How long until it's kefir?

Cafe Society
1

So, I did some grocery shopping today. Among my purchases were a gallon of whole milk, and a quart of kefir. Kefir’s kinda pricey, relative to mild. About $2.79 a quart, as opposed to $3.49 a gallon for the milk. But wait, the kefir has active cultures. The little bugs aren’t dead.

So, as an experiment, I poured some of the milk into a 16 oz bottle, and added a spoonful of the kefir as a culture. I left it sit on the counter in the kitchen.

So, how long will it be until I have a 16 ounce bottle of kefir? Also, should I leave it covered, or not? Right now, it’s covered, but I accidentally left the lid off for a couple of hours. Will bad bugs get into it and harm me? Or will the good bugs in the kefir culture crowd them out?

I know I’m basically trying to make spoiled milk here, I just don’t want to spoil it the wrong way.

2

What is kefir?

3

It’s a muslim slur for a non-beliver.

4

It’s a cultured dairy product, sort of like buttermilk, only I think made with yogurt cultures. It’s supposed to be a drink, but the bottle I got, it’s so thick you might as well go ahead and eat it with a spoon.

My mother decided she wanted to try some, and instead of getting in the fridge and pouring herself some out of the bottle, she drank some out of the bottle on the counter. Her verdict- it tastes like warm milk. I guess that means it isn’t kefir yet.

5

Why would Muslims use the name of a yummy drink as a religious slur?

6

According to this site, in order to turn milk into kefir, you have to use kefir grains. He doesn’t say anything about using kefir itself as a starter, but he does say that using the grain method, it takes at least 24 hours before you get kefir.

I tried some once. Tasted like a yogurt smoothie.

7

“kaffir” is an Arabic word which means “one who does not follow an Abrahamic religion”. Unfortunately, it has been malappropriated and used as a slur for all non-Muslims. However, I seem to recall (from Islamic history books I read a long time ago) that whilst “kaffir” was not a nice thing to call someone, it did indicate one who did not follow a Abrahamic religion, as opposed to a general slur.

As for the etymology between kefir and kaffir, I’m not sure.

8

If it’s anything like making yogurt (which it seems like it should be) you really have to boil the milk first. I’ve tried making yogurt by just warming the milk up, and it didn’t yogurtify. I assume there’s some sort of chemical reaction that takes place when it boils, or you need to kill off some bugs that will outcompete the yogurt culture bugs, or something. Be sure to cool the milk down to 110 degrees Farenheit before adding the culture (i.e. the spoonful of keffir), or you’ll kill the bacteria. A thermometer is really essential for this—a candy thermometer or meat thermometer will work fine.

Also, if it’s like yogurt, you’ll need to keep it at a nice cozy incubating temperature. Try wrapping your container in a thick towel to provide insulation, or better yet, use an electric heating pad. (Try it out first by filling a similar sized container with water, wrapping the heating pad around it, and finding the correct setting on the heating pad to maintain a temperature of 110 degrees.)

Here are the yogurt-making instructions that I follow.

9

The OED says “kefir” is a “Caucasian” word. So I assume like a lot of cultured milk products that came from that part of Russia.

It first showed up in English in 1884. But it was spelled “kephir” then. It’s supposed to be like koumiss.

10

Hijack: only a small part of the Caucasus is in Russia (Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, and I haven’t had coffee yet, so I may be forgetting pieces). The rest, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, are now independent countries.

Also, koumiss (also spelled kumyss and a host of other ways) is fermented,not cultures, and is most authentically made with mare’s milk. I’ve never tried it, but it should taste rather different than kefir, which basically tastes like yogurt, only more liquid.