Woot! New member!

[Guest guest]

Greetings and well met!

I found this group via a local woman and look forward to " meeting " everyone, at

least electronically... My name is Candace.. I'm a stay at home Mom of two

lovely daughters, aged 10 and 13...when they're not giving me grey hair, they're

actually really phenomenal kids! My husband is a local police officer and while

it's strange to say...he actually isn't like most 'cops'... he's totally getting

into our " natural " lifestyle and is raving about the food I make with all

organic, mostly local produce and locally raised beef, chicken and eggs. He's

a happy camper...the size of his tummy can show that, I promise

I'm one of those new fangled rabid-for-real food people... My aunt in

Minnesota, who has a dio-dynamic, self sustaining farm, has been talking about

'real food' and all the health crazes for years... everyone kind of blew her off

- " She's the Wacky Aunt...everybody's got one " ... Unfortunately, I've spent the

last five years in a major health crisis and didn't even know it.. until I

started taking her advice! She started me gently....commercial kefir...three

or four weeks ago... I'm a complete convert!!!! Everything I do now, of

course, is researched somewhat exhaustively before I add it to our " regimen " ...

but in three weeks of just drinking the commercial Kefir and switching to

completely organic... I've lost thirteen pounds ( from 225!!! Egads, it's hard

to admit that!!)...without changing anything else... My allergies, which have

been debilitating (landed in the hosp with anaphylaxis twice in the last year)

hardly even bother me, unless I go to

a local Mall - then it's their chemicals and everyone' perfumes that bother

me... I went and toured a Certified Organic farm today with my hubby and kids...

NO ALLERGIC REACTION AT ALL!! You cannot understand how happy this makes me...I

used to walk out to my mailbox and have to grab the rescue inhaler immediately.

To pet the chickens, ducks and cows, AND their dog without a problem... it

honestly moved me to tears on the car ride home. But I digress....

What would a newbie letter be without a question or two!? LOL I recently

received raw milk Kefir grains via two-day priority mail from a lovely woman in

Virginia... the Milk wasn't clabbered at all and it really smelled quite

fine... Unable to find, yet, a raw milk supplier in my area, I added the

grains to two cups of organic pastuerized/homogenized milk and set it in the

cabinet to ferment/culture. What I got after the first twenty four hours

was...unpalatable. As in...it honestly just tastes like spoiled milk. There

wasn't any whey or anything...but the grains did seem to be alive and well, just

floating around in there. The milk had definitely thickened...but it's not

creamy as in the sense of even a Half and Half consistence... There's a little

bit of a fizz..but not much, which is fine.

My question is... do you lovely people think my milk spoiled when left out? Has

anyone done a refrigerated kefir-izing? I know this can take a long time - 7-10

days... I'm honestly just concerned that I'm drinking spoiled milk...after all

my health issues, I do NOT want to get ill....but I want to keep making Kefir,

because of the obvious health benefits....

Is the Kefir supposed to taste even remotely like plain unsweetened yogurt, as

the commercial stuff does? This really doesn't taste anything at all like

yogurt... just ...spoiled LOL

Until I hear from someone, I'm continueing to strain the grains and test the

ferment by taste and by consistancy, as coming off of a spoon....

Thank you SO much for being here!

The Newb-eriffic Candace

Newburgh, NY

_______________________________________

Candace Musmeci, Independant Referral Agent

CMusmeci@...

(845) 561-4965

http://www.thelivingwell.fourpointmoms.com

http://www.thelivingwell.fourpointconsultants.com

http://www.thelivingwell.fourpointwellness.com

Dipping into the Living Well...One Product At A Time

Re: Goat's milk vs. Cow's Milk

Hi April,

Even goat milk kefir will separate eventually. It needs to be a little more

acidic, then the whey will separate out. Pour that off and you will have

thicker kefir. You can also pour it into a coffee filter lined funnel to

drain off some of that whey. This is the beginning of cheese making. You can

make it as thick or thin as you want.

Marilyn

On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 8:25 PM, April McCart <sweetlotuscreations @gmail.com>

wrote:

> That was good, Marilyn! The problem I kept having with the cow's milk is

> I

> could never get a consistent kefir. My kefir would end up separating and

> I'd have curds and whey. When I did manage to catch it before it

> separated,

> it was very hard to strain. I'd end up with a thick white layer on the

> inside of the strainer and I'd have to use a spoon to stir it around in

> the

> strainer to get it to go through the strainer. I also started getting a

> " build up " on the grains. With the goat kefir, while it is thicker than

> the

> cow kefir (the goat kefir is like heavy whipping cream), it doesn't

> separate

> on me and none of that thick white layer clogging up the strainer. I can

> strain a quart size mason jar of goat kefir in about 20 seconds. I left

> it

> sitting on the counter for 24 hours to see if it would thicken. It didn't

> thicken much and I was paranoid about it separating so I put it in the

> frig. I really like the GM kefir much better.

>

> I've been giving it to my daughter and she's feeding it to my youngest

> grandson who suffers from eczema. She said he just sucks it right down

> like

> a regular bottle. He took to the raw goat's milk just fine too. I am

> glad

> I finally found a source for the raw milk but we are still stocked up on

> the

> powdered just in case.

>

> I'd like to get it just a tad thicker, more like yogurt, so I can blend it

> with fruit for my elder grandson. He loves yogurt. If I could get the

> kefir to that consistency, I'm sure he would eat it blended with fruit.

>

> --

> April

>