MM: SR, you mentioned that kefir was beneficial for you. Do you have kefir grains? If so, I KNOW that you can make “fruit kefir“— made from fruit juice and kefir grains. I would suspect that you also could make “carrot kefir” using kefir grains and carrot juice. Have you ever tried these?? It may provide the kefir benefits to you without the dairy allergy problems that you face.
SR: I NEVER thought of fruit kefir. What a fantastic idea! I have no Kefir spores left. I tried to freeze them but they died anyway. I got mine from a Dr. friend, years ago, and he is out of practice. Do you have a recommendation as to where I might be able to order them?
MM: You can order actual kefir grains from: Betty Stechmeyer & Gordon Mcbride Gem Cultures 30301 Sherwood Road, Fort Bragg, CA 95437 Phone (707) 964 2922. Gem Cultures was VERY prompt, when I ordered from them. Kefir grains for starting 2 cups of milk were $20 including shipping. They sell other products in addition to kefir grains. http://www.gemcultures.com
SR: Thank you so much for the Kefir spores information. My kefir spores use to be just like yours, gelatinous and big. Is that the way the ones are from Gem Cultures? My doctor got the ones he gave to me from a foreign country as a gift to him for helping out some nomadic people in 1961. At my peak of kefiring I had about 3 to 4 pounds of them in the freezer. I would experiment with them as to how long to allow them to do their thing and sometimes it would get so thick it was like soft cheese. I actually got a big kick out it. It doesn’t take much to make me happy. My family thought I was nuts when I brought my spores on vacation. They would call them my pets! haha Anyway thanks again.
Mrs. Generic: How do you use the Kefir grains?
MM: Kefir grains are gelatinous-like things that contain the kefir culture organisms. My kefir grains range in size from specks to some that are the size of a quarter. Some think that they look like bits of cauliflower.
If you buy REAL kefir grains, you put them into a specified amount of milk (2 cups for the original source that I had mentioned), and let them do their culturing thing. I let mine culture for about 2 days. Then, I strain out the kefir grains (rinse in NON-chlorinated water and then reuse these). The liquid is kefir. I let my kefir liquid sit for a few more days to ensure that the lactose has been digested. As you continue to reuse the kefir grains, they will multiply. I got my grains in the end of May and, at this time, I have enough grains to make 1 gallon of kefir at a time.
Kefir tastes like mild blue cheese, to me. Some like to add stevia and/or fruit to it, but that’s up to you and your candida! You can buy packets of freeze-dried kefir starter from some companies. You don’t reuse these, because they don’t contain the actual grains. Before learning about the difference, I had bought some of the powdered starter from Lifeways, but I never used it. Instead, I got real kefir grains.
Polly: Cultured kefir fruit should contain much less fructose (a type of sugar) than fresh fruit. The kefir bacteria and yeast would use up the fructose. With less fructose, fruit should be tolerated much better. About 40% of people with IBS experience gas and bloating after eating fructose. An even higher percentage (80%) shows evidence of hydrogen or methane in their breath after ingesting fructose. [7]