Kefir: The Champagne of Probiotics
Kefir is appearing more and more often in the refrigerated sections of just about every supermarket. It is a tasty, healthy fermented milk drink that is similar to yogurt. The best kefir is made at home using a so-called “kefir grain,” and that is truly a different process from the kefir you get from a factory. You can read about the differences below. And if you don’t have time to ferment your (raw) milk yourself? Then probiotic kefir capsules are a welcome and good solution!
Kefir: the oldest fermented milk drink on earth
Kefir originated about 2,000 years ago in the Caucasus Mountains somewhere between Europe and Russia. It is probably one of the oldest milk ferments in existence. Kefir grains (or the kefir culture) were considered part of the wealth of the family and the tribe. They were therefore carefully protected and passed down from generation to generation.
The milk was fermented by men in bags made of animal skin. Most often, these kefir bags hung in the sun during the day and were brought into the house at night, where they were hung by the door. Everyone entering or leaving the house had to poke the bag a few times with a foot or hand to mix the contents well. For centuries, the people of the northern Caucasus enjoyed the “champagne of probiotic drinks” without sharing it with the outside world.
Even Marco Polo mentioned kefir in the chronicles of his travels to the East.
Russian scientists and kefir
Kefir remained little known outside the Caucasus until news spread of its use in treating tuberculosis and intestinal and stomach disorders. Russian doctors believed kefir was beneficial for health, and they published the first scientific studies on kefir at the end of the nineteenth century. One of these scientists, and later also a Nobel Prize winner, was Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov. Mechnikov’s theory that bacteria in fermented milk products could prolong life formed the basis for almost all scientific research on probiotics. However, kefir remained extremely difficult to obtain, and commercial production was not possible without first securing a source of these “mysterious grains,” the well-known “kefir culture.”
Mechnikov’s theory that bacteria in fermented products could prolong life formed the basis for almost all scientific research on probiotics.
Magic drink: from a culture?
The term “kefir culture” is actually an affectionate name. In reality, it is a mixture of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. They clump together into something that most closely resembles cauliflower-like grains.
If you add them to milk and keep the mixture at room temperature, these bacteria and yeasts convert the available milk sugar (lactose) into lactic acid, carbon dioxide, and a very small amount of alcohol. After straining out the grains, you are left with kefir, and you can add fresh milk to the grains again if desired. In factories, the process is different: instead of using the “kefir culture,” a standardized blend of individually cultured bacteria and yeasts is added to the milk.
The difference between kefir probiotics and other probiotics
The production technologies for most probiotics are based—just like factory-made kefir—on artificially cultivating individual strains in a sterile environment. After freeze-drying, the “dormant” individual bacteria and/or yeasts are mixed into a probiotic formulation. The different strains never get the chance to interact during the cultivation phase. It is precisely this complex mix of yeast and bacterial strains that creates the interactive qualities of authentic kefir and kefir probiotics!
Enjoy the benefits, even if you don’t make it yourself
The production process of our kefir probiotics is therefore fundamentally different, because all microorganisms here do grow together and develop symbiotic interactions during the cultivation phase, just as happens in nature and in authentic kefir. Our kefir probiotics are hand-produced on a dedicated, specialized production line at small scale and are the most traditional and nutrient-rich probiotics on the market. That means you can still enjoy all the benefits without having to make kefir yourself. Of course, it is fun and also recommended to get started yourself, but until then this is the purest and most natural solution!
