So really what exactly is kefir? Classic kefir is a cultured milk drink that contains dozens of beneficial microbes for your gut. It’s a sort of fizzy yoghurt drink that was accidentally invented by Turkish shepherds carrying milk around in leather pouches. A rough translation of kefir is “joyful milk/froth”. The ferment (like a yoghurt or sourdough starter) is called kefir grains, but they aren’t a grain like wheat and rice. They’re gooey florets of bacteria and yeasts that then turn your milk healthily sour. To make kefir, you add the grains to milk and then leave it for a couple of days, shaking regularly. You can use cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, coconut milk, or even water. The bacteria and yeast feed on the natural sugars in milk. So if you want to use water, you need to add something like raw cane sugar or coconut sugar. If you’re worried about the sugar content, then a simple taste test will assure you that most of the sugars have been eaten up by the microbes. It’s sour, like yoghurt, so people often add fruit for flavour. Why is kefir so good for you? Kefir contains a greater variety of [...]