Culture club

I'm not a massive health food freak but I've recently fallen in love with these little fellows that someone donated to the cafe. They're kefir grains, composing a cauliflower-like blob of gently-adhesive gelatinous bobbles that have the ability to ferment milk overnight so that in the morning you have a slightly acid, curdled liquid, a bit like runny yoghourt but possessing many more health-giving, life-enhancing properties. Kefir is generated by a culture composed of yeasts and bacteria but unlike the more familiar kind of yeasts whose fermentation produces sourdough and vinegar, this one cannot be created from scratch. It can only be regenerated from a portion of a pre-existing culture, so that all the world's kefir grains are off-shoots from one mysterious, ancient, 'ur' kefir whose provenance is lost in the mists of time somewhere in the Caucasus. (Marco Polo is said to have mentioned it in his 'Travels'). Traditionally it was made in a goatskin bag of milk, left to hang in the doorway which each passer-by would gently swing to encourage fermentation. So how did it first arise? Depending on your religion it was a gift from God or Allah... Scientists have failed to reproduce it.

Kefir, used as a drink or a cooking additive, has been shown to improve digestion of lactose, stimulate the growth of intestinal flora, reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels and possibly account in part for the longevity enjoyed by the people of the Caucasus. I, who have not drunk milk since childhood, now enjoy drinking a glass of kefir each morning when I drain off yesterday's milk and transfer the grains to a fresh supply (about half a pint each time). You can buy ready-made kefir in some places now but I find the process of making it adds a touch of magic to the morning routine.

You can read a short account of kefir in Wikipedia or you can find out all there is to know about it at Dom's site including the extraordinary story of how the culture was captured at the beginning of the 20th century from its secretive custodians by a combination of sex and skulduggery.

If anyone is sufficiently intrigued to want to try making kefir for themself I'd be happy to pass on a few of these 'probiotic jewels', the kefir grains, as mine are getting a little big for their boots their jug and they need splitting. I hate to throw them away so - join the club!
(NB I don't think I could send them abroad.)