Curd and fermented milk
Kefir
Milk fermented with gelatinous kefir grains into a sour, lightly fizzy drink from the North Caucasus.
Kefir is milk fermented with kefir grains, small white clusters of yeasts and bacteria held together in a jelly. The grains are dropped into fresh milk, left for a day, then strained out and used again. The drink is sour, slightly fizzy and faintly alcoholic. It comes from the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus and spread through Russia and Eastern Europe in the twentieth century.
What goes in
- Fresh milk1077%, Usually cow milk.
- Kefir grains18%, Strained out and reused.
- Time at room temperature215%, About a day.
Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.
Made step by step
Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.
Step 1: Milk Pour fresh milk into a clean jar. Step 2: Ferment Add kefir grains and cover loosely. Step 3: Ferment Leave at room temperature for about a day, shaking now and then. Step 4: Strain Strain out the grains to start the next batch. Step 5: Serve Chill the kefir and serve it by the glass. Finished Kefir, by share.
From the mountains
The Karachay and Balkar peoples around Mount Elbrus are often named as the first makers of kefir. They are said to have fermented it in leather bags hung by the door, knocked by passers by to mix it. The grains were guarded and passed between families. Commercial production began in Moscow in the early twentieth century, and kefir became a staple of Soviet diets.
Grains that grow
Kefir grains multiply as they are fed, and spare grains are given away. They are never made from scratch: every grain comes from an older grain. Cow milk is most used, but goat and sheep milk work too. Kefir is drunk at breakfast and before bed, and used in Russian and Georgian baking and in cold summer soups.
Where it is used
The breeds behind it
Also part of it, and being written: Georgian Mountain cattle (Very small mountain breed of Georgia.), Kostroma cattle (Russian dual-purpose breed of the twentieth century.).
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Sources and further reading
Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.