Powdered Culture

Many of the cheap supermarket Kefir brands are imported from Eastern Europe however there are a few supermarket brands that are manufactured in the UK, this mass produced Kefir is made using a freeze dried powder culture which is made in a laboratory, or using Kefir milk made from grains which has been diluted and freeze dried.
The bacteria in the powdered cultures become active when added to milk and the Kefir can be made within 15 hours. The amount of live and active bacteria in Kefir made from powdered cultures can vary dramatically and can have similar quantities to yogurts.

Some Eastern European companies even use skimmed milk powder and water when making their culture which ultimately reduces the amount of live active bacteria even more.
The aim of Kefir is to improve your body and day to day life, in order to do this the live bacteria need to target the large intestine. It is scientifically proven by UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London  that active bacteria in powdered forms or capsules do not survive beyond the stomach, therefore these products are unable to reach the intestines for improving your body.

Companies use freeze dried powdered cultures as they are much easier, quicker and cost effective to produce on a mass scale, the similarities to yogurt also make it more appealing to some consumers.

Live Kefir Grains

Here at the Live Kefir Company we are proud to offer Kefir which big commercial companies cannot, all our Kefir products are made using authentic live Kefir grains. These ‘grains’ are clusters of different bacteria and yeast species which cannot be made in a laboratory, they are naturally occurring and alive therefore can be used indefinitely as they grow and multiply after each batch of Kefir we make. They are unique in appearance looking like a cross between rice pudding and cottage cheese with a rubbery texture, due to their live nature they come in all shapes and sizes.

It is a much more difficult process to make Kefir using live Kefir grains as there are many aspects of the fermentation that need to be strictly controlled in order for our Kefir to be jam packed with live and active bacteria. This includes strict control over time, temperature and milk to grain ratios, our recipe is unique and secret to our company. We use fresh pastureised milk which we add our Live Kefir grains to this is then left to ferment at our perfect temperature for a specific amount of time. Once complete it is left to mature to optimise the amount of live bacteria. Kefir grains are a natural eco system which cannot be copied or emulated, our use of Kefir grains has the benefit of creating a much more diverse and robust Kefir composition which cannot be matched by any powdered culture.