Homemade Kefir?

 UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Related Background:

At age 50 a colonoscopy was recommended. Then eating more fiber was recommended. Missed my year round garden to graze from to support the fiber. That's why this blog has been mosty about my Gardyn for a while.  This summer (2024)  I was treated for diverticulitis with several rounds of antibioutics. For a time I was on special diet. (That's not either of the links I remember.) So now I am in the long slow process of trying to repopulate my gut and reintroduce foods back into my diet. My body notices if I skip a pill or take a different brand with different contents. When I finally got in to see the specialist, he encouraged my approach of taking probiotics, both tablets and the range of fermented foods.

I generally blog to pull a longer narrative into my facebook feed, which has related threads.

fermentation books available thru libby in OC:
Fermented Foods for Health: Use the Power of Peobiotic Foods to Improve your Digestion, Strengthen Immunity, and Prevent Illness by Deidre Rawling PhD N.D.
Mastering Fermentation: Recipes for Making and Cooking with Fermented Foods  by Mary Karlin
The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table Recipies for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle by Jennifer McGruther

As if I finished the books,  here are papers https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Milk+Kefir%2BHealth%2BHistory&oq=m&fbclid=IwY2xjawF5XPBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHb_LvnKPfRCmLnCqjYDWWZsWcaQESkhNQArAYqbWmGRIWlg1mB9_sdWYqg_aem_74ygYyWFtsepHr-r0ed0Mg

Things that made me go, huh, during this journey:

fiber is considered a prebiotic, which sets up a good enviroment for probiotics

kefir is not yogurt. It actually reminds me of sourdough with a starter, feeding, stirring.... Unfortunately baking bread kills the colony.

Tuesday October 8, 2024

Amazon order should have arrived.

Friday October 11 2024 8pm ACTIVATE

1C pasteurized milk, grains from culturesforhealth.com (Amazon) quart Mason jar , Mason tops Kefir Cap (instead of coffee filter an rubberband), starting at 12 hours look for thickening. 


Strain and put in fresh milk, increasing by 1/2C until you reach 4C 3 days?

If no change in texture within 24, use same amount of milk. If it tastes ans smells good , may use in baking instead of buttermilk. 


Saturday October 12 2024 

9am gave it a swirl. Still thin. The house is 70. Bumped the heat from 68 to 72.


8pm not thick. Put in breadmaker and made rye. 


Sunday 

Still not thickening.  Smelled yeasty in the morning; less so in the evening. Put green lid on. Made more rye. Remembered caraway seeds.

Monday (day 3)

Morning swirl was still thin, but by lunch time it has separated. Drained off the whey. With thoughts  of Miss Moffet, I am wondering what to do with the mild stuff. When I replaced it I went up a half cup for the first time. 

Curiosity about the double ferment thing even though I'm not on top of this




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