Raw Kefir Fruit Salad

Kefir is a culture that looks like cottage cheese except more transparent. The cultures feed from the milk sugars (lactose) in milk which becomes thickened & resembles a watery yogurt. Kefir grains multiply and grow as time goes on so you can eventually build up quite a store of grains and share them on to friends and family. You can get cultures passed onto you, buy them online or from health food stores. You can also buy kefir yoghurt ready made from Health Food Stores or from a farmers market. Raw Milk products are becoming more in demand in Ireland due to the superior nutrition, enzymes and probiotics present in it. Kefir made from raw milk may contain up to 50 strains of bacteria and yeasts. Compare this to yoghurt which is only likely to contain up to 3 strains and often they are just prebiotics i.e. they add food for existing friendly bacteria to feed from. Raw Kefir & Yoghurt is best as the pasteurization process will kill all the cultures. (unless the culture is added afterwards).

Bacteria are fascinating once you get to studying them and deserve a whole post to themselves. Bulgaricus is a strain that lives in the intestinal wall that likes to mop up toxic waste from bacterial infection. Bifidobacterium breve is essential for colon health, especially if you’ve taken antibiotics. Studies have found that many digestive problems coincide with low levels of B. breve. In some cases supplements maybe necessary to replenish gut flora and choose the correct probiotic strain.