kefir - Love it? Hate it? Tried it?

I've been reading "Nourishing Traditions - The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats" by Sally Fallon. It's been an interesting read, although if I were to follow most of her suggestions I'd have to quit my day job and just stay home fermenting and culturing things. I'd also be super-cranky from caffeine withdrawl. Here's her list of beverages to avoid - soft drinks (regular and diet,) sugared drinks, pasturized milk, coffee, tea, cocoa, fruit juice and any water that isn't filtered tap. That doesn't leave much, but she does promote kefir. She provides a recipe to make it yourself. However, perusing the dairy case at Family Fruit Market on Cicero a couple days ago I noticed bottles of Lifeway Low-Fat Kefir in a variety of fruit flavors. I picked up a bottle of the Raspberry and it's been sitting in the fridge for the last three days. I don't know what I'm waiting for. I love yogurt but I think I'm trepidatious about the consistency - thicker than milk, but thinner than yogurt. I'm absolutely going to have some with breakfast tomorrow, but I'm curious...anyone here consume it regularly? Have a favorite brand or flavor? Actually make it yourself?

The Wife and I have been drinking kefir since the 70s. It's a good breakfast drink, slightly tart and creamy. The Wife sometimes buy unflavored kefer, to which she adds some fruit juice, which is also good. If you like yogurt, you will probably like kefer -- it's pretty much the same thing; just liquefied.

I love kefir. As DH notes, it's a lot like liquid yogurt. Except I like kefir better, generally speaking. And Lifeway is fun because they offer so many versions of kefir -- different ethnicities, different flavors.

I am a daily kefir drinker. Lifeways (a local company, btw) is my favorite, and the strawberry and pomegranate are the best. Avoid the cappuccino flavor at all costs ~shudder~

I also like kefir. It's [beware - $10 word coming] organoleptically similar to a drinkable yogurt, but it typically has more cultures in it, for arguably more probiotic effects.

In addition to Lifeway, you sometimes see the Helios brand, which I prefer.

Don't be afraid! Kefir is delicious. I also enjoy the pomegranate flavored Lifeways. I'll have to check out Helios.

Hi,

My first experience in Kefir was in the USSR. In that period of time, getting fresh milk that was on the brink of going sour was simply luck. Since kefir was a cultured milk, it was a more reliably not be spoiled than milk. It was only sold unflavored there. The texture and flavor always reminded me of buttermilk, though a comparision to yogurt is reasonable.

When I encountered kefir here, I was surprised by the slightly different pronounciation favored here (I say it ke-fir with a very soft k). While both yogurt and kefir are better known plain at their origins, it was better selling point to add fruit flavorings here to move it into your cart. I fully recall yogurt when I was small a favored food of health nuts, before Dannon and others positioned it for a more mainstream market.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:I fully recall yogurt when I was small a favored food of health nuts, before Dannon and others positioned it for a more mainstream market.

Are you perhaps referring to Dr. Gaymont's Yogurt, still, apparently, popular in South America?

LynnB wrote:...anyone here consume it regularly? Have a favorite brand or flavor? Actually make it yourself?

Yes, I drink kefir almost every day. My favorite is plain. It tastes so tangy and tart and deliciously satisfying without added sugar, but if I want it sweet, I blend it with fresh or frozen fruit (berries, mango, or bananas). I stopped buying the pre-flavored kinds because of the sugar content; however, I used to love the raspberry and peach flavors of Helios organic kefir.

My favorite brand is Trader Joe's. I like Helios too but they are expensive for me. I don't like Lifeway's kefir because it smells off to me and has a weird slimy texture that I don't get with other brands. I've heard that Lifeway makes TJ's kefir, but if they do, they use a totally different recipe because the nutritional info labels are very different (as is the taste/consistency).

I've made kefir myself before but didn't have a great experience. You have to get a hold of kefir grains and keep switching it out w/ new milk every 24 hours or so. It was a major pain in the butt to maintain, and the results were absolutely nothing like the storebought kind so I just gave up. Apparently the homemade kind made w/ kefir grains contains a lot more probiotics than the commercial kinds, but it doesn't matter to me as the kind I get at the store has been really benefitting me (quells my stomach aches/indigestion, has noticeably boosted my metabolism and helped me get over my cold last weekend!)

David Hammond wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:I fully recall yogurt when I was small a favored food of health nuts, before Dannon and others positioned it for a more mainstream market.

Are you perhaps referring to Dr. Gaymont's Yogurt, still, apparently, popular in South America?

Yes, it is amazing how a name like Dr. Gaymont instantly sounds medicinal to me.

I fully recall my Dad offering me a taste of Dr. Pepper when I was in kindergarten. I can remember he was watching Hogan's Heroes while organizing his desk. I screamed and ran for the hills. It wasn't until I was 10 that I finally tried Dr. Pepper, then regretted those lost years.

Regards,

Well... I didn't love it, I certainly didn't hate it, and I have now tried it. Drinking it from a glass was a little weird for me. I think next time I'll either use a straw or just spoon it from a dish. I was suprised by how filling it was! I was planning to drink the recommended serving size (1 cup,) and follow that with a light breakfast. After drinking it and reading a few sections of the paper I realized I was pretty full and didn't feel like I needed anything else til lunch. I did have some coffee though (Ms. Fallon would have been so disappointed.) I'm going to keep experimenting with this - will try the Trader Joe's version, look for the Helios and give the Lifeways Pomegranate a shot. Thanks for all the replies! Lynn

Hey LynnB, if you drink it straight from the fridge while it's still very cold, it's prety thick. If you set it out at room temp. for a few minutes before drinking, it will thin out a bit in consistency (I don't know how to phrase it, it just gets a little runnier). Kind of like when you set out cheese before serving to let it soften and bring out the flavor. I tend to sip it straight from the quart bottle Yeah it's quite satiating from all of the protein.

Does it taste like this?

No Jay, it doesn't taste anything like those, at least if that's the same kind of lil yogurt drinks that are popular in Asia. Those are mostly water an corn syrup with some added milk powder and other stuff. Kefir is just fermented milk and is thick and white.

Kefir resources:

Dom's Kefir In-Site

Finding Kefir Grains

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:I am a daily kefir drinker. Lifeways (a local company, btw) is my favorite, and the strawberry and pomegranate are the best. Avoid the cappuccino flavor at all costs ~shudder~

I agree!
It's a little pricey but a lot tasty. I get mine at Jewel or Lincolnwood Prouce, and I've tried nearly every flavor that I've seen and they've all been good: peach, strawberry-banana, raspberry, pomegranate, etc. etc. Except cappuccino. It really is just drinkable yogurt. As far as I know Jewel only carries Lifeway brand.

Thanks for the kefir tips. I had never tried it before even though I love yogurt, but I picked up some last night.

Long story but I have to have high-protein snacks between meals and I had never thought of kefir for this. It's actually higher protein than most yogurts (except the Greek strained yogurts). I tried Lifeways strawberry/banana and did like it, but I'm going to pick up the Trader Joe's plain and see if I can just do that to cut down on the sugar.

Pretty much a daily drinker of Lifeway cherry flavored. Love the stuff. Pick it up at Whole Foods out of habit but I've been trying to hit Lincolnwood Produce a lot more often.

I just had my first taste of Baked Style Yogurt in a similar bottle as kefir. This stuff was found at Marketplace on Oakton. It's brown and tastes somewhat like spoiled milk with lots of yogurty chunks, even after a rigorous shaking.

Please make sure what you get is kefir.

It should be pointed out that there are many other dairy products with some of the similar probiotic effects as kefir and drinkable yogurt, although they may be a bit tough to find commercially (if anyone can point me to sources locally, please do). They include things like koumiss, filmjölk, viili (the latter two being Scandinavian), and ryazenka.

And, of course, cultured buttermilk and acidophilus milk also have some of the same probiotic effects, and they're pretty easy to find.

nr706 wrote:...and ryazenka

Yep, that's the stuff I'm drinking!

nr706 wrote:It should be pointed out that there are many other dairy products with some of the similar probiotic effects as kefir and drinkable yogurt, although they may be a bit tough to find commercially (if anyone can point me to sources locally, please do). They include things like koumiss, filmjölk, viili (the latter two being Scandinavian), and ryazenka.

And, of course, cultured buttermilk and acidophilus milk also have some of the same probiotic effects, and they're pretty easy to find.

Not to mention bulgarzoon.

Channel 5 reports on the Starfruit opening and disputes the healthfulness of probiotics:

University of Illinois microbiologist Abigail Salyers said claims about cultured milk products are way overblown. "Right now, the overview for most scientists is that probiotics are not very effective," she said after working on the American Society of Microbiologists latest review of probiotics.

She said that among the review's findings, "There is no conclusive evidence that altering the microbiota of a healthy human individual is beneficial"....

Dr. Roger Clemens, a professsor and food technologist from the University of Southern California, pointed out that there's "not a regulatory statute in this country or in any country in the world" that requires makers of food with probiotics to specifically list what strain of live culture is being used. And there are hundreds of strains out there. Other experts say the labels aren't clear about the shelf life of these cultures; at some point they do become inactive. Also, there's no way to know how much or what strain to eat for which disease. In fact, Clemens said, probiotics added to food means it's not a drug. And that's why he said, "No health claims have been approved by the FDA."

The future, however, is a tantalizing one. Existing research shows that probiotics can actually communicate with different immune cells, which may modulate immune function and reduce the risk of ear and upper respiratory infections, a common problem for kids.

Purely anecdotally, I'll comment that when I've had ill effects from taking antibiotics, eating yogurt seems to speed recovery.

LAZ wrote:Purely anecdotally, I'll comment that when I've had ill effects from taking antibiotics, eating yogurt seems to speed recovery.

That makes sense. Speaking very generally, antibiotics tend to wipe out the intestinal microflora, and yogurt, kefir, or other products with live cultures can help re-establish it.