Cultures for Health Milk Kefir Grains | DIY Frothy Dairy Non-GMO Probiotic Drink for Stronger Gut Health | Limitless Heirloom Style Starter | Easy to Flavor or Add to Recipes | Bulgaros De Leche

It is true that only a few grains can be found in the package, as the others stated. But I find that it worked out well, they do the job to produce plenty enough kefir for about two person a day. The kefir is not drinkable after the first day, but with the second milk it is already good tasting and thickened consitency.Depends on the kind of milk I use it produces different thickness of kefir.I've tried buffalo milk, and it makes much thicker kefir than with goatmilk.I keep the jar in a warm place up on a top of a cabinet, the warmth deffinietly helps to set it, it is always perfect at the 24 hr mark.I'm only making kefir for about a week now, and I've noticed that more established the grains become, thicker and sourer the kefir becomes.So I'm happy with it, I don't know if I would need more than this amount, it really does the job, nicely I must say. For those who compared it that this small amount does not make the same kefir taste and thickness as they know kefir to be: if they refering to store bought kefir,, that is not the same as this.Store bought kefir is not cultured with kefir grains, milk is injected with cultures that is found in kefir. Anybody can look this up,, for example on wikipedia. I want to add to my review because I found success with them and from reading other peoples reviews many could not succeed. Some people close the top with lids while they are culturing.Forgetting that thise are living cultures.The bacteria/yeast inhales and exhales, they need oxigen for proper functioning and proper fermentation.So one needs to make sure oxygen can get into the jar continuosly, so best to cover it with cheese cloth and rubber band.Glass jar is good, plastic and other things like metal can effect it.Keep it in warm place, like top of the cabinet. I shake mine up a few times in the 24 hr period, to ensure even fermentation.I think when the thickened milk starts to separate from the whey,that is when it's starts to be good.I shake it together, let it sit for 2-3 more hrs, shake it again and ready.

I bought these grains (Cultures for Health - CFH) during the second week of August 2016. The extremely small amount of grains you get is a joke. I had several issues getting good kefir, including poor texture and taste, and lack of growth in the grains. I made several adjustments, including different amounts of milk and different culturing times, and still had difficulty. I ended up getting another order of grains during the first week of September 2016, and after activating them, I combined both sets of grains. I have continued culturing through early October, again making several adjustments (including adjusting ambient temperature) to try to get a good batch of kefir. The grains have made very minimal growth and could barely produce 2 cups of okay kefir, still lacking in texture. I did get a few decent batches of kefir over the course of almost 2 months, but it seemed to be by chance and did not appear to be directly related to anything differently I did, because I could not reproduce the same kefir while keeping all the other factors the same. I was hopeful and really gave these grains a chance, but after almost 2 whole months of investing a lot of time and effort, I only have 1 TEASPOON of grains (a heaping teaspoon, and that is with 2 orders of grains). I then bought from a competitor, and am amazed at the superior quality of their grains. The taste and texture is excellent and significantly better than CFH—you can't even compare the two. What I achieved after about 1 week with the competitor's grains, I could not achieve after 2 months with CFH grains. The competitor's grains grew from 2 TBS (what I ordered) to 3/4 cup in ~ 2 weeks (14 batches). Now that is what I call healthy, active grains. Maybe others are having a good experience with these (CFH) grains, and if they are, good for them. But I wonder if people who gave 5 stars for CFH actually know how amazing kefir can be. Don't get me wrong, CFH grains do turn the milk into kefir, but the overall quality is poor and far inferior to at least one competitor that I tried. I did contact CFH with questions and they were prompt and helpful, and they did send me a free order when I had issues. But I am still dissatisfied with the poor quality of their product. The pictures attached show the amount I grew with TWO orders of grains after ~2 months of culturing. (one order was cultured for less than 2 months as it arrived later).

Loving this. Curiosity killed the cat, they say. They also say satisfaction brought it back. And that may be. I certainly bought this out of curiosity. I have been keeping up on it rather easily. Unlike yogurt and such, this stuff really is easy, if you can keep up on the milk. I'm a minor giant, and already was a heavy milk drinker. I still drink plenty of milk (2-3 gallons a week). As well, I used that much milk again to create kefir. I generally keep three half gallon jars of the stuff in rotation, as well as kefir whey for fermenting other things (fermenting, sum total is as new as kefir to me). Plus I keep three pints of grain going on the side. My one advice is, when first using this? Begin when you will have two to three days of relative freedom. When they said cleansing? That's a female way of saying you will poop like a coffee eating minor mammal! No, you won't get paid for it. It WILL clean you out that first time, and off and on until your body fully adjusts, or when coming back to it after a few days off. We are talking baby waste sort of stuff. Not, at least for me, diarrhea sort, just soft and best to pay close attention when you get the urge. Once you get a routine, this stuff is fun. I generally eat it straight... no sugar, no fruit, no muss or other fuss. Mostly because I like it as is and I am a bit lazy. But you can do much with it. Oh, I also soak whole grain cereals, such as old-fashioned oatmeal and 9-grain cracked cereal. Soak it overnight, then it is not only easier to digest, but it also cooks much, much, faster. You could use the whey, I hear, but I just use kefir itself, since I generally have more of that. Good luck.

It’s been 5 months since i bought the kefir grains. I followed the directions and in 24 hours i got my first 32 oz jar of milk kefir. Made with cow’s whole milk the result was a creamy, tart and tasty beneficial drink. In the beginning to make more I would carefully use a screen filter to filter out the grains. Nowadays, I just wait until the jar gets down to its last 20% and I just add more whole milk and it works perfectly. I wouldn’t recommend doing this until the milk kefir grains is very abundant and the fermentation process becomes faster. I live in Hawaii so when I leave it out at room temperature, it only takes 12 hours to be fermented to the point that I like. I ferment it until I start to see a little bit of the whey protein separation then I put it in the refrigerator. From there, it continues to separate but is slowed down dramatically, and before it can separate extremely, I would have finished the jar and added new milk.. when I take it out of the fridge I make sure to shake the jar to remix the whey protein into it before I drink it and the result is a nice thick creamy milk kefir. I also started to experiment with it.. when I make dishes that uses yogurt as a binder with chicken for example, I replace it with some kefir and the result is great. I also used an instant pot yogurt setting to make kefir yogurt instead of greek yogurt which i would usually do and that was also successful. I would recommend this to everyone. Most importantly it helped me to have consistent healthy digestion, limiting stomaches and other negative digestive Issues.

Disappointed. I very, very rarely write reviews and even more rarely write a bad one. I have purchased this product 3 times over the years. The previous 2 times the kefir grains made lovely, creamy, fresh-tasting kefir. The only reason I had to replace my previous set of kefir grains was because I had been traveling for longer than I had planned and so they were in hibernation in my refrigerator for too long. However, there was something very, very wrong with the most recent set of kefir grains that I purchased from Cultures for Health. Something is not quite right with this batch. I meticulously followed the Cultures for Health steps as indicated in their videos online. I used ultra-clean vessels (used to work in scientific research and know well what clean glassware is), purchased new organic whole milk, kept the vessels in the suggested temperature range, kept a daily log, etc.. The taste of this kefir is off, not just sour, but bad. Since I began drinking this kefir, I've had extreme fatigue. Needless to say, I've dumped a bunch of kefir down the drain. I honestly think this product may be a health hazard, and would like to know what standards and INDEPENDENT LABORATORY checks are done to check the microorganisms/bacteriophages that are in these grains. The care that went into "awakening" these kefir grains from their dehydrated state was considerable. It was not an inexpensive purchase for what amounted to be perhaps a half teaspoon of kefir grains. These along with thequantity of milk I needed to purchase to get the kefir grains out of their freeze-dried state was also considerable. This product is unpredictable, and quite possibly a health threat. A 66% success rate depicting my experience with this product purchased three times is not acceptable. Would you trust your child with a swim instructor who boasted a 66% success? I'll keep drinking kefir, but I will be buying STANDARDIZED bottles of it from Whole Foods.

I bought this product around the beginning to middle of May 2011 &, at that time, it showed a picture of the box from the company Cultures for Health LLC. It also had (& still has) their name on it as "by Cultures of Health LLC" but then further down is says "Ships from and sold by Lifetime Kefir." I just want to clarify for everyone out there, who like me thought I was buying from a specific COMPANY that sells milk kefir, that this is not sold through Cultures for Health & it is not sponsored or affiliated with them in any way. I contacted Cultures for Health today and the customer service lady said that they are not affiliated with this "Lifetime Kefir". I also received my kefir grains in a plastic baggie & wrapped in about 5 more plastic baggies, all smooshed up flat, and looking nothing like the cauliflower looking kefir grains you see pictures of. Needless to say I was a little freaked out. I decided to just try it out & see if the kefir grew and 'worked'. ----- THAT BEING SAID ..... the kefir grew wonderfully! and has tripled or quadrupled in a months time. I also sent the seller a question after working with and growing my kefir for about 2 or 3 days and he gave me a quick, polite, fairly thorough answer. Customer service seemed just good ... and quick. I started with making about 1c of kefir and it was fizzy, clumpy/watery, weird. I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking for but I guess this is normal and I just kept working with it each day changing the milk out and making new kefir. It took about 1-2 weeks before it was producing well and I was making good kefir (not fizzy, but creamy now). I was slowly figuring out how to work with the product. I now make a quart jar of kefir daily. I switch out the grains/kefir each morning and am left with about 3-4 cups of kefir each day. All-in-all, I think the product is good. *****UPDATE 7/13/11******: Since the initial review here, I have contacted the seller about some things & have had wonderful, very polite, and very quick customer service. There is nothing bad to say at all about the customer service with this seller, in my opinion. He seems to go out of the way to make sure the buyer is fully satisfied with the product. And the product seems great. My grains have grown tremendously and I have probably 1 to 1 1/2 CUPS of kefir GRAINS now. That is all from about 1T of smooshy, yellow looking 'stuff' (kefir grains) that I initially got from the seller. It took a couple weeks for them to start working "normally" and looking more "normal" but just give them some time and they seem to come through and make great kefir. The only reason for less than 5 stars is simply because I feel like there still is a little misleading advertising in the product. It appears this seller (Lifetime Kefir) has a few different kefir grain ads/products on amazon & the one that I bought from ([...]) shows that it is "by: Cultures for Health, LLC" and "shipped and sold by Lifetime Kefir". I thought I was buying the grains from Culture for Health through a middle-man, so to speak. When actually it is not a Cultures for Health product at all. Maybe no big deal to others, but it was for me. It ended up being a great product in the end though.

I got this about four months ago and I remember it seemed like a decent amount of reviews said they didn’t get the kefir to “wake up.” I followed the included instructions to the T and it’s been perfect. Now that I’m in full production mode, I have been giving away kefir grains at a regular rate because they are so productive and plentiful. They reproduce so fast that I’ve ended up just eating more than I’ve given away. Follow the instructions and these grains are awesome. Side note, my family of five (three young children) has not gotten sick at all since we started drinking the kefir. It’s only four months or so to date, but through the entire winter not one sickness. I love it and highly recommend it to everyone.

I have a had great luck with this product. The seller has been super helpful and I had achieved success!!! (It can a day for him to reply...but like most of us...we cant be on the computer or phone all day) I started by healing my grains as instructed. I put them in fresh room temp milk every 12 hours (a cup of milk, I used organic milk from the grocery store) in a warm dark place. I removed them from the milk with a little plastic strainer from the dollar store. Rinsed them off with filtered water. It takes a few days for the grains to increase. Somedays I had what appeared to be new ones and other days they just doubled in size. I found that they can be stuck in a thick milk/yogurt type goo at the bottom of the jar. I just scooped that out into the strainer and rinsed off gently. After 6 days ( I did 6, 4 would have been enough), I strained off the milk and used the kefir (I started with about a cup and a half of milk). I let mine sit for 8 hours. It is a bit thicker than milk, not much thicker though. Mine has very little smell (warm milk/buttermilk smell) when I strained it. After I chilled it, it had a sour milk smell. This is normal. I can not drink it straight. I don't like the flavor. I put about an 1/8 of a cup in a fruit smoothie every day. The flavor does not come through. That amount of kefir last me several days (for two people) . I store my grains in a jar ,in a cup of milk, in the fridge (a sealed jar). If it sits for a week, I add a splash of fresh milk. When I go to use them, I strain and rinse them, then just put the back in room temp milk and start again. I now have about a tablespoon and a half of grains. When I have 2 tablespoons, I will divide in two and only use half and store other half in the fridge. I will give these away or just rotate using my two portions to keep all of them alive and fed. I also want to make coconut milk kefir. The seller advised that I grow them to the point of the two portions and use one for the coconut. Apparently coconut milk does not have all the components that regular milk has and the grains can not feed as well in coconut milk. So I will use my additional portion just in case they don't do well in the coconut milk. I have tried to write about the things that were not entirely clear to me in the instructions. Oh...btw...the grains don't look like much when you get them. Just empty out packet contents into milk and let it go. It will take a day or two for them to look like tiny pieces of cauliflower. No rinsing with tap water. Bottled water,I wouldn't trust for this. I used R/O filter but distilled or brita type filter would do. Be patient and follow the instructions. The seller is soooo helpful. I had may a good chat via email with him ( I think it was a "him"). First couple of days using the kefir. My digestion was a bit "rumbly" but very much improved. Rumbling has stopped. I seem to be less tolerant of fried foods. This is how my system was when I was younger. No complaints from me on that. I am glad to have a deterrent from my unhealthy eating habits. I have a dairy tolerance issue and the one day I did not have my smoothie, Ice cream upset my stomach. If I have my smoothie,it seems that my dairy intolerance is in check. I love that the kefir shows its promise so quickly. I hope that you give this a try... I have been very pleased. Good luck Jax

I live in a hot climate area and I leave the kefir in a glass container in a shady area in my kitchen and I have kefir within less than 12 hours and I can add less milk so it becomes yoghurt :) I love it !!

الكمية قليلة وناشفة جدا مما يتطلب عدة مرات لتنشيطها بعد 10 ايام من محاولة تنشيط الفطر(granula) بقيت جافةوهذا دليل على موتها وعدم فعاليتها علما بأنني عملت بها قبل عدة سنوات ولدي الخبرة الكافية للتعامل معها وللأسف بعد هذه المدة لا بمكنك ارجاع المنتج او استبداله

These kefir grains did not produce viable kefir. The instructions said to place the dehydrated kefir grains in a 1/2 cup of milk, wait for 24 hrs (or until thickened), and increase the milk by a 1/2 cup if the milk thickens. If it doesn't thicken, it states to simply replace it with a 1/2 cup of milk. It also said that you should be able to increase the milk up to 4 cups within 3 to 7 days. This is an incredibly simple process, however, I have been progressively attempting to revive my grains and produce kefir for about a month. I finally decided to compost them because I realized I could find some for much cheaper from a local person and I was wasting a lot of money on milk that was just getting funky tasting and off. Now, here's the thing with fermentation. Microbes ferment food, not people. Yes, you want to make sure you aren't applying heat to your grains (this will kill them). Moreover, you want to stay on top of feeding them. Other than that, there isn't really anything else that should get in the way of producing good kefir at home. Thus, I blame the grains. They definitely weren't dead. The milk was bubbling, just not souring or thickening. I tested the PH to determine if there was a change and there never was. I would have expected some change within a month of trying. Getting live grains from someone local made a lot more sense in the long run and I recommend that people go that route rather than buying dehydrated grains online. There are so many poor reviews for this product that I really should have known better than to order it. I have attempted to contact the seller for a refund, however, I haven't received a response.

First time in doing milk kefir. I was hesitant because i see a lot starting on activated and this one is dehydrated and i was not sure if I'll be successful. I followed the instructional video. I used whole milk 3.8% 1 cup used coffee filter to cover the glass. I only used plastic to stir and left it for 24 hrs. On the 2nd day i transferred to new glass with same amount of milk. After every 8 hrs i shaked the glass a bit. Before 24 hrs it was starting to get thicker So 3rd day i used 1 1/2cups of new milk. It got so thicker. So today i used 2 cups. I guess i could say it is a success activating the milk kefir grain. Now i can make my own milk kefir at home. Thanks a lot.

Great product, clear instructions, a fair price, patience is needed, I'm five batches in, all excl. batch #1 are tasty and healthy! Admittedly the grains haven't grown massively (I'm using full fat milk from Spinnies but it's homogenized and pasteurised, so still workable but not the best), 24hrs is enough (in our hot heat) now they're activated. All in all, after lots of research, this was the best option on paper. And it's proving to be the same in reality!