I have had a kefir "plant" for some time but I'm not currently using it. It is reposing in the freezer in a nest of powdered milk.

The story of kefir and how it arrived in Russia and then spread to the rest of the world is quite interesting. It involved espionage, kidnapping, and ultimately a court case. The "mother" of kefir, commonly called kefir grains, is a mass of soft white jelly nodules generally about the size of a jelly bean. Kefir is actually a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts. They slowly increase from batch to batch and at a certain point you can divide them and give away half. You normally don't eat the grains but you can if you wish. I used to blend my strained kefir with some fruit or jam before drinking it.



Kefir grains

All those little bottles of fermented milk products that you buy in the supermarket have their origins in kefir. The big difference is that in oder to sell something commercially they have to define it and generally select one of the many types of bacteria that one would find in kefir. Even more refined versions can be purchased in a pharmacy in a concentrated form. They are often prescribed to help restore stomach bacteria following a course of antibiotics.

A real ginger beer "plant" is a very similar thing and is sometimes known as "water kefir" or "sugar kefir". I am not referring to the type which is made using powdered yeast, powdered ginger and sugar but the type that has nearly clear "grains" similar to kefir. The origins of the "kefir" type of ginger beer plant are unknown but it was probably brought from Asia or India by British soldiers.

This type can be used with dried figs or other flavouring fruits and sugar for those who do not like ginger (or milk).



Water kefir (or ginger beer) grains.

To make ginger beer you must, of course, add water, the juice of ginger, and sugar. Then after a period of fermentation the liquid is filtered and bottled and the process starts again. A spoon of sugar is added to each bottle for the secondary fermentation but after 2 days they must be refrigerated to block the fermentation and avoid exploding bottles.

In the end I stopped making it because I was starting to get problems with high blood sugar levels.

After reading this I am a bit tempted to see if I can revive my kefir grains that are in the freezer.

Peter

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