Today’s excerpt is from an AOL Canada page called “The Healthy Foodie”. This is from a feature story titled “Lacto-Fermented Vegetables — Probiotic in a glass“. The author, Doug DiPasquale, is a Holistic Nutritionist and trained chef, living in Toronto. It’s notable that the author expresses a definite preference for raw milk for use in making kefir.
How I make Raw Milk Kefir — the easy way
Doug is not the only who likes to make raw milk kefir. I always prefer to eat my raw milk in the form of kefir, which I make in a very simple way. I heat up a pot of milk on the stove, stirring more or less constantly and sticking my finger in every so often. When the temperature approaches the limit of comfort, I remove the milk from the heat and pour it back into the jars, adding some starter, half a cup for 2 liters. My aim with the heating is not to kill any bacteria, but to create a situation in which the kefir bacterial culture will grow quickly. The starter I use is just kefir from the previous batch. Originally I started using the Body Ecology diet kefir starter powder. Then I put the jars of milk in a cooler with some containers of hot water and leave them there for about 12-18 hours (depending on how “tart” you like it). Then I take them out and refrigerate them. The first time you do it, using the powder, the fermenting process takes maybe 12 hours longer. -Ed.
Anyway, here’s what Doug Dipasquale says about it all in his “The Healthy Foodie” blog:
“….There are few better things you can do for your health than consume lacto-fermented beverages. They help your digestion, aid your immune system and more and more studies continue to uncover what these amazing symbiotic bacteria are doing for us. A lack of friendly flora in the digestive tract has been linked to obesity and Type I Diabetes. Good bacteria in the digestive tract is now believed to be partially responsible for “training” the immune system and will control for the overgrowth of H. Pyloria, a bacteria in the stomach that can cause heartburn and indigestion, or in some severe cases, stomach ulcers.
There are many different healthy fermented beverages that you can easily prepare in your own home as a means of getting more of these friendly flora. There are also some beverages that you can find in health food stores, but often they are not of the same quality as ones you make yourself.
Kefir is a lacto-fermented milk beverage that has myriad health benefits. Authentic kefir is cultured using fresh milk and kefir “grains”. Not to be confused with cereal grains, kefir grains are actually bacterial cultures that resemble cauliflower tops. The grains are added to fresh, preferably raw milk (although pasteurized milk can be used) and left to ferment for a day or more. The resulting beverage is a light, fizzy and refreshing with the slight aroma of beer. It also has much less lactose than the milk it came from (the longer the drink is left, the less lactose it has). But, even better, it’s loaded with beneficial bacteria. Here’s a link to a comprehensive article about kefir and its probiotic goodness…”
Read the complete story here on Doug’s blog on the AOL Canada Life and Style site.
The Bovine 