Kefir – A Healthy Breakfast Drink

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1. What is the difference between kefir and yogurt? Can you make your own kefir and can I use raw goat milk? Thanks, I love your website. Recently, my family has been discovering that we need to eat allergy free. Dairy is one of the hardest to eliminate, bcuz it is what we go to when we eat a wheat-free, gluten-free diet...(expensive, but God is good and has continued to bless us). We have a good source for raw goat milk...Lord willing the goat will not dry up. Otherwise, I will be looking into goat farming :) and learning how to milk a goat~~giggle, giggle Thanks again, Jane ;)

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   1. Hi Jane, Kefir tastes like yogurt, but it is runny. I like to call it drinkable yogurt! I am pretty sure you can make kefir with goat milk. If you can find the starter powder (in a health food store or online), just use goat milk in place of the cow milk. Once you have some kefir made, then you can use a little of that batch to make a new batch...continuing to make new batches using the kefir for starter. Let me know how it goes! I'm sure there are others who have to avoid dairy and need an alternative.

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   2. Jane, You can make kefir with goat's milk; it just, of course, tastes differently than when made with cow's milk. Another way to make kefir is with the actual kefir grains, if you can find a source of them. Anyone who makes kefir with them with soon have extras as they "grow" and you eventually need to discard some. Sharing those are great. Check for sources to purchase through the internet or to share through local sources. When making kefir with the grains, you put the kefir grains in the bottom of a two quart jar, fill with milk (cow or goat), put the lid on, give a little shake, and set in a dark place like a cupboard. Depending on the grains (how many, if stressed like from the mail, etc), it will usually just take 24 hours but could be longer. Like Sheri said, until it thickens. You can even freeze a small batch of kefir grains with milk poured over to save in case you lose your current batch for some reason. Then, the next day (or whenever the kefir is done), you strain the grains out of the kefir, refrigerate the kefir, put the grains in a new, clean jar, pour over new milk and set out again. It just keeps right on going. As the grains "eat" on goodies in the milk, they will "grow" thus getting so big that they turn the milk to kefir too quickly and take up all your jar room. That is when you share with others, save in the freezer, or just throw out. The only important thing is not to use your kefir or kefir grains with metal. I am not really sure what happens, but apparently, they don't like it. Plastic or wood is preferred. Hope that helps even though I see your original post was over a year ago. Maybe it will help someone else as well. :)

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