KEFIR - who makes it, drinks it, and/or feeds it to their chickens?

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
Raw. Pasturized will not give you a full kefir, as its a dead liquid, so nothing for the grains to really grow on.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
Ok, couple of ideas. Look up your local Weston A Price Chapter (www.westonaprice.org ) and see if they have any floating around.
You can get them from Dom, but I kow it takes a very long time.
The other is, if raw milk or cow shares are legal in your state, ask the farmers.

Little known fact. Commercial kefir, due to the fact that its made with pasturized milk only has 7 probiotics in it.
If its made with raw milk, it has around 30 probiotics in it!

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Nothing that I've read in books or watched/read on web sites suggests that it matters whether you use raw or pasteurized milk. The kefir grains themselves have 42 different strains of probiotics (bacteria and yeast); yogurt has two, lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus. Personally, I'd prefer raw milk for anything, but it's not readily available to me.
ETA
A pint (two cups) of yogurt has 1.5 trillion beneficial organisms "that keep the digestive system clean and provide food for the friendly bacteria that reside there."
A pint (two cups) of kefir has 5 trillion beneficial organisms "that can actually colonize the intestinal tract, a feat that yogurt cannot match..."

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
From what I've read, water kefir is as good as kefir made with various other media, including soy milk, goats milk, and cows milk.
Anne and I have stopped making kombucha for a while. We'll go back to it later though. We gave it to our chickens too. You're right, they thought the chunks of the mother scobi were like steak.
I'm sitting here drinking a cup of probiotics now, i.e., I just finished working with my kefir mix.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
See:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/search.php?search_id=918778943

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Raw. Pasturized will not give you a full kefir, as its a dead liquid, so nothing for the grains to really grow on.

Actually, regular pasteurized and raw milk both work.
There is an "organic" milk that is super-pasteurized; it is DEAD milk and should not be used. I've never seen it in the grocery store, but I don't do the grocery shopping, so I'm not sure.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
Quote:

Nothing that I've read in books or watched/read on web sites suggests that it matters whether you use raw or pasteurized milk. The kefir grains themselves have 42 different strains of probiotics (bacteria and yeast); yogurt has two, lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus. Personally, I'd prefer raw milk for anything, but it's not readily available to me.
ETA
A pint (two cups) of yogurt has 1.5 trillion beneficial organisms "that keep the digestive system clean and provide food for the friendly bacteria that reside there."
A pint (two cups) of kefir has 5 trillion beneficial organisms "that can actually colonize the intestinal tract, a feat that yogurt cannot match..."

 

[Sebrightmom]

I make kefir. I just started a few weeks ago and still have a lot to learn. I make it with my raw milk from my cows. So far I just make smooties with it, but want to start making more things. I have a cheese cake recipe I found online. I am going to give it a try for Thanksgiving. I hope it turns out.

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

I tryed it years ago, but I don't drink much milk so I kept forgetting about it and it would get to strong for me to drink. But now my daughter Sebright mom, has some grains, plus she milks 2 cows (I do drink raw milk) so maybe I'll get a start from her and try it again. plus now I have the chickens to help me drink it !!! She does cow shares if anyone close by is interested

 

[Organics North]

Quote:
Interesting.. I have had the Finnish surmjölk. Which is like a butter milk.. The wild fermentation site is fun I book marked it... I see they have a fermentation fest in Wisconsin going on know. The chickens get whole milk yogurt, just in small amounts. (Bottom of jar, or old stuff when making a new batch.. They whey from when I strain the yogurt.)