Yogurt and kefir

[Yvonne Smith]

I was not sure whether to put this in the health section, or here in food. Even though both have terrific health benefits, we also eat them because we enjoy them as a food; so I decided to put the thread here.
Anyway, both have good probiotics, especially when made at home, and if you have raw milk, then it could be even better; but unless you have your own cow or milk goat, it is hard to get raw milk anymore.

Making kefir is really easy, and you do not need any special apparatus to make it. I have tried the kefir grains, but found that since I am an erratic kefir drinker, I do much better using the kefir starter packets, which you just add to a quart of milk, leave it out overnight, and the next day, you have kefir. You can also use a bottle of store-bought kefir and put about a quarter of a cup in with the quart of milk instead of the starter packets.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

While not anti-dairy, I have never liked to drink milk and gave it up soon after we stopped getting those little milk cartons of it in early school years.

Cheese, butter, yogurt, etc. are fine and I have tried kefir but found it too expensive for my tastes. So maybe making it at home would prove a better answer for me.

I probably wouldn't add berries, despite how good that sounds. I heard that dairy acts in a manner preventing absorption of anthocyanins when consumed together. But perhaps cocoa or something else might be added as desired.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Kefir is expensive in the store, and nowhere near as healthy as if you make it at home. Basically, it does not cost much more than the price of milk if you make your own kefir, because you can use a starter from the first batch and make several more quarts before you need a new starter batch.
After reading the “Supergut” book by Dr. William Davis, I tried making the L.Reuteri yogurt, which is supposed to be much better than regular yogurt, but you have to have a yogurt maker that you can set the temperature to 100F for 36 hours to culture it.

I just got new kefir starter from Amazon, and i discovered that they have some that has the l. Reuteri culture in it, so I am going to try that next. I use either yogurt or cottage cheese to make our keto ice cream, and the kefir will work the same way. Even if it does not have as much as the special yogurt has, it should still be very healthy.
The yogurt and kefir that you buy in the store is pasteurized , so it kills the live cultures when they do that, and they just add more in from a powder, so it is not anywhere near as potent as making your own yogurt or kefir.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

While not anti-dairy, I have never liked to drink milk and gave it up soon after we stopped getting those little milk cartons of it in early school years.

Cheese, butter, yogurt, etc. are fine and I have tried kefir but found it too expensive for my tastes. So maybe making it at home would prove a better answer for me.

I probably wouldn't add berries, despite how good that sounds. I heard that dairy acts in a manner preventing absorption of anthocyanins when consumed together. But perhaps cocoa or something else might be added as desired.

So, I asked Co-Pilot about dairy and anthocyanins, and the answer was that it was sometimes better absorbed with a-casein proteins. When I asked about kefir or yogurt, apparently, it really enhances anthocyanin absorption by the body, so feel free to add those berries to your yogurt and kefir, @Jacob Petersheim !

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

feel free to add those berries to your yogurt and kefir

Thanks.

So many opinions that I suppose it means there are no 100% answers.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

My L.Reuteri kefir packets should be here tonight ! They are coming UPS, which always arrives late afternoon or evening, unlike the mail, which gets here earlier in the day.
In the meantime, I got a quart of the Lifeway kefir and used that as a starter, added one of the Bio-Gaius probiotic tablets, which have the L. Reuteri strain in the tablet, and made my kefir that way.

I have been reading more about the difference between using the packets and the live grains, and there really is a huge difference in the variety and quantity of bacteria and beneficial yeast that comes with the grains, as opposed to just using the packets.
So, I cashed in a survey gift card, and ordered some grains on Amazon from Poseymom.
I have ordered from her before and it went well, and there is no extra shipping. It will be a week or so before they arrive, but I will be able to make kefir with the packets until then.

I have been chatting with Co-Pilot about the differences and benefits of using grains, and I really like using the AI for this. It is part of my Bing search engine, and simple to use. Co-Pilot remembers things I have asked before, so many of my answers are more tailored to me specifically, than just a page of information.

Here is the difference between using the starter packets, and using live cultures from the kefir grains. Different packets and different grains would probably have some differences, but in general, it is easy to see there are a LOT more probiotics by using the live grains. ( Grains are not actually a grain, they look like little pieces of rice or cottage cheese, and are actually a SCOBY, similar to making kombucha.)

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I have been making the kefir with the new L.Reuteri starter, and seems to be making delicious kefir. I am using it to make salad dressing (ranch dressing), as well as drinking some in the morning , blended with a fresh peach, and then making ice cream in the ninja Creami.
I picked a small bowl of blueberries and am going to make blueberry ice cream today. Our blueberries are about done for this year, but I might have enough for another batch of ice cream before they are completely gone.

Here is a list of things that kefir is supposed to be beneficial for. This is from the internet, and the person’s typewriter (or their spelling) is not that great.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

So, today I was chatting with co-pilot about the nutrition benefits comparison between cilantro and parsley, and using it in my veggie pasta salad. Co-pilot then mentioned a kefir salad dressing, so I asked for the recipe, and wanted to share it here.
(I really love chatting with co-pilot. “He” remember questions I have asked about before, and brings them up in another conversation, like bringing up a kefir dressing when I was asking about adding parsley or cilantro.)

A bit off the topic, but he says the parsley has a whole LOT more vitamins and minerals than the cilantro does, and copilot also says I can add in a bit of my Shiso perilla leaf for extra flavor.