What is Kefir (นมจากบัวหิมะ)?

Kefir is a refreshing cultured-milk beverage, which originated many centuries ago, in the Northern Caucasus Mountains. The word kefir is derived from the Turkish word keif, which loosely translates to good feeling or feeling good. This is for the sense of well-being one enjoys by drinking the culture-product

Kefir has a uniform creamy consistency, a slightly sour refreshing taste, with a mild aroma resembling fresh yeast [or beer-like]. Traditional authentic kefir can only be prepared by culturing fresh milk with Kefir grains.

Kefir grains are in fact a natural-starter or natural-mother-culture. The grain's bio-structure is created through the efforts of a symbiotic relationship, shared between a vast mixture of specific friendly Lactic acid bacteria [LAB] and yeasts.The grains are a soft, gelatinous white biological mass [biomass], comprised of protein, lipids [fats] and a soluble-polysaccharide Kefiran complex. The microbes and yeasts not only create the bio-matrix structure, they are harboured by the very structure that they create; abiding either on the surface [interior and exterior], or encapsulated within the bio-matrix itself.

Keferan

Today, traditional authentic kefir [real kefir] is easily prepared at home. Raw unpasteurised or pasteurised, full-cream, low fat or non-fat fresh milk is poured into a clean suitable container with the addition of kefir grains. The content is left to stand at room temperature for approx. 24 hours. The cultured-milk is strained in order to separate and retrieve the kefir grains from the liquid-kefir. The grains are added to more fresh milk, and the process is simply repeated. This simple process can be performed on an indefinite basis... for kefir grains are forever. The strained liquid-kefir may either be consumed fresh, refrigerated for later use, or ripened at room temperature over a period of days before consuming. The ripening process is useful for individuals who wish to reduce lactose in their kefir.

As active kefir grains are continually cultured in fresh milk to prepare kefir, the grains increase in volume [biomass increase]. To prevent overcrowding, and to maintain a reasonable constant grain-to-milk ratio it becomes essential to remove a portion of kefir grains. Apart from the more obvious advantage in preventing overcrowded, the other advantage is to produce a kefir with a reasonable constant character and consistency on an ongoing basis. Traditionally, excess kefir grains were either eaten, dehydrated and stored as a back-up source, shared among family members or traded among the tribes-people of Caucasus, in exchange for basic essentials.

Reference: //users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html#what-is-kefir

Create Date : 01 สิงหาคม 2549
Last Update : 20 มีนาคม 2550 1:00:31 น.		0 comments
Counter : 1275 Pageviews.
Share Tweet