Have you ever heard of kefir?

The biggest difference between yogurt and ordinary yogurt is that it contains more probiotics and lower carbohydrates, so it is a good choice for ketogenic diet and lactose intolerance. People who want to supplement natural probiotics may wish to make their own natural milk grams and water grams. The nutritionist also listed three Kefir-changing drinks. Come and learn!

A few years ago, someone took a black tea fermentation broth and said it was a mushroom. He asked me if I could drink it. In recent years, I have also seen a group of friends sharing their milk cow babies in Facebook. They look small and round like white cotton balls that are gelatinous. What is that?

Later, I heard that it is a probiotic. As another culture of fermented dairy products, the fermented beverage is thicker than dairy products, and the acidity ranges from mild to strong. If it is fermented properly, it will bubble. Its unique name comes from "kefir" in Turkey, which means "good feeling", and it is called Klebsiella. In Chinese, it is called Saussurea Tianshan (milk gram or water gram).

What is kefir?

■ Kefir granule is a matrix composed of protein, lipid and sugar, and it is a complex of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY；; Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast）。 SCOBY is an elastic mass, which is developed from bacterial and fungal cells, sharing nutrients, coordinating and self-propagating.

If Klebsiella is properly produced, it will also produce alcohol ranging from 0.1~ 3%, depending on fermentation time and other factors.

■ Kefir is not like the programmed death of other animals and plants. If sufficient nutrients and a tolerable environment are given, Kefir particles can survive forever.

■ Kefir contains more than 30 kinds of microorganisms including Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium lactis, Acetobacter, Yeast, etc.

What is the difference between yogurt and kefir?

■ Generally yogurt contains 2 to 7 kinds of probiotics; Kefir contains10 ~ 34 kinds of probiotics, and also contains beneficial yeast strains.

■ yogurt contains transient bacteria, which provide a food source for beneficial bacteria, but soon live in the intestine; Kefir can attach to the intestinal wall for colonization, and they can resist pathogens and bad bacteria in the intestine.

■ Lactic acid yogurt is usually made by heating milk and adding powdered lactic acid bacteria. After fermentation, you can directly take out some yogurt and continue to use it to make more lactic acid yogurt. Kefir is kefir bacteria (including bacteria and yeast) added to milk at room temperature, then filtered and continued to make another batch within 24 hours.

■ Yogurt lactate tastes strong, but mild; Kefir tastes light but sour, and can be used as a beverage, with a slight cheese and yeast flavor.

■ Kefir's bacteria grow slowly, and there are many and complicated strains, some of which will turn into alcohol, which will easily lead to inconsistent flavor and taste, and there will be some restrictions in transportation, so it is rarely made into products for sale.

Recommended reading: drinking milk will cause diarrhea, and lactose intolerance can do this!

5 advantages of Kefir

1. has strong antibacterial properties.

Some probiotics in kefir are thought to prevent infection, including Lactobacillus kefiri. It is found that the probiotic can inhibit various harmful bacteria, including Salmonella, Helicobacter pylori and Escherichia coli. This bacteria is a soluble, viscous gel polysaccharide with antibacterial properties.

2. It can improve bone health.

Getting enough calcium is one of the ways to improve bone health and slow down osteoporosis. Yogurt is not only an important source of calcium, but also vitamin K2, which plays an important role in calcium metabolism. It is found in animal experiments that kefir can increase the calcium absorption rate in bone cells.

Step 3 improve allergies

Kefir contains many compounds and nutrients, such as biotin and folic acid, which can enhance the immune system. In some mouse studies, it has been shown that kefir can reduce inflammatory cells and reduce mucus accumulation in lungs and air passages. In addition, the microorganisms in Kefir also help to promote the immune system to naturally slow down allergic reactions, and help to improve systemic allergies and asthma.

4. Improve digestion problems

Probiotics in Kefir can help digestion, improve nutrient absorption and restore the balance of friendly bacteria in the intestine. Drinking Kefir beverage containing probiotics can replenish the good flora lost after pathogen fighting, improve diarrhea and other gastrointestinal side effects caused by drugs and antibiotics, and help to improve the infection of irritable bowel (IBS) and helicobacter pylori in gastric ulcer.

5. Improve lactose intolerance

Kefir has many bacterial strains and nutrients, some of which are specific to Kefir, which can decompose lactose into lactic acid, make it easier to digest, improve lactose malabsorption and increase lactose tolerance.

3 Dao ke Fei er bian bian drink

In the past, we thought that lactic acid bacteria could be fermented into lactic acid drinks or yogurt when put into milk, while kefir could be put not only in milk, but also in juice and water.

Little knowledge of kefir fermentation:

■ Milk produced by Kefir grains in mammals, including milk, goat milk and sheep milk, can be successfully fermented and can continue to grow in it.

■ Kefir grains can ferment other liquids, including soybean milk, rice milk and coconut milk, and other sugary liquids include fruit juice, coconut juice, wort and ginger wine.

■ Kefir will stop growing after fermentation in these liquids (except soybean milk), unlike milk, which will continue to produce more Kefir grains after fermentation.

■ Soymilk is an exception, and kefir grains will continue to grow in soy milk and become grayish yellow.

Recommended reading: How to eat the ketogenic diet correctly? are there any side - effects?

Drink 1: milk kefir

? Put1~ 2 tablespoons (14 ~ 28g) of kefir granules into a clean and sterilized jar, and pour in about 2 cups (500ml) of milk. The best milk is pure milk that is natural, grass-fed, free from captivity, and free from drugs and antibiotics. Leave a space of 1 inch (2.5 cm) at the top of the jar and let it ferment at room temperature for 6 to 24 hours (after 8 to10 hours, check it every 2 to 3 hours, and gently shake it left and right to see if there is any solidification on the surface. As long as there is no liquid in the solidification, the fermentation should be completed). Next, adjust the time according to your favorite acidity. The longer the time, the more acidic it will be.

? If you want to continue the fermentation, you can take a clean and disinfected empty glass bottle, put a nylon fine filter on it, and pour out the yogurt after Kefir fermentation. The yogurt liquid will pass through the filter, leaving larger particles of Kefir SCOBY on the filter. Next, add these to the milk to continue the fermentation.

? The filtered yogurt can be directly drunk or used to make bread, cake, soup or stew soup base, or further filtered to make cheese.

Drink 2: Tibicos (water kefir)

? Shuikefei is added with sugar water at room temperature (it is recommended to use organic coconut sugar, sugarcane raw honey and brown sugar; The purpose of adding sugar is to ferment coconut juice with Klebsiella, which has been transformed by bacteria after fermentation, so the sugar content is low), mint, cucumber water, dried fruit such as fig, freshly squeezed lemon or orange juice, and grow for one day or more. Shuikefei, also known as China Mushroom, Sunmushroom, "Tianshan Snow Lotus" and so on.

? Shuikefei and soda water can be mixed into sugar-free carbonated drinks to make healthy soda substitutes.

Drink 3: Coconut Kefir

? Coconut water contains potassium, carbohydrates, protein, minerals and vitamins, with low cholesterol and fat content. Coconut water is different from water, which contains electrolytes and minerals, which are very important nutrients for the function of body cells.

? You can use 1 teaspoon of sugar (it is recommended to use organic coconut sugar, sugarcane raw honey and brown sugar), add 500c.c coconut juice and 1 spoon of Klebsiella, and soak for 24 ~ 48 hours for fermentation.

? Coconut juice kefir can be added with fruit juice (or fruit) and put into a blender to beat.

After reading Kefir's introduction, I wonder if my hands have begun to itch a little. Do you want to raise milk grams and supplement natural probiotics yourself? Give it a try and make more changes in your healthy diet!