Milk Kefir - Probiotic

About five years ago a friend told me about Kefir.

'Did you say it's live?' I asked.

'It's good for your gut. Helps rid it of the bad bacteria and - '

I wasn't listening to her. 'But it's live. It could take over my whole body and literally eat me from the inside!'

She was calm and patient and kept a straight face. 'It'll help with your IBS.'

Regardless of her assurances, just imagine me doing that running away fast as my little legs will carry me with my arms flailing in the air.

Now? I am loving it. What changed my mind? I had to go see the doctor. I was tired, getting out of breath and my weight was going up and up. A blood test revealed that my cholesterol had rocketed etc, and Statins were mentioned. I requested time to think.

I did some research which involved going to see my good old friend, and I left hers armed with some water Kefir grains, as well as instructions on what to do with them. I put them in the fridge and did nothing for a week with them except open the fridge door, stare, and close it again.

Then I did more reading and watched loads of YouTube videos. That was how I got into Kefir. My friend to the left is what I had today.
I tried water kefir first. But I couldn't take to the taste unless I added fruit juice or other flavouring, which inevitably meant my sugar levels increased. In January 2020, I decided to try milk Kefir and bought some on-line from a safe website.

I am loving this stuff. Making it at home means it's cost effective; very important to me as I'm on a budget. It's healthy. I know this because my IBS has lessened as well as my cholesterol.

The little daffodil on the left has no relevance to Kefir, but was broken by the howling wind; so I probably terrified it by bringing it indoors and sticking it into a bottle.

I put the Kefir grains into a glass jar. Initially there were only about four and I thought the supplier had diddled me. I used full fat milk (blue top in my area), and filled it about half full. 24 hours later, the culture had fed and risen to the top of the jar and was ready. You can see the separation. Once you put it through either a stainless steel or plastic sieve, into a jug or similar container, put the grains that are left in the sieve, into either a fresh jar or the same (I reuse my jar around 5 times) and add the milk, so the cycle begins again.

The sieved liquid is ready to drink. To me it tastes a lot like yogurt. I tend to add a few grains of salt sometimes...yummy...don't tell the doctor.

If left longer, the above picture is of 48 hours later, it becomes thicker.

Last week I decided to try my hand at making cheese from the Kefir. I know you can use the Kefir water but I didn't. I carefully got rid of it so I could use the Kefir at its thickest. After retrieving the grains the usual way, I put the jar safely to one side.

I have found it handy to have more than one sieve and have learned a lot about getting the size of containers right :).

Placing the sieve over a jug, I lined it with a (untreated) coffee filter, and poured the mixture in. Folding the paper over, I put in a segment of satsuma for flavour, placed a small weight to increase the drainage and put the whole thing into the fridge to continue draining. 

This is my final result.

I've had it spread over toast, over crackers, and I've enjoyed it in a sandwich with ham and salad. It has a mild taste, very similar to fromage frais. Given how mild it is and I like it, I'm toying with the idea of having a go at making ice cream with it.

I'd welcome any tips.