BACK
Time and temperature
are two important factors that determine how thick and tasty your kefir
will be. In the warmer months kefir may be ready to drink in 18 hours.
If you let it sit out too long at room temperature, it will become thick
and eventually start turning into cheese and whey. If your kefir is "lumpy"
and too sour, you are definitely leaving it out too long. It should be
creamy and "drinkable"…a little thicker than milk. At this point, shake
it well and place the kefir into your refrigerator. It will thicken
a little more since it is continuing to culture, but at a much slower pace.
Making kefir is an
art, not an exact science. With each batch you make, adjust the time until
you get it just the way you like it. Each area of the country and each
kitchen seem to be a little different. Donna finds that her kefir always
cultures faster for her in California than in Atlanta.
Body Ecology’s starter
culture is just that…a starter. After you start your first batch of kefir
(in milk or the liquid from the young coconut), you can use a small amount
of that first batch to make your second batch. How much to use is
included in the instructions found in each package of starter. If you transfer
too much kefir from one batch to the next, you’ll create a product that
cultures too fast and tastes too sour. You can make about 7 such "transfers"
from one batch to the next. After that, the yeast start to get crowded
out by the more aggressive lactobacillus.
Click
here to buy Body Ecology's kefir starter kit.