Who knows anything about the origins of kefir?

**Korn** · Jun 22nd, 2005, 07:59 AM

I haven’t been able to find info about the origin of the kefir grains. Kefir can be used to make kefir nut milk and manu other drinks. I have seen no evidence that kefir originally was an animal product. The legend says that ’the prophet Mohammed received kefir grains directly from Allah’, and I know kefir was brought to USA in 1960.

Kefir is said to be an excellent source of B12. I haven't seen any recipes explaining how one can create kefir grains from animal products without having kefir grains to start with. If kefir originally was an animal product, it should be possible to make new kefir grains from scrath using an animal products, but it seems that this is not possible.

I know there are two types of kefir, water kefir - small transparent grains that ferment sweetened water, and milk kefir - white or cream coloured grains that look rather like cauliflower florets that ferment milk.

If no animal is harmed by making kefir, and it isn’t originally an animal product, I guess kefir used to make kefir soy, kefir rice or kefir nut/almomd milk would be considered a vegan drink.

The kombucha fungus is also used to make a vegan drink that contains B12, so why couldn't kefir also originally come from plant sources?

Please let me know if you have any info on this. I know that Dr. Gabriel Cousens mentions kefir nut milk in one of his books (Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine), and as far as I know, he normally doesn’t recommend anything that is considered a dairy product.

More about kefir and rejuvelac, another fermented drink said to be vegan (and which I know very little about) here...

Seaside · Jun 22nd, 2005, 08:28 AM

I have read that kefir was discovered when milk carried in leather pouches fermented into a pleasant drink. Kefir "grains" are yeasts, bacteria, and casein. Maybe the grains Dr. Cousens uses have been grown without casein. I think his books list resources in the back; they would probably be the best way to find out if you can get vegan kefir grains.

**veganblue** · Jun 22nd, 2005, 12:54 PM

Kefir questions and answers - in using kefir grains.
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html

Interesting seed and nut milk recipes that can be used to make kefir.
http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/vegmilk.html

It seems that without lactose, the grains stop being productive but other sites suggest that it is possible to make with soy milk for a while at least but the 'grains' will become exhausted after a while.

I apologise in advance for the non-vegan recipes and the grammatical errors!