I‘ve been getting a lot of emails from buyers of Kefir Starter. I’ve been criticizing these overly commercialized products for a while now so i’m not surprised with the barrage of emails.
First things first. I stick to what i’ve said before, am saying and will continue to say for a very long time. There is no doubt in my mind that Natural Kefir Grains are 100% better than Kefir Starter. It’s been proven, and there are a lot of testimonies from users who have used both to back it up.
However, here’s the part people often miss out on, I’m not saying Kefir Starter are not effective or useful. Don’t get me wrong, it is.
Kefir Starter is the INSTANT ready mix version of kefir. No more handling of the kefir grains, just pour, ferment and voila, ready to drink Kefir.
The downside to this is you can only reuse the kefir starter for a limited number of times (about 7? or maybe about 8 the last time I tried), unlike the unlimited use of natural kefir grains. Looking at this in an economic point of view, kefir starters cost more than natural kefir grains and can only be used for a limited number of times compared to forever for natural kefir grains. You do the math.
Another thing lacking with kefir starters is it does not have the same amount of probiotic goodness as natural kefir grains. This is due to the industrialized process in which natural kefir grains are turned into kefir starter. So in short this means Kefir Starters don’t have as much healthy benefits as Kefir made from natural kefir grains.
However, and here’s the main thing, if you don’t drink any kefir at all and don’t want to use kefir grains (I wouldn’t know why) by all means get the Kefir Starter. It’s better than nothing. But if you want the best bang for your buck I urge you to try making Kefir from natural kefir grains. If you’re still skeptical try both yourself and see (or feel) the difference.
Sponsors That Keep Kefir Grains Source Going:
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Hi,
I’ve got Kefir from a relative of mine and I dunno where she got it from, it doesn’t look like powder but it doesn’t look as big as the pictures I see of kefir grain. so how will I know if it’s actually “live kefir grains” or just some sort of starters, is there anyway I can tell?
I have had a lot of trouble using homemade kefir as starter for a second (and ongoing) batch. The subsequent batches get “reedy” and do not taste nearly as good as the original batch. What am I doing wrong? (I heat the milk to about 170F and then cool to room temperature before inoculation with starter and then let it set until it thickens. I try to remove the top as little as possible)