thickness of kefir

[corrie43]

I just tried Kefir for the first time. I bought strawberry flavor, didn't dare try plain first. Is it supposed to be thick almost like yogurt? I added milk to it to get it to drinking consistency. I'm wondering if this is how it is supposed to be? I might as well just get yogurt and add milk. Is there a reason kefir is better than yogurt?

[sadean]

I recently tried kefir for the first time as well. It was quite thick, but still pourable. I am thinking I will add milk, or maybe ice to thin it. I haven't even finished the bottle.

Kefir, from what I understand is madwe with a different organisim than yogart (not sure what the culture is exactly) and is suppose to be good for your guts. I'm not sure that it is vastly superior to yogart...just more pricey :LOL

[turquoise]

Store bought Kefir is supposed to be thicker - kinda like a yogurt smoothie. Store bought Kefir and store bought yogurt are very similar because they are both cultured milk products. I believe the store kefir may have a few more strains of beneficial bacteria, but that also depends on which kefir and yogurt you are comparing to each other. (some show the strains on the label so you can compare them)

Now home made kefir is an entirely different beast. It has LOTS of strains of beneficial bacteria and the consistency is more like soft curds and whey (I guess you could throw it in a blender to make it smooth, but I don't take that extra step :LOL).

I switched to home made kefir and add pureed fruit when I feel like being creative. The price at the store was $3 a pint and that's just crazy when I can make as much as I need for the price of organic milk. Also, this way I can make probiotic cream cheese, sour cream, and use it in recipes that call for either.

Here's a good website for kefir: http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html and the nice thing is Dom's got all this info for you and he's not trying to sell you anything! Go figure!

Good luck and happy Kefiring!