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Organic and Free Range Milk

Free range organic cows

Organic and Free Range Milk question.
I love this email we received the other day.  It is heartwarming that someone cares enough to ask about the welfare of the cow’s and goats – an excellent question.  I just replied to Aimee and decided to share this with you:

Good evening,

I absolutely love kefir and I love your kefir the taste is impeccable. The only query I have is the
organic cows/goats milk, does it come from free range cows/goats who are treated well and kept well?

Many thanks,

Aimee

Hi Aimee,
Many thanks for getting in touch, and so glad you love Nourish Kefir 🙂
Yes – I can provide assurance of excellent animal welfare for our organic cow’s and goats milk.  Yes both are free range, and mostly pasture fed – except when the weather prevents them from getting outside.  Goats are a bit fussy and like to be in doors… but they are given good care and the freedom to roam, explore and live happy and healthy lives!
A few years ago I was at a cow’s milk conference and they were talking about the high rainfall – especially in Ireland – and how perfect it is because the grass is growing with natural water – not having to be watered – like they have to do in warmer countries.  In the UK we still get good rainfall and this contributes to lovely fresh grass and organic pastures are of course free from nasty pesticides – I think we forget about these things.  And the hedges are allowed to grow – which supports that natural wildlife habitat – which is so critical for balanced ecology.  People are so worried about antibiotics – but there is much more going on on the planet.  Well looked after cows and goats are less likely to need any treatment.  And if an animal does become unwell it is removed from the supply – so it has a chance to get well and then later provide milk again.
I love organic milk because it is so much more than just milk.  We notice changes too at different times of year and it connects us all to the planet and where are food comes from.
We are passionate about making the best kefir -and all our kefir grains are organic too – we have been growing them for years in organic cow’s and goats milk…
It’s really great that you care, it is important, and we are doing our part to be responsible producers as are the organic farmers and growers who feel the same way.  We are all connected.
Have a lovely weekend,
Deborah

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Your Kefir and gut health questions

Deborah answers your kefir questions

YOUR KEFIR AND GUT HEALTH QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Do you have any questions about your gut health and kefir, let us know?

Deborah experienced profound changes and healing of her crohn’s disease and IBS through drinking kefir.  She had been suffering for more than 10 years with symptoms of IBS and crohn’s.  Since discovering kefir in 2006 her health returned and she started Nourish Kefir to provide authentic kefir for people who wanted to improve their gut health Deborah has supported thousands of customers on their journey to a happy gut.
Her suggestions are practical and easy to implement straight away.

If you have any questions related to kefir let us know…

Send your questions by email – up to 8th September.  Please provide a brief outline of your symptoms for a particular gut health issue.
We will collate all the questions and then answer them in a video blog – that we will put up on the website youtube page mid September.

Deborah has been featured on BBC Radio 4 – The Food programme, Channel 4 Superfoods and on the BBC World Service in March talking about kefir and gut health.

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£20 off first order at Farmdrop

Get £20 off your Farmdrop order

Get £20 off your first order at Farmdrop using the code NOURISH

We are very excited to let you know that Farmdrop is now selling Nourish Kefir…
To celebrate this, Farmdrop have agreed a special offer of £20 off your first order – pretty good offer when you consider how much there is to choose from!

Farmdrop offer our full Nourish Kefir range – yes even our yummy smoothies…
Just check that you are in the delivery area for Farmdrop to make sure they can reach you.  They deliver from 7am to 10pm to work addresses as well as home addresses – which is handy!

Farmdrop also like to support local producers – which is really great – on their website they say:

“local means that the food you order is grown or produced near our Hub. Then delivered direct to us from our farmers and food makers. When you buy local food, you’re directly supporting small farmers and family businesses who care about getting you the best food they can make (or grow) – and it hasn’t travelled as far, so it’s much fresher, tastier and healthier.”

Farmdrop is based in North London and Nourish Kefir is made about 12 miles away at our dairy in South Croydon.  We are a ‘small producer’ as it’s a family business that started in 2007.  We are the original, authentic fermenters of REAL kefir drinks are made with fresh organic cow’s milk or fresh goats milk.

When we say REAL – what we mean is that we ferment actual live kefir grains – 6 days a week!  We are the only UK commercial producer to do this.
And what do our drinks taste like?  Refreshingly creamy, smooth and delicious!
And the reason why we ferment in this authentic way is because it is the very best quality kefir you can drink – the ones made made with actual kefir grains.   There is no yoghurt bacteria in real kefir – it’s worth knowing the difference!

Hope you get to take up the offer !

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Same Name Different Product – Kefir

Deborah and her precious kefir grains

Same Name Different Product – KEFIR

At Nourish Kefir it has been a challenging 18 months, since the mass produced ‘kefirs’ appeared in the supermarkets, and being sold at discounted prices.

To most consumers all kefir drinks look the same.  It is understandable that they probably think one type is as good as another.  But that’s actually not the case.  The efficacy of kefirs gut healing benefits has been documented by numerous scientific studies and even briefly on Trust Me I’m a Doctor in 2017.  However, this excellent news about kefir relates specifically to kefir made by fermenting actual kefir grains in milk. We are the only kefir producers – doing this on a commercial scale.

I started the business in 2006 when kefir grains healed my crohn’s disease and IBS (I had suffered daily for more than 10 years!). I started selling kefir in 2007 and actually producing kefir – started the dairy/factory in 2009. Our dairy is located in South Croydon – an unlikely home perhaps, but where I grew up!  We buy in fresh organic cow’s milk (and now also fresh goats milk) and we are fermenting our kefir grains 6 days a week.  We follow a a multi-fermentation recipe to get it just right for each batch.

So what is the difference then? We have analysed many other brands – and they are simply yoghurt bacteria with some extra kefir type bacteria added (but they don’t say this on the label). They are not real kefir -as real kefir does not contain yoghurt bacteria!
Legally we don’t know how they are allowed to use the name KEFIR?  It’s something we are challenging with the Food Standards Agency and Trading Standards.

Our business does not sell to large supermarkets – and it is NOT our intention to do so either. We support and sell through the Independent Health Food and Fine Food Stores in the UK and Ireland. We are doing something we believe in!  Yes we want to have a successful, profitable business, but based on truth and supply of something really worthwhile, that genuinely helps people improve their gut health.  Something that we feel good about!

I believe consumers really do want the best, honest products.  They go to health food and whole food shops to buy organic and brands they can trust – they would not be happy to think that they are being misinformed about any foods they consume.

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Believe that Healing is Possible

Believe that healing is always possible.
Even with a diagnosis that says otherwise.  The power of our intentions, our will to survive and our strength to take positive action all contributes to our healing possibilities.

In February 2019, my dad was diagnosed with an untreatable oesophageal tumour and an internal tear (that he was told will never heal and because of this there would be no treatment options available to him).  As you can imagine this was devastating news for our family.  However, I’m really happy to share that he has been given good news today that after just four months post diagnosis the tear has healed!

I believe he did this by following an ‘alternative’ anti-cancer diet.  This involved for the most part; clean foods (avoiding sugar), healing teas, bicarbonate of soda, vitamins and minerals, cbd oil, apricot kernel oil, breathing exercises, meditation and prayer, intention, rest, sleep, hydration and of course both organics cow’s kefir as well as goats milk kefir.

His journey to wellness is only just beginning, and yes he has a long way to go!  But today we are celebrating that a life threatening tear has healed!  His body did this, he did this and we all supported him – especially my mum!

I wanted to share it with you – because this is happening to people all over the place and we need to encourage each other to not accept a diagnosis that we cannot be healed.  We all have the power to take better care of ourselves, our bodies and minds.  I believe that healing is possible!  And I am grateful for all the books, resources and products readily available – especially kefir that is helping him to get through this challenging time in his life!

We took this photo in the hospital today  just after the meeting with the surgeon and nurse – to capture the moment and the feeling.  Me with my Dad William and Mum Mary.

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New Label Artwork shows grains

Here’s a sneak preview of our new label artwork showing real kefir grains for our 500ml Nourish Kefir.

We are so passionate about making authentic kefir that we want to show you that we  make kefir with real grains, and as experts in kefir fermentation – it’s important to share with you that we grow them here at our dairy.  From start to finish we look after every step of our kefir production.  It’s really important for us to make sure we deliver the very best quality kefir to you!

Fermenting kefir grains is an art and science.  And you’d be surprised if you realised the efforts we go to in preparing our cultures to make each batch of Nourish Kefir.  It takes no less than 5 days of fermentation!

We work at weekends too to keep looking after our kefir grains.  They are a special living organism and they need lots of care and attention.   So here they are now on the front of our new label artwork!

We also decided to include how we got started. From Deborah’s chance discovery of kefir in 2006, making her own kefir at home and healing her chronic IBS and crohn’s disease, to Nourish Kefir under scientific scrutiny from the producers of Trust Me I’m a Doctor.  We are confident about our drinks and were thrilled with the proven results!

It is really exciting to see how popular kefir has become since the Trust Me I’m a Doctor programme was broadcast in 2017. (in the episode Nourish Kefir is the group 1 test)

With Nourish Kefir we promise there is NO yoghurt in our kefir drinks.  We make pure and real kefir and that is why we created a new label and updated the artwork to show the actual grains.  An interesting fact: there is no yoghurt cultures in real kefir grains… (Yoghurt cultures are: Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus).
Real kefir has a mesophilic fermentation at 22 degrees, where as yoghurt has a thermophilic fermentation at 38 degrees.
Real kefir is different to yoghurt based kefir – they are NOT the same product – but they carry the same name.

If you have any questions, feedback or comments we would love to hear from you – so get in touch here