Yemoos Blog

We have had several people contact us concerned about the bird flu virus (H5N1) and raw milk. There seem to be many articles and media outlets warning people about the dangers of drinking raw milk right now due to the possible viral contamination of raw milk. In modern-day society, raw milk tends to be the villain, so this kind of media frenzy is not exactly new to the 14 million (or more) Americans who drink raw milk every day. Is raw milk kefir safe? Let’s take an honest look at what's going on and the real risks involved.

Most people have heard of prebiotics and probiotics and the subsequent benefits of both. But there’s another category called “paraprobiotics” that is newly studied. Incredibly it may be just as important as prebiotics and probiotics.

Want to grow your grain fast and healthy? The perfect ratio of milk to grains will help, so will small batches and wide jars. Here are 9 ways to help your milk kefir grains grow faster.

Milk kefir grains are slow to grow. It may be hard to visually see growth after one batch. But after about a week (if its doing well), you may see it double in size. The study looked to see if different quantities of milk kefir grains produced different growth rates.

Milk kefir ripening is simply letting your strained finished kefir (without the grains) sit out at room temperature for several hours or days before consuming. Since refrigeration is relatively new, kefir was traditionally ripened to some degree before consumed.

Some people are wondering if kefir itself can be contaminated by the coronavirus or another pathogen. Other people are wanting to know if drinking kefir helps protect against coronavirus. While other's are prepping for an unknown future and wondering how best to utilize kefir during a quarantine or economic hard times.

There is a great difference of opinion on what is the ideal ratio of grains to milk. On the one hand, growth and total probiotic count seem to increase with more grains per milk. However, you may be sacrificing flavor, texture, diversity and health of the grains with too many grains per milk.

One of the biggest questions asked for those starting out is - Can you use milk straight out of the fridge or does it need to be warm / room temperature? The short answer is that YES you can definitely use milk directly out of the fridge when making milk kefir.

I really like this study as it compares kefir made from real grains to a commercial starter culture, similar to what you would find in yogurt or anything store bought that contains lab based probiotics.

When you ferment milk kefir correctly, it doesn't necessarily need to be stirred or shaken up to make a good kefir. However, it can taste more balanced and less yeasty with 1-2 stirs mid way through.

When you think about letting milk sit out for a day, you may be concerned about mold. However, when it comes to kefir, both milk kefir and water kefir, the chances of mold contamination is incredibly low (especially for water kefir).

Milk kefir can be fermented aerobically (with oxygen / open lid) or anaerobically (without oxygen / closed lid). Both have the advantages and disadvantages and it comes down to personal preference.