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This morning I composed a semi-odd post to a woman who has just been diagnosed with liver cancer. She wrote that she had been drinking kefir, and asked for advice on whether she should continue to use it. I wrote back and asked her how long she had been using kefir. Her response was that she had been using it for a year.
I suggested that maybe she had unconsciously known she had problems with her liver a year ago, and had begun to make kefir in order to deal with it. She wrote back to say she was completely unaware of any problems. She thought she was in good health when she started using kefir, and began to keep healthy.
I responded:
I responded:
I am wrong a lot and bear deep shame. It's part of the deal I made for wanting to know everything. Who am I to suggest you might know yourself better than you think? The idiot I am is believes in magic instead of machines. '-)
Speech is mind. Mind is speech
Even for me that's an odd thing to write. I sorta know why I wrote it, but I only understood for the length of time it took me to write it. When I drifted back to contemplating why I write such words, I wasn't real happy. I had taken the chance of being utterly dismissed as a fool. Of course, if I were happy to be a fool (I am is), it would only make sense to carelessly invite a shunning via the bliss of ignorance. After all, liver cancer made sense to her by diagnosis, I drempt that maybe non-sense would gain a less plausible result.
This is the second morning I've made a kefir smoothie with frozen chunks of mango, although this morning I added a few slices of frozen strawberries to boot. I also included two packets of Splenda just to satisfy my sweet tooth. I may only have one left, so why not indulge... eh?
Somehow, I got the idea to use all the kefir granules I have, not only to have a supply of fresh kefir, but also to revive all the grains of my mother culture by reactivating them in some fresh milk. Since I only needed to put one teaspoon of granules into that amount of fresh milk to turn it into kefir, putting a quarter of a cup of kefir grains guaranteed fast action.
My process was to put around a pint (two cups) of regular pasteurized, homogenized whole milk (as opposed to ultra-pasteurized) into a wide-mouthed, quart-sized canning jar. Then, I dumped all the milk kefir grains (MKG) I kept in my refrigerator into the milk, covered it with a paper towel held in place by a ring top to keep the bugs out, and to allow it to breathe, and waited.
Milk kefir ferments much faster than sugary water kefir does. I'm not ready to explain why yet. I went down to the kitchen several times during the evening to check on how the fermentation was going. By the time I was ready to retire for the night there was a slight amount of separation of curd and whey at the bottom of the jar. The kefir mother culture had converted the milk to a creamy, but foamy kefir. It only took eight hours at best. "I love it when a plan comes together."
I strained out the kefir grains, returned the kefir itself to the quart jar I made it in, sealed it solid with a cap replacing the paper towel, then set it in the refrigerator to rest. This morning, it made a wonderful batch of mango/strawberry smoothies. I immediately poured a plastic glass half full to consume now, and I left the rest in the blender to enjoy a bit at a time throughout the day.
This is an example of the total decadence of enjoying my second childhood. What better way to spoil the baby I started out as than to serve artificially sweetened milk kefir smoothies to it all day long? It's a trick. The carrot and the stick. As an old man I'm walking the child that is me back into the oblivion it sprang from, and if it pulls one of it's Terrible Two's tantrums, I bribe it to play ball with sweets for the sweet and innocent. Why would I not? Nobody knows, but for we three. '-)
This is an example of the total decadence of enjoying my second childhood. What better way to spoil the baby I started out as than to serve artificially sweetened milk kefir smoothies to it all day long? It's a trick. The carrot and the stick. As an old man I'm walking the child that is me back into the oblivion it sprang from, and if it pulls one of it's Terrible Two's tantrums, I bribe it to play ball with sweets for the sweet and innocent. Why would I not? Nobody knows, but for we three. '-)
In the same time period, but subsequently, I used all my water kefir grains in the same way. I've been using three tablespoons of water kefir grains with three cups of sugar water due to my initial understanding of what's wot. Using just three tablespoons of water kefir grains in that amount of sugar water takes about twenty-four hours or better to ferment and consume all or most of the sugar. So, just after I put the milk kefir together I decided to use all my water kefir grains in the same vein to see if it might speed things up.
My water kefir grains have regenerated themselves by half again as many nearly every time I make a new batch. As a result I have about a cup of water kefir grains now, even after I gave a quarter cup of them to my sister-in-law to propagate her own supply along with some milk kefir grains. Now, she knows more about all this than I do.
It's not rocket science to make happen, but dealing with the intuitive response gained by the ritual gets smaltzy. It might seem irreverent to point to the ground as if to indicate that I have a right to be here, but at times my amazement is such that I gotta do something to go along just to get along.
It's not rocket science to make happen, but dealing with the intuitive response gained by the ritual gets smaltzy. It might seem irreverent to point to the ground as if to indicate that I have a right to be here, but at times my amazement is such that I gotta do something to go along just to get along.
Using only three tablespoons of water kefir grains leaves the rest of my cup of grains in a sugar solution in the refrigerator where the fermentation process happens much slower. I keep them in a baggie with a splash of milk to keep them vital. Spares. Since I am a neophyte I don't know how to properly store my spare grains. That is why I decided, like with the milk kefir grains, to use them all in order to keep them in good shape.
The only way I know how to judge when to strain the water kefir grains out of the sugar water/molasses solution is to taste it while it's making on a fairly regular basis. When I taste what's making it should be less sweet over time. That is because the kefir grains are consuming the sugary base I dumped them in.
If it still tastes sweet, then it ain't time yet. When it gets tart and has an acetic taste, it's ready for the grains to be strained out, and the drinking of it to begin. This batch, with an entire cup of grains instead of three tablespoons, is distinguished so far by a really rich taste. It won't be long now. By lunch time it'll be ready to go. Selah
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