From the sweets to more healthy food!

Recently I have seen a KEFIR in one of the supermarkets in Spain.
To be clear, I am from Lithuania currently living in Spain, Barcelona and in my country Kefir is a very ordinary drink/type of food to buy in the supermarket. In Spain it was called new product... I am nor sure if it is popular between Spanish people, but in Lithuania we use it a lot, so today shortly about KEFIR.


So shortly, what is KEFIR?

"Kefir’s tart and refreshing flavor is similar to a drinking-style yogurt, but it contains beneficial yeast as well as friendly ‘probiotic’ bacteria found in yogurt. The naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in kefir combine symbiotically to give superior health benefits when consumed regularly. It is loaded with valuable vitamins and minerals and contains easily digestible complete proteins.

For the lactose intolerant, kefir’s abundance of beneficial yeast and bacteria provide lactase, an enzyme which consumes most of the lactose left after the culturing process." (source: www.kefir.net)

Where it comes from?

"Kefir can be made from any type of milk, cow, goat or sheep, coconut, rice or soy. Although it is slightly mucous forming, the mucous has a “clean” quality to it that creates ideal conditions in the digestive tract for the colonization of friendly bacteria.

Kefir is made from gelatinous white or yellow particles called “grains.” This makes kefir unique, as no other milk culture forms grains. These grains contain the bacteria/yeast mixture clumped together with casein (milk proteins) and complex sugars. They look like pieces of coral or small clumps of cauliflower and range from the size of a grain of wheat to that of a hazelnut. Some of the grains have been known to grow in large flat sheets that can be big enough to cover your hand!. The grains ferment the milk, incorporating their friendly organisms to create the cultured product. The grains are then removed with a strainer before consumption of the kefir and added to a new batch of milk." (source: www.kefir.net)

Kefir, for me personally, is good when it is cold and without any additional food or preparation... but there are plenty ways to use it in Lithuanian cuisine, mainly with potato dishes or in the probably strangest Lithuanian dish/cold soup - PINK Soup ;) But about different Kefir recipies I will writte next time.

PS You can use it instead of milk to eat muesli in the morning ;)