Making kefir without grains

Fermenting stuff is one of my new favorite things to do. I’ve recently started fermenting milk to make kefir because it’s cheap, easy and good for you. You had me at “cheap and easy”.

(I’ve been fermenting tea too – brewing my own Kombucha WORD UP! More on that in a future post.)

The Second Thing To Know About Kefir

It’s pronounced “ka-feer”, not “key-fur” like I’d been saying, surely sounding like a dope.

The Third Thing To Know About Kefir

I already told you, but it bears repeating – Kefir is really easy to make yourself.

If you already buy kefir, making it at home can save you some real money at the grocery store. A 32 oz bottle of kefir can cost $4 to $5. Given you can spend that much on a gallon (128 oz!) of organic milk, you can definitely make kefir at home for a lot less. And the fact that’s it’s so easy makes this whole kefir operation extremely doable.

I would say the hardest part about making kefir is getting your hands on some kefir grains. They aren’t “grains” so much as they are “little knobby white blobs of good bacteria and yeast”, but nobody asked me what I thought they should be called.

I got my kefir grains from someone local who was offering them up, but if you don’t have anyone nearby doing random acts of kefir kindness, you should be able to find kefir grains in health food stores, or online through Amazon Grocery. Once you’ve got your kefir grains (not the same thing as “kefir starter”) they just keep reproducing like bunnies. The more kefir you make, the more kefir grains you’ll soon have. You know, maybe we could sell our own! Dude. Forget saving money, kefir can MAKE you money! I’ll let you know how to do it once I’m rich and retired from my ingenious pyramid kefir grain selling scheme.

Until then, here’s how to make kefir at home.