Kefir is a fermented milk product originating from the Caucasus Mountains. Health benefits of kefir have long since been recognized – kefir even means “feel good” in the original language. For production, kefir grains (symbiotic association of yeasts and bacteria enclosed in polysaccharides) are added to milk (or other liquids) to ferment. Kefir grains contain a wide range of microflora but predominantly include Lactobacillus sp., Lactococcus sp., Acetobacter sp., and various yeasts (Ganatsios et al., 2021). Key fermentation pathways include lactic acid fermentation, alcoholic fermentation, and acetification. Kefir grains were traditionally passed from family to family to be reused (read more here). Kefir is tangy, effervescent, and deemed highly nutritious.
Kefir is considered a probiotic drink that promotes human health through the presence of beneficial microorganisms (Ahmed et al., 2013). In today’s market, many cannot consume these dairy probiotic products, such as milk-allergic, lactose-intolerant, vegan, or vegetarian individuals (Egea et al., 2020). This desire for non-dairy probiotic foods perpetuated the popularity of non-dairy kefirs in the US. Check out Lifeway’s Oat Kefir or GT’s Guava Water Kefir. Non-dairy kefirs have origins dating back centuries but have recently grown in popularity due to diet trends. A non-dairy kefir follows a similar production process as kefir but begins with water, fruit juice, nut milk, or vegetable extracts instead of animal milk.
Have you tried kefir? What modifications to production processes might be necessary for non-dairy kefirs? What organoleptic properties would you expect to differ between dairy and non-dairy kefirs?
Image Credit: Tim Newman