Guest guest Posted February 21, 2002 Report Share Posted February 21, 2002 I am out of kefir to share at the moment. So if you would like some from me try in two weeks I should have more then. Or try the Kefir list! There is usually someone there who has some to share. Grace, a Augustine I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough ''Hello's " to get you through the final goodbye. --anonymous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 3, 2002 Report Share Posted March 3, 2002 > I've been buying prepared kefir and want to start making my own. I'm confused about kefir grains. What exactly are they...? --snip-- Kefir " grains " are a symbiotic colony of yeasts, acetic acid bacteria, and lactic acid bacteria held together by kefiran, a polysaccharide created by the microbes. It is thought that a chance meeting of this complex colony in a milk medium resulted in the first kefir grains. is right, they have never been generated from scratch. You can get your own from someone on the " Kefir making " group. You can also read alot about kefir there. Dom, in Australia, is particularly knowledgable. It is said that the commercial kefir preparations are more similar to yoghurt in culture. The whole of the kefir cultures aren't used, possibly because it isn't practical for mass production and distribution. It continues to ferment after removal of the grains, so wouldn't be stable (stay the same) on the shelf very long. Portland, OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 3, 2002 Report Share Posted March 3, 2002 There is at least one commercial kefir that is authentic, but I'm not sure how widely it's available. The brand name is Helios. Sadly, it's made with 2% instead of whole milk. However, it is milk from Organic Valley and they do use authentic kefir grains Helios Nutrition, Ltd is a fairly new Minnesota company. I've tried both Lifeway brand and Helios, and I think the Helios is so much better that I can't stand to get the Lifeway anymore...the last bottle of Lifeway found a new dual life as a container of whey and a spinach-herb party dip. Helios is actually slightly carbonated, and the bottle is almost always puffed out from the fermentation. Also, I suspect that as the company grows, they might be able to be convinced to carry a whole milk... Company web site: http://www.heliosnutrition.com/ Agricultural Utilization Research Institute story: http://www.auri.org/news/ainapr99/03kefir.htm > > I've been buying prepared kefir and want to start making my own. I'm > confused about kefir grains. What exactly are they...? > --snip-- > Kefir " grains " are a symbiotic colony of yeasts, acetic acid bacteria, > and lactic acid bacteria held together by kefiran, a polysaccharide > created by the microbes. It is thought that a chance meeting of this > complex colony in a milk medium resulted in the first kefir grains. > is right, they have never been generated from scratch. You can > get your own from someone on the " Kefir making " group. You can > also read alot about kefir there. Dom, in Australia, is particularly > knowledgable. It is said that the commercial kefir preparations are > more similar to yoghurt in culture. The whole of the kefir cultures > aren't used, possibly because it isn't practical for mass production > and distribution. It continues to ferment after removal of the > grains, so wouldn't be stable (stay the same) on the shelf very long. > > > Portland, OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 3, 2002 Report Share Posted March 3, 2002 >There is at least one commercial kefir that is authentic, but I'm not >sure how widely it's available. The brand name is Helios. Sadly, >it's made with 2% instead of whole milk. However, it is milk from >Organic Valley and they do use authentic kefir grains All the Helios I've noticed at the store lately also has Inulin added, which is a disaster. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2002 Report Share Posted March 4, 2002 Roman- >How is that a diaster? Is inulin what's supposed to promote growth of bifido >bacteria? Here's a quote from Elaine Gottschall that might help answer your question: >>Dr. Hugh of the University of Newcaste of New South Wales, >>Australia presented work he had done which showed that in a medium >>containing FOS, the growth of Clostridium was huge far outgrowing other >>bacteria in FOS medium. No one questioned him except me. He scratched his >>head when I asked " why are the Clostridium growing at this exponential >>rate " and he laughed and said " we wondered about it too. " I've read elsewhere that while FOS can serve as food for good bugs, there's nothing to the claim that bad bugs can't eat it. For example, it's supposed to be a preferred food for klebsiella. You could also check out http://www.healingcrow.com/ferfun/conspiracy/conspiracy.html#FOS which has some information and references. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 4, 2002 Report Share Posted March 4, 2002 I'll stick with the blueberry family (not named at healingcrow) , asparagus, garlic and Jerusalem artichokes for natural inulin. Must be the reason they were staples of native North American diet. I find it interesting that asparagus is one of the first harvests of spring and Jerusalem artichokes the last of fall. Wanita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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