If you still do not know how to cook kefir at home, then this article is for you. After all, it is very simple to do this if you know the sequence of its preparation and a few secrets that will allow you to easily and simply make kefir from milk, delighting households with its taste and aroma.
What is kefir and its beneficial properties
Before you begin to understand the question: “How to make kefir at home?”, You need to find out what kind of product it is and why it is needed. So, kefir is called a fermented milk drink, which is created from milk by alcohol and fermented milk fermentation. It contains a unique set of healing bacteria and fungi that positively affect the intestinal microflora and prevent the development of a whole series of pathogenic bacteria that cause certain diseases. In addition, it improves metabolism, so for those who want to lose weight, this product should become one of the main dishes in the diet. It also has a diuretic effect on the body and enhances immunity.
Kefir Ingredients
Among the ingredients, in recipes for the preparation of kefir at home, there is always milk or sourdough, and sometimes purchased kefir. Therefore, before you begin the process of manufacturing kefir, you should learn to choose the components for its manufacture.
- Milk can be both goat and cow, both pasteurized and whole, and everyone chooses the percentage of fat for themselves, that is, it can be either non-fat or with a fat content of 3.2%.
- Ferment for real kefir can be made only from kefir mushrooms, which can be purchased in specialized stores. In all other cases, when kefir is made on the basis of sour milk bacteria or bacterial concentrates, at the output we get a kefir product.
- In addition, kefir can be created on the basis of an existing store kefir. The main thing is that milk and the same kefir mushrooms appear in the composition of this product.
How to make kefir at home?
Now let's look at the general principle of creating kefir at home. First of all, you need to boil milk in an aluminum pan, and you need to do this in any case, regardless of whether the milk was whole or pasteurized. To do this, put the pot of milk on a small fire and watch its condition vigilantly - as soon as the foam appears on the milk, it will need to be immediately removed from the heat and cooled to a temperature of 37-40 ° C. Then, to create kefir at home, you need to carefully pour the milk into a glass or porcelain dish and add the leaven to it. And in the end it will only be necessary to wrap up the dishes and place them for a day in a warm place with an air temperature of 20-26 ° C. After 24 hours, kefir will be completely ready for use.
Sourdough capsules "Latsidofil"
It will also be possible to make kefir at home from milk on the basis of sourdough from the Latsidofil capsule, which can be purchased at any pharmacy. For such a sourdough we need:
- one whole capsule "Latsidofil";
- 1.3 liters of milk.
First of all, you need to boil the milk, cool it to a temperature of 40 ° C and pour the contents of the capsule into the pan. After this, the milk will need to be thoroughly mixed so that the contents of the capsule are completely dissolved, poured into a glass or porcelain container, well insulated with a blanket and left alone for 12 hours. After this time, the contents of the container will turn into a yeast for kefir, which can be stored in the refrigerator in a sealed jar for three weeks.
The recipe for kefir leaven from the capsule "Latsidofil"
The main thing when creating kefir at home from milk with the help of a starter culture made from a preparation to protect the intestinal microflora is to accurately calculate the proportion of the ingredients we need. It is 800 ml of milk per 200 ml of sourdough. So, combining the sourdough and milk in a glass jar, stir them well, wrap them up and leave them alone for 6 hours. Then, without stirring, put the container in the refrigerator and cool for about three hours, after which it can be taken out, mixed again and drunk for 10 days.
Ferment from dietary supplement "Narine"
You can also create kefir at home with the help of starter from the Narine dietary supplement, which is sold in a box of ten bags with a weight of 200 mg each. And we will need to create a yeast:
- one sachet of dietary supplement powder;
- 200 ml of milk with a fat content of 2.5-3.2%.
First, as you might have guessed, boil the milk, cool it to the desired temperature. After we pour it into the bottle, pour the powder into it, and shake everything well. After this, the bottle should be wrapped and left alone for 18-20 hours. After this time, we look to see if the contents of the container have thickened. If a clot appears, then the leaven is ready, if the milk has not become thick, then it must still be left to ferment for a couple of hours.
Recipe for kefir on a sourdough from a dietary supplement
Do not think for a long time how to cook kefir at home on the basis of starter culture from a dietary supplement, because the method of creating this fermented milk product is very similar to the method of making kefir using the Latsidofil capsule. The amount of milk that is taken to create kefir should be equal to the expected amount of sour-milk drink. And the amount of sourdough, taking into account the proportion - 1 tablespoon of sourdough per liter of milk.
Naturally, the first thing, of course, we boil milk, and now you can take milk with any fat content, cool it to the right temperature. Then we add the leaven there, mix everything well so that the contents of the glass jar become homogeneous, leave in a warm place for 5-7 hours, after which the drink will be ready. It can be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of 2-6 ° C for a couple of days.
Bacterial Kefir Kefir
One of the most popular starter cultures for creating delicious kefir at home is the special purchased “Kefir VIVO” starter culture, which can be purchased in the dairy departments of supermarkets or in ordinary pharmacies. Actually, the process of preparing such a starter culture is as simple as possible. It is only necessary to boil the milk and cool it to an approximate temperature of 40 ° C. After that, the contents of the bottle are poured into milk with the expectation of a third of the starter culture per liter of liquid, the container is covered with a lid, insulated and left for a day in a dry, dark place. After 24 hours, the contents are well mixed, the can is put in the refrigerator for cooling, and after a couple of hours the kefir will be ready, although its taste will be fully disclosed only after a day.
Cooking kefir in a yogurt maker
Regardless of which recipe for kefir from milk at home will be your choice. Faster and easier this drink will be obtained if you do it not in banks, but in a yogurt maker. First, as in all other recipes, boil a liter of milk, then cool it to the required temperature and mix it with one or another sourdough with the expectation that the yield of kefir should be 1 liter. After that, pour the glasses of yogurt maker with boiling water, pour in them milk with sourdough and put them in an electrical appliance. After that we close the lid of the yogurt maker, turn on the device, select a temperature of 30 ° C on it and set the time for 12 hours of operation. After the allotted time, an audible signal will sound, and the kefir will be completely ready for use.
A simple recipe for kefir at home without the use of leaven
The easiest way to cook kefir is if you take ordinary kefir as a starter. In this case, we need:
- a liter of goat or cow's milk;
- 100 ml of kefir;
- a tablespoon of sugar.
All we need to create kefir from milk at home is to warm the milk to the right temperature and add sugar and kefir to it. Then it remains only to mix everything well with a wooden spatula and pour the drink into glass jars. Then these banks are wrapped up, put in a warm place. After 24 hours, they will contain excellent one-day kefir.
Re-cooking kefir
If you have once cooked one of the kefir recipes at home, then you can no longer think about another leaven. Now you just need to not finish your kefir, leaving a small amount to create a new portion of the fermented milk drink, with the calculation of 1 tablespoon of kefir per 1 cup of milk. That is, to get a liter of kefir from a liter of milk, you just need to pour 4 tablespoons of homemade kefir with boiled milk. And then, everything goes according to the already known scheme - the container with milk and kefir is insulated and wrapped up, left for a day and after 24 hours you can drink the drink with pleasure.
Making kefir on sour cream
However, kefir at home can be made not only on the basis of milk, but also on sour cream. Moreover, such a method of creating this fermented milk drink is of maximum simplicity. To prepare kefir in this case we need:
- 1 liter of milk;
- 5 tablespoons of sour cream.
All that is needed now is to boil the milk and cool it in accordance with the classic recipe, and then add sour cream to it. This mixture is well mixed, the container closes with it, wraps up and sets aside in a warm place for 10 hours. That's all, all the work will be completed, and after the allotted time, we will get a useful product that can be given even to babies from 8-9 months.
What can be prepared from homemade kefir?
After we have learned how to make homemade kefir, you can begin to create numerous food products for which it is the main ingredient.
- You can cook kefir cottage cheese at home, which is created by heating kefir in a water bath in an enameled cup. All that will be needed is to put a pot of water on the fire, inside which there is a bowl of kefir, wait until the kefir turns into serum. Then remove the bowl, let the contents pass through the cheesecloth, and when the whey has melted, the curd will remain in the cheesecloth.
- From a liter of kefir, three liters of milk and two tablespoons of salt, you can get real Adyghe cheese. First of all, we get cottage cheese and whey from a liter of kefir, which should be put in the refrigerator, because now we need it. After two days, put a pan of milk on the fire, and as soon as it boils, pour our whey into the pan and pour salt. So we continue to cook the mixture on the smallest fire until the cheese floats up in a continuous cake. After that, the fire turns off, the cheese is transferred to cheesecloth, and as the remaining liquid drains, we send it for a day in the refrigerator under the press, after which Adyghe cheese can already be eaten.
- You can also make a delicious salad dressing from homemade kefir, which will include 5 tablespoons of our sour-milk drink, half a teaspoon of mustard, three egg yolks, three tablespoons of homemade kefir cottage cheese and lemon juice. In order to make dressing, you only need to place all the components in the blender bowl and beat them until a homogeneous consistency. If desired, you can add salt and pepper to the finished sauce.