Kefir: How to make a healthy Russian dairy drink at home (RECIPE)
Kefir is a sour dairy drink that’s made from cow's milk by adding live bacteria. Kefir’s place of origin is considered to be the region around Mount Elbrus in the North Caucasus. Kefir cultures were highly valued by the Caucasus highlanders and they strictly kept it a secret.
Mass production of kefir first began in Russia in the early 20th century thanks to the efforts of the dairy farmer Nikolai Blandov at the request of the All-Russian Society of Doctors. In 1906, Blandov's employee, Irina Sakharova, went to the Caucasus region to learn the secret recipe for kefir.
There’s a story that she was kidnapped as a bride by a wealthy local landowner; such ‘marriages’ are actually something of a local tradition. To settle the incident amicably, she asked for kefir’s bacterial culture as compensation. According to another story, however, the Caucasian landowner presented the recipe to Irina as a gesture of his goodwill, without the abduction.
In Soviet times, kefir was widely produced and enjoyed by the entire nation. Everyone in the USSR knew the distinctive half-liter glass bottle with a light green cap in which kefir was sold. Russians still widely believe that kefir has curative properties for a wide range of ailments and that it’s important for overall excellent health.
Kefir, just like other fermented dairy products, has a probiotic effect. People drink it not for its mild taste, but to maintain and improve the health of the gut, especially to restore the colonies of good bacteria in the intestines after taking antibiotics. In general, kefir improves the metabolism.
If you want to make kefir at home, you can easily do it simply with milk and sour cream, which contains bactericidal lactic acid microorganisms. By adding them to pasteurized milk, you can make a drink similar to kefir. By using fresh and high quality sour cream, you’ll get the best outcome when fermenting the milk with lactic bacteria.
Ingredients (for 2 servings):
- Cow's milk - 500 ml
- Sour cream - 50-100 g
Preparation:
1. Bring milk to a boil so that foam appears.
2. Let it cool completely.
3. Strain through a sieve and pour into a jar.
4. Add sour cream. The more sour cream you add, the thicker your kefir.
5. Close the jar tightly with a lid. Leave at room temperature for 24 hours. Live lactic bacteria will start the fermentation process.
6. Put it in the fridge. In a couple of hours your kefir is ready.
7. Enjoy!
