How to prepare a good kefir with vegetable milk

If you are vegan and you do not finish getting to the taste of the water kefir Or you simply want to try making another variety of kefir without resorting to milk of animal origin, you can make kefir with vegetable milk. You just have to adapt the milk kefir by following these simple tips:

How to make vegan kefir

Although, due to its origins, this probiotic drink is usually prepared with cow’s or goat’s milk, it is also we can use vegetable drinks and enjoy its vegan version. It must be said, in case you have doubts, that the nodules are not an animal product, but a community of bacteria and yeasts united by a polysaccharide that feed on sugars.

The procedure to prepare it is exactly the same as that of conventional milk kefir and the same kefir nodules are usedbut the result will be somewhat different and will depend a lot on the vegetable milk that we choose.

I suggest you try three different vegetable milks, which are the ones that give the best results. The rest of the vegetable milks tend to be too liquid.

Kefir with soy milk

Due to the amount of starch and protein that the beans contain, Soy milk is one of the ones that gives the best results.. It allows you to obtain a very creamy kefir, especially if it is a very thick homemade soy milk.

The action of some of the kefir bacilli predigests some soybean proteins and makes them more assimilable by the body. However, because soy milk does not contain simple sugars like lactose – which kefir is fed with – the nodules can multiply very slowly and become weak. To restore their strength, it is advisable to let them rest from time to time in cow’s milk, or if preferred, with malted barley molasses.

To prepare soy kefir, use a heaped tablespoon of nodules for every half liter of natural soy milk (without added flavors and without sweetening). Let it rest in a glass jar covered with a clean cloth but without a tight lid. Store protected from light, at about 20 degrees, for 10 to 12 hours. Strain very carefully using a non-metallic strainer to avoid damaging the nodules and leave in a cool place. If the nodules have been used for a certain time to ferment soy milk, it is preferable not to make cow’s milk kefir with them.

Kefir with other vegetable milks

Kefir with almond milk. Almond milk could also work, but in this case it should include some form of sugar. Many commercial almond drinks already include some starch; if not, or if we do it at home, you will have to add a few teaspoons of brown sugar so that fermentation can take place.Kefir with coconut milk. The same applies to coconut milk, which makes a delicious kefir.

To prepare kefir with these milks you can follow the same steps as with soy milk kefir.

Kefir properties

Kefir, which means “blessing” in Turkish, is a pleasant-tasting fermented drink It has been consumed in the Caucasus area for thousands of years. Traditionally it has been considered an elixir that promotes longevity.

The nutritional values ​​vary depending on the type of liquid that has been used to make it. In general, It provides calcium and B vitamins.

But kefir is valuable above all for the probiotics it provides. Kefir grains contain about 400 million microorganisms per gram, of which more or less half are type bacteria Lactobacillus that protect the body against harmful bacteria.

By promoting the health of the intestinal microbiota, it is a ally of the digestive system and immunity.

A unique property of kefir is that it contains an insoluble polysaccharide called kefirana powerful natural antimicrobial.