Based on numerous reviews from nutritionists, fermented milk drinks should be included in the daily diet. They are useful, so today we will tell you how to make delicious and completely natural kefir from milk. Everything is quite easy to implement at home, let’s get started.

Milk kefir: “classic”

• kefir - 60 ml.
• high fat milk - 500-550 ml.

If you wish, you can replace kefir with sourdough; it is used according to the recommendations on the package.

1. It doesn’t matter what kind of milk you use, homemade or store-bought, you still need to boil it. Pour the product into a saucepan, place on the stove, remove when the first bubbles appear and cool slightly.

2. Add kefir (or sourdough starter, if you are using it) into the warm mixture. Stir until smooth. Keep in glass, covering the neck with several layers of gauze.

3. Leave the container in a warm and dark place. Time 8-10 hours. After the allotted time, carefully mix the contents and wait another 10 hours.

Kefir from milk and sour cream

• high-fat sour cream - 140-150 gr.
• milk - 1 l.

1. Pour the dairy product into a fireproof container, place it on the stove and wait until it begins to boil. Turn off the heat and cool the mixture slightly.

2. Add sour cream, mix, leave the ingredients to sour in a glass container. Be sure to cover the jar with layers of gauze.

3. After 10 hours, the fermented milk drink will be ready. Try it! It is suitable for babies who are already 8 months old.

Now you know how to make natural kefir from milk with sour cream starter. Everything is simple and clear at home!

The simplest milk kefir recipe

• kefir - 330 ml.
• milk - 1 l.

We tell you how to make kefir from milk quickly.

1. Pour the dairy product into a fireproof cooking container. Place on the fire and wait until it starts to boil.

2. Remove from the burner and leave for a while to cool partially. Milk should not be cold or room temperature, but rather warm.

3. Pour kefir into it, stir and transfer the contents into a glass container for infusion. Tie 3 layers of gauze around the neck, time for 12 hours and taste.

Milk kefir with Narine sourdough

• "Narine" - 1 bottle
• milk - 1.5 l.

The whole process is conventionally divided into 2 steps: preparing the starter and the kefir itself.

1. First we make the starter. Measure out half a liter of milk, place on the stove and boil for 15 minutes. Turn off, cool to 38-40 degrees.

2. Sterilize the jar, pour this milk into it and add the starter according to the recipe. Leave for 16 hours until creamy and viscous. Cool, put in the refrigerator and keep there.

4. Time 10-12 hours, infuse the fermented milk drink in a warm and dark place. After the specified time, move the contents into the cold for 2 hours and try.

The remaining starter can be used as needed. Kefir can be kept in the refrigerator for no longer than 3 days.

Milk kefir with bifidobacteria

• bifidobacteria - 5 servings (1 bottle)
• milk - 0.4 l.
• high-fat sour cream - 30 gr.

1. Measure out 0.15 liters. milk, boil it for a quarter of an hour. Cool slightly, mix sour cream with bifidocterium. Leave for 3.5 hours.

2. After a specified time, combine the remaining dairy product with the finished infused starter in an amount of 30 ml. Stir and wait 12 hours. After this time, the kefir will be ready.

Homemade kefir is a tasty, healthy and completely natural fermented milk drink. It’s easy to make it yourself using milk, sour cream or bifidobacteria. Try and experiment!

Kefir is widely known as a healthy, 100% natural dairy product, as opposed to many other modern drinks that do more harm than good. However, recently, consumer confidence in factory producers of kefir, sour cream and other dairy products has greatly decreased; more and more people prefer themselves or personally acquainted people as producers, since this is the only way to guarantee the absence of preservatives and other undesirable additives in a natural product. Kefir is just the product that can be prepared at home without much effort.

Useful properties of the product

Perhaps everyone knows that kefir is very useful, but not everyone can tell why this product is so useful. The peculiarity of the drink in question is that the scope of its beneficial effects on the body is very wide - in some cases, it even very effectively helps the body resist certain ailments.

Kefir is made from milk, but this natural product is rich in all kinds of vitamins and nutrients, since it was created by nature specifically for feeding a fast-growing organism. Even after the milk has soured, most of these substances do not disappear and do not lose their properties, so you should drink kefir at least to replenish your body with vitamins A, B and H, calcium, as well as microelements - phosphorus, copper, manganese, chromium and selenium All these substances are necessary to maintain the human body normally.

Since kefir is a fermentation product, it contains lactic alcoholic acid. Its content is relatively small (no more than 0.6%) to cause harm to the body, and in such quantities it produces a rather medicinal effect, positively affecting the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Regular consumption of kefir guarantees a good appetite and helps cleanse the intestinal walls of toxins.

With approximately the same amount of useful substances in its composition, kefir is somewhat healthier than milk, if only because it is more easily absorbed by the body. The characteristic sour taste helps to quench thirst faster, which is very useful during the hot season.

Once in the circulatory system, kefir continues its beneficial work here, since the elements it contains help strengthen the vascular walls.

People with individual lactose intolerance are deprived of the privilege of drinking such a healthy drink as milk, but we are only talking about a fresh product, but there are no restrictions on the use of kefir. During the ripening process, lactose is transformed, ceasing to be an allergen for the body.

Kefir is a universal dietary product - there are practically no diets in which its use would be prohibited. If you drink this drink regularly, you can lose excess weight by cleansing the body of waste and toxins, and, as a result, normalizing metabolism. At the same time, kefir is included in the therapeutic diet for people with various serious diseases, including the circulatory system and gastrointestinal tract - these include atherosclerosis and gout, diabetes and hypertension, as well as colitis.

Kefir contains a special substance that cannot be found in any other product - the polysaccharide kefiran. Recent studies show that this component has a very positive effect as a preventative against cancer.

Fermented milk drink promotes the activation of leukocytes, significantly increasing the human body’s ability to fight against pathogens of various diseases. When they say that kefir is very useful for the younger generation, they often mean this factor.

Experts recommend that women regularly consume kefir, especially during difficult periods for women’s health - during menstruation and menopause, as well as during the entire period of breastfeeding. The fact is that during the described stages, calcium is washed out of the body at an accelerated rate, as a result of which bones become more fragile and the risk of serious injury increases. Kefir is very rich in calcium and allows you to compensate for the loss of this trace element.

Contraindications

This drink is so widespread and in demand that it seems even a little strange that it could have at least some contraindications. However, in some cases, kefir may be contraindicated - for example, its diuretic properties are not compatible with urolithiasis and other similar diseases. At the same time, the number of diseases for which a doctor will forbid a patient to drink kefir at all is relatively small, and the potential harm this drink can cause is not so much due to illness as due to improper use.

For example, experts do not recommend consuming kefir in combination with other dairy products. The fact is that milk and its derivatives have a slight laxative effect, which is not noticeable if the drink is combined with regular food, but will become pronounced if you drink kefir with conventional cheese. If there are too many dairy products in an adult’s diet, stomach problems cannot be avoided.

Kefir is healthy and nutritious, and also greatly promotes weight loss, which is why many women who want to keep their figure slim often resort to a diet in which kefir occupies a dominant position, displacing almost any other product. Here you need to understand that this drink, like any other product, is not a panacea, and although there are many useful things in it, it still does not contain all the vitamins and minerals the body needs. Over time, the body will begin to experience a lack of those substances that are not present in kefir, which can result in the development of new diseases and the appearance of unpleasant symptoms.

Separately, it should be noted that among specialists there is an ambiguous attitude towards the use of kefir by pregnant and breastfeeding women. On the one hand, such a drink is a valuable source of calcium, as well as a number of other useful components that are so necessary for both mother and her child. On the other hand, a potential problem lies in the content, albeit insignificant, of alcoholic acid, because kefir is a fermentation product. Disputes in the scientific community are caused precisely by disagreements over whether such a small dose of alcohol through the mother’s body can enter the child’s body and cause him harm. Perhaps it is absolutely fair to say that in order to avoid risk during this period, it is better for mother to refuse to drink kefir in favor of milk.

Cooking methods

There is no special trick to making kefir from milk at home - it does not require any culinary skills or complex operations. Recipes for making kefir at home are numerous and varied, so the results may vary. Lovers of fermented milk products who do not want to trust factory producers are left with trial and error to choose the recipe they like most or treat themselves to an impressive variety.

From goat

Goat kefir is very rare in our country, and this is not only due to the relatively small number of goats, but also to the special specifics of preparing such a drink. The fact is that in most cases, the result is not full-fledged kefir, but only a kefir product similar to it, which has its own beneficial properties, but does not have the formal right to be called, in fact, kefir. You can make full-fledged kefir only if you have a kefir mushroom culture, which is more expensive than regular starter, but can be used almost endlessly.

However, this drink also has a certain drawback - despite all its usefulness, it does not in any way improve the intestinal microflora. At the same time, goat kefir is somewhat more natural than cow kefir, because the endless preparation of the latter without store-bought starter is almost impossible.

Goat kefir is usually fermented with simple store-bought kefir in a ratio of 1:10. Due to the specific taste of goat's milk, it would be completely useful to add one tablespoon of sugar to the mixture per liter of milk-kefir mixture.

You need to prepare a drink from goat milk by preheating the main raw material to a temperature of 35-38 degrees or using fresh fresh milk. At the same time, goat milk kefir is much more demanding on conditions than a similar cow drink - so, during the aging process, the temperature should be within 17-22 degrees. If the temperature is too low, a bitter aftertaste is very likely in the finished drink, and if the specified standards are exceeded, excessive acidity of the product cannot be avoided. The drink takes from 8 to 14 hours to prepare, and it can be stored in the refrigerator, even in a tightly closed container, for no more than three days.

Using old kefir to ferment new one is completely acceptable.

From cow

If you have never had to make kefir yourself before, you should start with the simplest algorithm - using starter culture, which can be found in any large supermarket today. The proportion looks like this: one package of starter, which usually contains 30 grams of the substance, is enough for about 1.2 liters of milk. The latter can be used both homemade and purchased - in the second case, preference is made in favor of whole cow's milk with a fat content of at least 3.2%.

By the way, if you choose ultra-pasteurized raw materials, you won’t even have to pre-boil the milk - it will be enough to heat it to 40 degrees.

If the milk is still not ultra-pasteurized, you should first boil it and then let it cool to the same 40 degrees. After this, the liquid must be poured into a pre-sterilized container (otherwise the fermentation process may take an unexpected path), and the starter is poured into it. To make delicious kefir, you should avoid using metal utensils, be it a storage container or a spoon for stirring ingredients. You need to find glass or plastic analogues.

Although the ingredients are mixed in a common container, the kefir preparation process itself is recommended to be carried out in small jars into which the thoroughly mixed mixture should be poured. Such dishes should only be covered with a lid, without closing tightly, and wrapped in a thick towel, after which the future kefir is sent to a dark but warm place. One-day kefir can be drunk in some cases even after 8 hours, but experienced chefs recommend letting the drink sit in the refrigerator for a few more hours. However, such a drink will turn out to be quite “weak”, and for those who like it stronger, the aging period in wrapped jars can be extended up to two days. It should be noted that a drink made from sour milk should not be prepared in large quantities, since it cannot be stored for a long time even in the refrigerator.

You can experiment with the taste of the finished drink at your own discretion. So, you can add a little sugar to it; fresh berries or nuts would also be a good addition.

People who prepare and consume kefir on a regular basis rarely use store-bought starter, since new kefir can be fermented by adding old sour milk to fresh milk. The proportion of such a homemade starter is approximately 1: 6 or 1: 7, depending on your own preferences, the degree of acidity of the starter and the desired speed of preparing new kefir.

Fresh milk is prepared according to the same scheme as in the case of factory starter, however, it should be remembered that when mixing, the kefir used as a starter must be at the same temperature (about 40 degrees) as the milk. Secondary kefir is usually infused a little longer - its readiness should be expected after about 12 hours. Although old kefir can be used repeatedly as a new starter, it must be said that the “degree” of such a starter decreases over time, and therefore after 5-6 cycles such kefir will no longer be suitable as a starter.

In a slow cooker

For those who like to trust even the most complex culinary delights to their favorite multicooker, there is a recipe for making kefir using this miracle of technology. In a multicooker, milk is fermented using ready-made kefir, which can also be purchased from the store, provided the fat content is not lower than 2.5%. The proportion is traditionally 1:8.

Before cooking, milk must be thoroughly sterilized; to do this, it is brought to a boil in a saucepan on a regular stove. To prevent the liquid from “escaping,” the heat must be reduced immediately after the first bubbles appear on the surface—the milk continues to be heated at this power for about another 10 minutes. Interestingly, before boiling, it is recommended to dilute homemade cow's milk with water in a ratio of approximately 3:1, and the simmering time over low heat is reduced by about half.

After completing the procedure, the milk should be given time to cool naturally. Then pre-purchased kefir is added to the cooled liquid and the mixture is thoroughly mixed. The multicooker must be washed first. It is even recommended to scald it with boiling water to prevent foreign microorganisms from entering the mass.

The cooled and thoroughly mixed mixture is placed in a multicooker and heated (this mode is present in most models) for about 12 minutes. But the drink is not ready yet, so you can’t open the lid. The heated liquid is allowed to brew in the slow cooker for about an hour, and then heated again, reducing the duration of the procedure to about 10 minutes. After this, the kefir is cooled and sent to the refrigerator, where it should sit for at least six hours before use. Kefir from a multicooker can be stored for no more than three days even in the refrigerator, so you should not prepare it in too large quantities.

Since homemade kefir allows for a certain variability in actions to obtain different results, it should be understood that different recipes will provide not only different tastes, but also different effects on the body. For this reason, you should consider the advice of people who prepare kefir at home regularly.

Low-strength kefir (one whose aging lasts no more than one day) has the most pronounced effect of comprehensive cleansing of the body, which is why it is recommended as a useful health product. It should be understood that such an effect is largely possible due to the strong laxative and diuretic effects on the body, therefore such a side effect is inevitable. Despite some inconveniences, weakly aged kefir should be drunk regularly, as it allows you to quickly cleanse the intestines, bladder, liver and kidneys.

Kefir aged two days does not have such a pronounced cleansing effect, but its use is not accompanied by such a regular urge to go to the toilet. For diabetics, this drink is very useful, since it contains practically no sugar. A strong fermented milk drink is recommended for many diseases of internal organs of various systems. Although cleansing the body of waste and toxins with such kefir will not be so obvious, it is also very useful for weight loss due to the fact that it prevents the development of cholesterol plaques.

Three-day kefir is relatively rare and has the most sour taste. For most categories of consumers, drinking this drink is appropriate in the first half of the day, although the older generation is recommended to drink it, on the contrary, at night - it has a calming effect that promotes sound sleep. Due to its high acidity, this drink is strictly prohibited for use by patients with gastric ulcers or kidney diseases.

Kefir has a noticeable sedative effect, which is why it is recommended for those who have regular problems with insomnia. A fermented milk product will also help those who have trouble falling asleep due to an irregular working day. For a noticeable effect, kefir should be drunk immediately before bed, but be prepared for the laxative effect of the drink to affect the body overnight. To neutralize this drawback, you need to start the morning with strong brewed tea, which has the opposite effect.

Sugar is widely known as an ingredient that speeds up fermentation processes, so it is often used for a richer result. For a noticeable difference, it is enough to add 20 grams of sugar per liter of potential kefir. The final result will have a sweetish aftertaste and will make the finished drink thicker.

Although kefir requires heat to make, it should not be exposed to direct sunlight. Ultraviolet radiation has a destructive effect on the beneficial components of the drink, and the taste will probably deteriorate, becoming more sour and no longer very pleasant. During the preparation process, kefir can be placed on the windowsill. If there are no other obviously warm places in the room, then the jar should be securely wrapped in a thick towel to prevent the penetration of light.

Metal utensils and utensils are contraindicated during the preparation of kefir, and drinking the finished drink from them is also undesirable. Kefir itself can acquire an unpleasant metallic taste; in addition, metal utensils somewhat slow down the fermentation process, which is why the finished drink will turn out to be unexpectedly weak. It should be noted that the combination of kefir and metal is harmful not only for the first, but also for the second, because iron utensils under the influence of sour milk oxidize and can become unusable, losing their integrity and tightness.

To learn how to make kefir at home, watch the following video.

12.11.2014 / 00:21

I prepared kefir according to this recipe when I introduced it into the diet of my ten-month-old son. The result was a very tasty and delicate fermented milk drink. I still often prepare it for myself and my baby to prevent gastrointestinal diseases. It happens that stomach problems arise from time to time, this kefir simply saves you. By the way, this kefir makes very tasty, fluffy pancakes!

15.11.2014 / 23:00

I often resort to a kefir diet, I can drink only it all day and a feeling of lightness the next day is guaranteed. I always bought it at the store, but decided to try making it at home. It is very easy. And the ingredients are available to everyone. It turns out that homemade kefir has a much greater effect. I do such fasting days 2 times a week and my weight makes me very happy. Good skin color is an indicator of my health. Thanks for the recipe. Now I use it all the time. The best part is that my child also drinks this kefir, although he refused store-bought, and I am 100% confident in its quality.

16.11.2014 / 23:18

My grandmother also made homemade kefir, and now I make it for my children, and I drink it myself with pleasure. This product really helps to maintain a constant balance in the intestines. When I treat a child with antibiotics for a long time and so that the intestinal microflora is not disturbed, I give homemade kefir and it helps a lot. And I very often go on a kefir diet and it not only helps me lose weight, but also cleanses the body great.

18.11.2014 / 23:09

Kefir is constantly present in my diet. I lead a fairly sedentary lifestyle, which negatively affects my intestinal function. Therefore, kefir is a must for me! At one time I often made homemade kefir. To do this, I bought a special starter, mixed it with warm milk, poured the whole mixture into a thermos and left it overnight. The kefir was ready in the morning! Tasty, just a little sour. I had to sweeten it a little. I tried making homemade kefir with sour cream several times. For some reason, it fermented worse in this version. Now I’m lazy and buy kefir in the store again.

15.01.2017 / 11:30

I tried to make kefir from milk and store-bought kefir, it turned out to be some kind of slurry, so I gave up on it. Then I became interested in diets, when the child grew up, I wanted to regain my girlish slimness, but half of the recipes listed kefir and cottage cheese. I started looking for better ways, and it turns out that you can just take special starter cultures for kefir and yogurt. I ordered a sample from the company “Bakzdrav”, it’s convenient that one stick of starter goes for 1-3 liters of milk, you don’t have to worry too much about dosages, it’s also very convenient that the milk is fermented even without a multicooker or yogurt maker.

26.02.2017 / 11:42

I don’t know if kefir helps you sleep. I haven’t noticed this in myself, maybe because I don’t have problems with sleep. But I know for sure that with its help you can fight extra pounds. I tested it myself. Only I drank kefir not store-bought, but homemade. I learned how to do it about a year ago. I use starter from Bakzdrav and regular milk. But if you want to lose weight with its help, then you need to drink it daily. However, I really like its taste and I have no problems with it..