glass bottle into which you can fill the kefir.
• In the first step, place 8 grams of the mushroom in the container of your choice and add 500 milliliters of UHT milk.
• Now place the cling film over the opening. Tighten them properly before you fix everything with household rubber: This way, pressure can still escape, but no oxygen can get in. This would disrupt the process.
• Now put the jar in a place that is protected from light. It is best to darken it with a kitchen towel. The ideal temperature for storage is around 20 degrees.
• The fermentation process is complete after about 24 to 48 hours: You should definitely let the vessel rest for that long.
• After the time is up, you can simply filter the mushroom out of the drink again by pouring it all through the strainer into the glass bottle. The kefir is ready.

Tips: You should keep this in mind when preparing

We have put together some additional tips and what you should also consider when preparing:

• When buying kefir mushrooms, always make sure that they are of organic quality. You can buy the mushroom at most health food stores or online.
• Find out where the mother mushroom came from so you can be sure it didn’t come into contact with metal. Otherwise you could suffer damage to your health.
• The best way to care for the mushroom should be with wooden, ceramic or glass spoons. In this way you avoid serious damage to the kefir fungus.
• If you are vegan, you can use plant-based milk instead of UHT milk. Here you should remember that the nutrients in the end product are usually less than in classic cow’s milk.
• If you use fresh milk instead of organic UHT milk, you should briefly boil it for the optimal development of the kefir.
• A more environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to cling film is oilcloth. You can easily buy this in specialist shops or online.

After preparing: How to deal with the kefir fungus

Once you have filtered the kefir mushroom out of the fermentation vessel, it is very important to handle the mushroom correctly afterwards.

• Wash the kefir mushroom that you strained out of the milk with a little lukewarm water. Make sure there are no leftover milk residues on the mushroom.
• You can reuse the mushroom immediately or alternatively freeze the mushroom. This is particularly useful if you do not want to prepare kefir for a long time.
• Freezing is very easy: put the mushroom in a freezer bag with a little water and put it in the freezer. So it can ideally last a few weeks.
• If you want to use the frozen mushroom, you should put it in fresh milk for a few days to reactivate it. Periodically wash off the fungus.
• When working with the kefir mushroom, you should always make sure that all utensils are thoroughly cleaned and boiled. This is the only way to ensure that the mushroom is not damaged.
• Chemicals should ideally not come into contact with the fungus, as it can react sensitively to them. In addition, you should always touch the mushroom with the appropriate material and not with your hands.