Kefir Ranch Dressing Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make kefir thick like yogurt? ›

In general the fat content determines the thickness of your kefir so full fat (blue top) milk will give you the thickest kefir. If this kefir is still not thick enough for you then you need to add some thick heavy pouring cream to your milk. The more cream you use the thicker your kefir will be.

In between batches, keep the grains covered in a little jar of milk on the worktop for up to a week or up to three weeks in the fridge. Change the milk if you're still not using them or they will starve. Kefir grains are living organisms, and will gradually grow (not in all milk alternatives, though).

-Place 1 Tbsp kefir grains in a glass jar and fill with 1 cup fresh milk. The ratio of grains to milk should always be 1 tbsp to 1 cup, and can be increased if you'd like to make a bigger batch. Leave about an inch of room at the top to make room for carbonization and grain growth.

Kefir and yogurt are both cultured dairy products, but don't be fooled… they're not the same! While both are cultured, kefir contains more probiotics and is fermented for a longer period of time, resulting in a higher count of colony-forming units (CFU) – and by a landslide.

If you see clear yellowish liquid and curds, it is over-fermented and has passed the thickening stage. It is now separating into whey and curds. Again, this is not bad - it's just a little more sour and may be less appealing.

If cared for properly, milk kefir grains have an unlimited life span and can be used repeatedly to make kefir. Kefir made with a direct-set style starter culture can often be re-cultured from 2 to 7 times. The exact number of successive batches will depend on the freshness of the kefir and hygienic practices employed.

To know if your water kefir grains are dead, use them to ferment a new batch and repeat this cycle at least 4 times. If the grains are dead, the water will remain sweet, and there wouldn't be a sign of fermentation. Another way to know is the appearance of mold on the surface.

Although generally safe, you may want to discard this batch. It may take a few batches for the grains to acclimatize to your home and milk source. At this point, it will be more balanced and tasty for you to consume.

Drinking 1–3 cups (237–710 mL) of kefir daily can be a great way to boost your intake of probiotics. Certain people may need to limit their intake, including people with diabetes or autoimmune disorders and those following a low carb or ketogenic diet.

Can you just keep adding milk to kefir? ›

How do I multiply Milk Kefir Grains? You need to feed the culture. Keep adding fresh milk as you consume the kefir, you will notice an increase in size of the culture in a couple of weeks.

If you use too much milk, the milk can go off before the kefir grains have a chance to ferment it though, so be sure to understand how much it can do, and gradually increase from there. To get lots of kefir quickly with just a few grains simply keep adding milk without straining.

Kefir may have more health benefits than yogurt due to the wider variety of bacteria and yeasts it contains. People have the choice of buying convenient products in stores or making their own kefir or yogurt at home, which can be rewarding and more cost effective.

Homemade kefir contains a higher number of cultures and probiotics than store-bought, which is typically made with a starter culture powder instead of the grains. For example, the Lifeway brand of kefir is advertised as including 12 live and active cultures and 7 billion to 10 billion probiotic strains.

Think of kefir as yogurt with attitude; plain kefir has fewer calories, less sugar and more protein than your Activia. It's is also generally richer in probiotic bacteria than yogurt.

What should the consistency of Kefir be? A consistency similar to buttermilk is standard, with it getting thicker in the winter, after being refrigerated, or when more cream (or higher fat milk) is added. It is not solid like yogurt.

At first, it might take up to 48 hours for the milk to thicken. You can tell it's ready as the milk will set just like yogurt. Pockets of whey might appear – don't worry, this is normal and they will mix in during straining.

It can take anything from 2-7 days to cold ferment milk kefir. It is dependant on the overall temperature of the fridge and ratio of grains to milk. Stir the mixture well each day and check for it to have thickened. You are looking for the consistency of a drinking yoghurt.

Milk kefir itself comes in both full-fat and low-fat versions. The higher the fat content in the milk, the thicker and creamier the kefir, so higher fat kefir is actually less like a drink and more like yogurt. In fact, full-fat kefir has similar protein, fat, and sugar content to full-fat yogurt.