FAQs about kefir

Children over the age of 12 months are usually safe to drink kefir (provided they do not suffer with milk allergy).
Natural kefir is a nutritious and natural drink for children as it provides fats, proteins, carbohydrates vitamins and minerals for healthy body function and growth, plus it is packed with good bacteria for their digestion.
How much to drink depends on the age of the child.
There is no scientifically calculated amount - so a small glassful a day or every other day of approx 50ml) is plenty.
Natural kefir is best as there is no added sugar, but if you children need it flavoured try blending with half a chopped banana and some summer berries - which is really tasty.  When we meet families and the children like the kefir we always say they will be the smartest and best looking kids in school 😉

Kefir is suitable for all ages as a wonderful natural and nutritious drink.  How much you should drink is really up to you!  If your digestion is working well and you just want to top up your good bacteria then 1 or 2 bottles of 250ml a week will be a great addition to your diet.  You can drink more if you like it 🙂

If your digestion is not good kefir may be a good food to include into  your diet to get it back on track.
We would love to explain the health benefits as we see them, but are banned by EU law so it is a bit difficult.
However, in Deborah's experience kefir is amazing at helping get diahorrea under control.  For constipation though kefir can be even more binding - so if this is your problem look to include 3 things - water, oil and movement.  Taking kefir with omega 3 such as cod liver oil at the same time is a wonderful way to keep bowel movement flowing!  Omega 3 is great for the bowel and the brain - and we believe taking it with kefir is great!

Ultimately it is up to you when you drink your kefir.
Here at Nourish Kefir we want you to get optimum experience from our kefir and we suggest the following as a rough guide:
morning - before breakfast
evening - before your evening meal
night - last thing before bed

We feel that this is a good way to get the wonderful good bacteria into your body in 3 bursts over a day.  Scientific studies back in 2014 suggested that about 40% of the good bacteria were adhering to the digestive tract, ( in a simulated gut test).  With that in mind we think a little and often approach is the best way to optimise your good bacteria intake.
Kefir is better taken before food - you don't want to be fermenting on the inside!
Before bed! Drinking some kefir last thing at night may have a calming effect to encourage better sleep!

Yes we make our kefir with organic cow's milk and living kefir cultures that we ferment ourselves. Confusion may arise where we talk about kefir grains - these are living micro-organisms/ bacteria not grains like wheat or oats. It is just that their original name is grain - referring to REAL kefir (not lab produced cultures)

Yes we make our kefir with organic whole cow's milk.
We are organic certified with the Organic Food Federation.
All our kefir cultures are fermented by us using organic cow's milk.

Nourish Kefir is made with organic cow's milk.   This cow's milk naturally contains carbohydrates - also known as sugars.  
There are NO added sugars - no sugar cane, or anything else.
The taste of natural kefir is not sweet - it is slightly tangy, refreshing, creamy and delicious.
Natural kefir is suitable for people with diabetes
However - the fruity kefirs do contain sugar in the form of Agave Nectar

Yes it is, and it's also great to drink breast feeding as it may help pass on good bacteria to the baby.

Yes we make our kefir with milk that is pasteurised, homogenised and organic. Homogenised milk creates a smoother kefir.

No!
We take pasteurised organic cow's milk and ferment it with our lovely kefir cultures and the result is a live kefir drink - bursting with billions of wonderful good bacteria.

We do not re-pasteruise the kefir after fermentation - no no - that would defeat the object!  
We do have our drinks analysed to count the bacteria in them - it is many billions per 100ml and we really happy with that result - as we never add sugar to grow the cultures - just milk!

Kefir is amazing to take to improve your gut microflora yes!  Nourish Kefir was the kefir product featured on Trust Me I'm a Doctor in a 30-day trial with 10 volunteers, and it was clinically proven to impart good bacteria into their digestive tracts.  It was tested against other products and was the hands-down best product.  Wikipedia gives more impartial information.

Kefir is supposed to help 'normalise' bowel function.  But I have found that it is more likely to exacerbate constipation in someone who already suffers with it.
I have a remedy to help with the constipation.  Here it is - very simple... you need:
More plain water - drink more water - yes it's simple, but you have to do it.  A glass before bed, and a glass in the morning - and more in between.
A daily or maybe even twice daily spoonful of real cod liver oil - followed by a full glass of water - until bowel movement improves.
Gentle stretching and bending exercises - or better still a 20 min walk a day
A diet that includes fibrous veggies such as broccoli, cabbage, peas.... This is simple, but works.
Constipation is a sluggish bowel... it is stuck or very slow moving... If you give it more water and oil it will flow much easier.  Then when you add kefir you know you have good bacteria in your intestines to support digestion of food, assimilation of nutrients, support of the immune system.

Where do kefir grains come from? It's a bit of a mystery...

Kefir grains are a naturally occurring gift from nature.  They are living micro-organisms and are NOT man-made.  No one knows exactly where or when the actual kefir grains first appeared; opinion varies from hundreds to maybe even thousands of years ago!  What is known, is that kefir grains originated from the Northern Caucasus Mountains, where they evolved into being over a very long time of fermenting milk in animal skins.

A 'Gift' from the Gods?

The local people of the Caucasus Mountains are said to have discovered kefir a thousand years ago.
Others believed it was a 'miraculous' gift from Mohamad - exclusively for them.
The grains were reported to be treated like precious jewels in each family, because of their ability to preserve and enhance milk.

As part of its mystery, kefir is closely linked to the longevity of the Caucasian people, who were known to live long and healthy lives, with many centenarians among them.  Professor Elie Metchnikoff refers to kefir grains in his 1907 book "The Prolongation of Life" where he observed that good (or bad) bacteria appear to have a direct effect on health.  See our testimonials

The word 'kefir' comes from the Turkish language and roughly translated means 'long life' or 'good life'!

Spreading the word...

According to legend, the Caucasian people were possessive of their precious kefir, and wanted to keep it just for themselves. Luckily for us they didn't succeed… and at the turn of the twentieth century, stories about kefir leaked out about it's amazing properties that were deemed to be the good health of the locals who were drinking it - and their old age.  Back then good gut bacteria was unknown... but it was the beginning of pioneering scientific exploration that lead to the term probiotic being coined by Elie Metchnikoff.  Probiotic meaning pro-life - and that is exactly what kefir grains are.  They have taken a while to take off in the UK because our taste-buds were not really happy with the sour taste of kefir.    Times have changed and kefir is gaining in popularity in the UK since our launch in 2007!

What does kefir taste like?  Nourish Kefir drinks have a distinctive and more-ish taste.

Our organic (free range pasture fed) cow's milk kefir is slightly sour, deliciously creamy and refreshing!  You may notice a slight fizz upon opening the bottle - traditional kefir is referred to as the 'champagne' of milk drinks because of it's characteristic fizz!

In contrast our goats milk kefir is less creamy and slightly tangy with the fresh goats milk flavour that is so refreshing to drink on a hot summer's day!  It too has a slight fizz on opening the bottle.

The 'fizz' in authentic kefir is caused by the naturally occurring yeasts which produce CO2 during the fermentation process.   When we make our batches we watch the bubbles rise to the top of the tank once we've started stirring... it's alive!

Before you open your bottle give it a shake up (with the lid on!).  Any separation in the bottle is totally normal - and show's you that the kefir is live.  It will all blend together when you shake it.

Store your kefir drinks in the cold part of the fridge.  If you have any questions about kefir contact us and we will do our best to assist.

Nourish Kefir starter cultures are prepared from kefir grains - but there are no kefir grains in them - and they do not turn into grains. They are made from a fermentation of grains and milk - that is super concentrated, but then the grains are removed. This concentrated kefir mother culture is freeze dried. Our little sachets are measured to make you 1 litre of delicious kefir (you add the milk!) The sachets can be used when you want them. You can take them on holiday or try different types of milk. Kefir grains are different. They are wonderful live symbiotic bacteria and yeast clusters that you look after a bit like a pet. You feed them milk and in return they give you lovely fresh kefir. You have to keep looking after them, which is great if you can do this. We make all our fresh drinks with kefir grains. We have to look after the grains every day - even at the weekend - it's a labour of love. Our starter cultures are much more low maintenance.

Lactose intolerance is an interesting point - I attached an extract from a scientific paper that mentions how kefir helps us digest lactose - so although it may be present in your fermented milk -other enzyme and polysaccharide activity in the kefir enables you to digest it (and other lactose foods) without any negative effects.

Kefir and Lactose Intolerance

The ability to decrease lactose concentrations and the presence of β-galactosidase activity in fermented milk products make them suitable for consumption by people classified as lactose intolerant (Farnworth and Mainville, 2008; Sarkar, 2007). It has been demonstrated that some kefir grains show β-galactosidase enzyme activity, which stays active when consumed, and that kefir contains less lactose than milk (Farnworth, 2005; Sarkar, 2007). A commercial kefir (Hertzler and Clancy, 2003) proved to be as effective as yoghurt in reducing expired hydrogen and flatulence in lactose intolerant adults when compared to the ingestion of milk. de Vrese et al. (1992) demonstrated that pigs fed with kefir showed a significant increase in galactose plasma concentrations, suggesting improvement of intestinal lactose hydrolysis by the microbial enzyme β-galactosidase.

 

I think this refers to glass jars with tight fitting lids where when you take the lid off there is a release of CO2 gas - still wouldn't be a problem. Plastic or glass containers are fine, and cover with clingfilm or lid.

Not a myth - kefir grains do not like metal - but our culture packs are not grains - they are starter cultures previously made with milk and grains - then the grains removed and the kefir freeze dried. So metal would be ok for these.

A sachet is the correct amount for 1 litre. It's up to you if you want to make adjustments but you will get different results. usually less milk will ferment faster -more milk will be a weaker kefir

Not with the starter culture - with this you want to stop it (by refrigeration) when it is done. The one I made in the video was actually ready before 24 hours - if you over ferment it - it will separate a bit. (It's a different situation with grains)

Making kefir is part art, part science. when you bake a cake if you keep opening the oven you are going to spoil it (but will probably still eat it!)

Soya milk ferments well in kefir starter cultures. Just make sure you give the carton a good shake up before you mix with the cultures. Coconut milk is a bit different. It probably has added water as well as coconut water - and it may separate when fermenting - so the end result is not quite the same as with cows/soya milk. When we put kefir grains in coconut milk it separated - it still fermented though. You can ferment our starter cultures in coconut water and it will go a bit fizzy and ferment, (*we hear it is a bit of a health craze in the US ) Regarding the lactose and cows milk, the kefir cultures digest much of the lactose in our Nourish Kefir drink, but we cannot guarantee that it is all gone.

I have not used the kefir starter cultures with rice milk yet. But I have tried with almond milk and hemp milk and coconut milk - and all 3 types did ferment, but also separated and were quite runny. All of these types of milk have added water to bulk them up, and I think this is the reason why they are runny and don't ferment as well as cows milk. Soya ferments well with kefir starter cultures - although that has added water too - perhaps the way it is processed is different to almond milk etc. If you are going to give it a try with rice milk I suggest you use have the quantity of milk to a sachet - to achieve a better consistency than for 1 Litre.

Yes lacto free milk works well with Nourish Kefir Starter Cultures and some of our customers are using this type of milk where they need to avoid all lactose.

We suggest using the full fat type for more nutrients!

Yes of course that's fine. But it is easier to evenly mix a small quantity of kefir and milk in a small container first, then add it to a larger container when it's nice and smooth.