What is Milk Kefir?

Milk kefir is fermented milk. It can be consumed as a drinking yogurt or easily made into cheese. Milk kefir is swarming with a variety of probiotics and is often a better option than yogurt if you are looking for more diversity of probiotics. Many people who do not usually tolerate drinking milk, can in fact tolerate milk kefir very well as the probiotic bacteria metabolizes the lactose which many people do not tolerate well. 

How do I make Milk Kefir?

If you have not made milk kefir before, you might consider purchasing our milk kefir kit to make the process even easier. 

To make milk kefir, you simply place the milk kefir grains (also known as culture) into milk and leave it to ferment at room temperature for 12-48 hours. Once fermented, drain off your milk kefir for consumption while reserving your grains/culture for the next ferment. This is a one-time purchase and you milk kefir grains will continue to make milk kefir forever providing they are looked after correctly. 

You are supplied with one tablespoon portion of active milk kefir grains which cultures 3-4 cups of milk within 12-24 hours depending on the room temperature. The warmer it is the faster your kefir will ferment. The ideal temperature range varies between 18 and 24 degrees Celsius. Within a week, you are likely to be able to culture more than 1L at a time if you choose. 

If you purchase dried milk kefir grains, these will need to be placed in 1 cup of milk and refreshed every 48-72hrs. Rehydrating your grains may take up to 7 days before you can ferment with them. 

Milk kefir can be flavoured with a variety of fruits and herbs to keep you coming back for more. To read more on milk kefir, read our blog All About Kefir.

What are milk kefir grains?

Our genuine milk kefir grains are mesophilic symbiotic cultures of beneficial yeast and lactic acid bacteria. These are not to be confused with cereal grains, but rather they simply look like a grainy texture.

Milk kefir grains are used to ferment dairy drinks similar to drinking yogurt. Milk kefir is loaded with beneficial probiotic bacteria, more so than yogurt.

Although genuine kefir grains have common strains of bacteria, some grains vary slightly from one to the next. Symbiota’s kefir grains originate from multiple sources to maximize the diversity of bacteria, leading to stronger milk kefir grains and yummier, healthier milk kefir. 

Because Symbiota chooses only the best whole milk to grow our kefir grains in, our grains are alive, healthy, very active and resilient. 

Choosing dried milk kefir grains

If you do not plan to ferment your milk kefir within 3 days of receiving your culture it is best to purchase our dried milk kefir grains. If you purchase dried milk kefir grains you will need to soak them in a cup of milk for 48 hours to rehydrate. After 48 hours, drain off this milk. If the grains still look hard and not spongey yet, you will need to repeat this process until they look spongy and the cup of milk is tasting fermented. Once they have fermented the cup of milk they are ready to ferment milk. You can now place them in 3-4 cups of milk to ferment. 

****NOTE:

• Please use an urban address where possible.
• Live cultures are couriered out on Mondays & Tuesdays to avoid delays. 

Here at Symbiota we pride ourselves on customer care and provide ongoing support so that everyone can enjoy their fermenting journey feeling supported and confident. 

Please note, if you are going to use raw milk, milk kefir generally does better when the milk has been pasteurized. This is so the bacteria in the milk kefir and raw milk do not compete against each other. Some people have success using raw milk, but this can be problematic for others if it is not pasteurized. 

Milk Kefir and Viili yogurt should be kept apart. Do no mix utensils without thoroughly cleaning as these two cultures can cross very easily and require extra care in keeping separate.