Kefir - The Origins of Kefir and It"s Rich History
Kefir is popularly believed to have originated centuries ago from the shepherds of the Caucasus mountain region.
The people of this area, the Caucasians, were known to make kefir by adding kefir grains to goat or cow's milk and letting it ferment for days inside a goatskin leather bag.
The result, a refreshing cultured-milk beverage with a slightly creamy texture and a refreshing sour flavor known as kefir.
These people, who were said to have consumed large quantities of kefir, were known to have very long healthy life spans.
Life spans of over a hundred years old were nothing out of the ordinary.
Fast forward to last century, kefir becomes increasingly popular in Russia and in the former Soviet states.
And its popularity today is still growing as countries aside from the former USSR like, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Denmark are manufacturing kefir on a commercial scale.
But the real question we should be asking ourselves is not where kefir, the fermented milk beverage, originated from, but where kefir grains originated.
For without kefir grains in the first place, there wouldn't be kefir.
Unfortunately, the origin of kefir grains has long been surrounded by mystery.
No one really knows for sure where it came from and how it came to be.
The most popular take on the origin of kefir grains is a legend of the Prophet Mohammed giving the Orthodox people of the Caucasian Mountain the very first kefir grains and teaching them how to make kefir or "the drink of the Prophet Mohammed" from it.
The kefir grains or "grains of the prophet" and the process of making kefir, were guarded very closely and were regarded as the family's or tribe's wealth.
And since the kefir grains could be retrieved and reused indefinitely after each batch of culturing milk, these were passed on from generation to generation.
Another take on the origin of kefir grains is that it is actually manna on milk.
The same manna, God miraculously supplied during the Israelites' 40 years of wandering in the wilderness as mentioned in the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible.
In the end, we may never know whether the first kefir grains were a gift from the Prophet Mohammed or food supplied by God himself.
For all we know, it could very well have been there all along.
But we are sure of one thing, that kefir grains and kefir will continue to puzzle the generations to come with its "miraculous" health benefits and healing qualities.
There is literally nothing in this world quite like kefir.
The people of this area, the Caucasians, were known to make kefir by adding kefir grains to goat or cow's milk and letting it ferment for days inside a goatskin leather bag.
The result, a refreshing cultured-milk beverage with a slightly creamy texture and a refreshing sour flavor known as kefir.
These people, who were said to have consumed large quantities of kefir, were known to have very long healthy life spans.
Life spans of over a hundred years old were nothing out of the ordinary.
Fast forward to last century, kefir becomes increasingly popular in Russia and in the former Soviet states.
And its popularity today is still growing as countries aside from the former USSR like, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Denmark are manufacturing kefir on a commercial scale.
But the real question we should be asking ourselves is not where kefir, the fermented milk beverage, originated from, but where kefir grains originated.
For without kefir grains in the first place, there wouldn't be kefir.
Unfortunately, the origin of kefir grains has long been surrounded by mystery.
No one really knows for sure where it came from and how it came to be.
The most popular take on the origin of kefir grains is a legend of the Prophet Mohammed giving the Orthodox people of the Caucasian Mountain the very first kefir grains and teaching them how to make kefir or "the drink of the Prophet Mohammed" from it.
The kefir grains or "grains of the prophet" and the process of making kefir, were guarded very closely and were regarded as the family's or tribe's wealth.
And since the kefir grains could be retrieved and reused indefinitely after each batch of culturing milk, these were passed on from generation to generation.
Another take on the origin of kefir grains is that it is actually manna on milk.
The same manna, God miraculously supplied during the Israelites' 40 years of wandering in the wilderness as mentioned in the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible.
In the end, we may never know whether the first kefir grains were a gift from the Prophet Mohammed or food supplied by God himself.
For all we know, it could very well have been there all along.
But we are sure of one thing, that kefir grains and kefir will continue to puzzle the generations to come with its "miraculous" health benefits and healing qualities.
There is literally nothing in this world quite like kefir.
