Please keep your dehydrated milk kefir cultures (grains) refrigerated until you are ready to rehydrate them.
Equipment you will need:
1 litre glass jar
Plastic strainer
Wooden or plastic teaspoon
Coffee filter
Elastic band
Ingredients you will need:
Raw or full cream cow’s milk
How to rehydrate your milk kefir cultures (grains)
Place your dried milk kefir cultures in a 1 litre jar.
Add 1/4 cup milk (preferably raw jersey cow milk otherwise pasteurised full cream milk). Do not use: ultra pasteurised or low fat or skim or long life milk.
Cover with a cloth or coffee filter and secure with an elastic band. Allow to stand at room temperature for 24 hours. (May take several batches to activate the dried cultures and achieve a pleasant milk kefir.)
Strain the cultures and collect the fermented milk kefir liquid. Discard the liquid if the cultures are not yet activated. If they are activated and the liquid tastes fermented then pour the strained liquid into a bottle or jar and drink as is or flavour and add to smoothies. Chill and store your finished (strained) milk kefir in the fridge.
Add your cultures to a new batch of milk. If a lot of whey appears (pockets of clear liquid) before the 24 hours is up, then you will need to increase the amount of milk. Expect to slowly increase the milk as they activate.
Depending on the season and air temperature, 2 tablespoons of rehydrated milk kefir cultures should ferment about 1 litre of milk every 24 hours.
Dehydrated milk kefir cultures
Active milk kefir cultures