Flavouring Milk kefir

Milk kefir is a great source of vitamins and protein. It makes a wonderful quick snack when your tummy is growling, but you don’t have time to sit down and eat.

If your looking to find ways to get your family interested in drinking their daily glass of milk kefir, then why not try adding a bit of flavour?

Flavouring milk kefir can be as easy as you want to make it and depends on the type of flavour that you are looking for.

The Easy Method

The easy way to flavour milk kefir is during the second ferment (once it is in the bottle) however this method works best with non-sugary flavours as otherwise the extra sugar can make the kefir off the charts sour. I use this method if i'm using spices like cinnamon or vanilla pod or star of Anis or zest of lime/lemon or Orange. I also use this method when i'm making savoury milk kefir to use as a salad dressing (garlic and Rosemary work really well). 

You literally just pop the flavouring in the bottle or jar that you will store it in, stir and then leave to infuse in the fridge. The longer you leave it the stronger the flavour will be.

Fruit Flavored Milks kefir

Milk kefir can be flavoured with fruits, however as the fruits will contain sugar it is best to do this and then consume immediately, otherwise you will get fruity super sour kefir.

For sweet fruity milk kefir, place 1 cup milk kefir in the blender with 2 tablespoons fruit jam. Mix with a blender/whisk or stick blender (not too long for the heat, use the pulse setting)

For a slightly less sweet fruity milk kefir , puree 1 cup milk kefir with ¼ cup frozen fruit. I am yet to find a frozen fruit that does not work well for this. You can either freeze fresh fruit that you have frozen yourself (a good way to use up slightly soft banana's) or buy the ready frozen fruit. Again use the pulse setting on the blender to avoid too much heat.

Another easy way make a fruit flavoured Milk kefir is simply to add some fruit smoothy to your kefir. You can use ready made smoothy or smoothy that you have made yourself. Veggie smoothies are also nice.

Idea's you might like to try.....

Peanut Butter Banana Milk kefir
250ml milk kefir
1 tablespoon peanut butter
¼ fresh or frozen banana

Blackberry Pie Milk kefir (remember you can use any jam you like)
250ml milk kefir
2 tablespoons blackberry jam
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon old fashioned oats (porridge) 

Strawberry Milk:
250 ml milk kefir 
2 tablespoons strawberry jam

Delux orange Kefir

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2.5 tablespoon of Orange juice 

250ml of milk kefir

250ml of ice cubes (one cup)

Simply pop all the ingredients in the blender and blend together using the pulse setting of the blender to avoid it getting to hot. 

We recommend consuming immediatley as otherwise the kefir will be super sour.

Kefir ice cream.....

Again there is an easy way to make kefir ice cream and a more complex way. Both will make you a lovely kefir ice cream however the more complex way does give you a really special frozen kefir.

The easy way

Simply pop your kefir into a suitable container and pop in the freezer. I find this method works well if you are making ice lollies but it does make very hard frozen kefir so you will need a hardy spoon to serve with and you may need to let it soften a bit before serving.

You can either make it plain and add sauce or make a fruity milk kefir (see above) add in some fruit pieces and freeze.

Deluxe frozen kefir