Kefir – How to do a 2nd Fermenting

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Up until several months ago, I had never even heard of 2nd fermenting kefir. But when I was sick, my dear friend, LaRayne, brought a jar of her delicious 2nd fermented kefir to me, along with some of her homemade bone broth. My goodness! Both were fantastic! And I have to tell you, I have found a new love for this kind of kefir!

I’ve made regular kefir off and on for a few years and like it quite well, but this 2nd fermented kefir doesn’t even compare in taste to regular kefir. Wow! It’s a bit carbonated and a bit sweet! So delicious! After I drank that 1st jar I craved more, and I was anxious to have LaRayne teach me how to make it! Then one day we got together and she taught me how!

Since I’m a newbie to this, I am by no means a 2nd fermenting kefir expert, but I do know that it makes the nutrition content of the kefir skyrocket even higher than regular kefir. And it is super powerful with helping to heal a leaky gut, which I have.

I’ll be sharing what to do with kefir after it has fermented 24 hours, so if you don’t know how to make kefir in the first place, I’d highly recommend you go to culturedfoodlife.com. Donna is amazing at making and teaching about fermented foods! And she teaches about way more than just kefir!

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So, on to how to 2nd ferment kefir!

First off, LaRayne makes her kefir in quart wide mouth mason jars. She took a jar of 24-hour fermented kefir and poured it into a strainer to strain the kefir off of the kefir grains.

Then she carefully stirred it a bit to get the kefir to go through the strainer.

When all that was left in the strainer were the kefir grains, she scooped them up…

…and placed them in a clean mason jar.

Then with the new jars that now hold the kefir grains, she filled them with milk to start a new batch of regular kefir. (FYI the ratio is about 2 Tbl kefir grains to 1 quart of milk.) She put lids on them, a little loosely, so that air can get into the jar as kefir needs to breathe a bit. Then she set them aside and focused on preparing the kefir for it’s 2nd fermenting.

She then took the bowl of the strained kefir and poured it into the same mason jars that she originally made the kefir in. These are the jars that will be used for 2nd fermenting.

Now on to how to start the 2nd fermenting process… There are lots of ways to do this using all kinds of fruits. Her family’s favorite flavors right now are apple cinnamon and orange/lemon. So for the apple cinnamon flavor, she took an apple and peeled the skin off. The skin is what she uses. She also cut up the apple and we ate it while she worked. 🙂

She placed the peel of the apple in a jar of kefir (so for this picture of 3 jars, she peeled 3 apples, 1 for each jar) and she put a cinnamon stick in each jar.

Then on to the orange/lemon flavored 2nd fermented kefir… She peeled an orange and a lemon for each jar. With the orange, be sure to not get too much of the white stuff under the peel, as that stuff can make the kefir taste a bit sour.

Here’s what they all looked like ready to go!

For the 2nd fermenting jars, she put the lids on nice and tight so the carbonating action can take place.

In this picture above, there are 10 jars. The 5 jars in the back have the kefir grains and milk and these will sit on her counter for 24 hours with the lids slightly loose so the kefir can breathe.

The 5 jars in the front are the 2nd fermenting batch with the fruit in them. These can sit on the counter anywhere from 2-12 hours, depending on your preference. As I’ve begun making these at my house, I’m finding that I like to have them go for about 12 hours.

Then after the desired number of hours sitting on your counter, you can just put the jar(s) in your fridge to slow down the fermenting process. This is not necessary for the fermentation, it just cools the kefir which I prefer before drinking it. 🙂

When you’re ready to drink the 2nd fermented kefir, just take it out of your fridge, remove the fruit peels and cinnamon sticks, then flavor to your liking. In both of these flavors, I like to add some vanilla and some stevia.  I also love kefir made with a handful of raspberries – oooh so good. You don’t have to remove the raspberries after the 2nd fermenting, you can just stir them up with added stevia and vanilla and enjoy the treat! YUM!

Thank you, dear friend, for teaching me an amazing new skill! I LOVE 2nd fermented kefir and now have at least a quart of it every day. SOOO delicious! And I love that it’s doing such great things for my body and for my family’s bodies! Thank you LaRayne! <3

 

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