Making Kefir and Cottage Cheese - Sweet vs Sour Milk

[2012] 

[Aajonus] 

Okay, I'm just gonna go around. Start off, Fred.  

[Fred] 

Making kefir and cottage cheese. I'll make it and a lot of times it ends up different, but I know you've said there's like three different kinds of bacteria, so I was wondering if you could maybe talk about how the variables affect.  

[Aajonus] 

Well, the temperature will decide which bacteria. You've got three main bacteria's in milk. You've got, acidophilus, bulgaricus, and [unclear]. [unclear] digests the proteins, the bulgaricus digests the fat, the acidophilus digests the sugars.  

Depending upon the temperatures. If it's cold, the fat usually is prominent. The bulgaricus is usually higher, that creates a more sour in sometimes even bitter flavor. The warmer it is, usually the acidophilus will predominate and you'll have a sweeter kefir or yogurt.  

If you want to make sure that the acidophilus predominates all the time so you have a sweet rather than a sour if you have that kind of a taste bud, it's good to put a little bit of honey in. It doesn't take much to spur the acidophilus to be more active. Probably a teaspoon per quart of milk is enough to make it gear on the sweet side. Of course, the more honey you add, the sweeter it's going to be okay, and it won't be just the sweetness from the sugar, it'll be the sweetness from the milk because the acidophilus will be more prominent at that point. More the sugars will be digested, along with the minerals and minerals make things very sweet too.  

A lot of times you can have something that's very sweet tasting and not have any sugar in it, that's because of the minerals. It has the alkalizing minerals, which have a sweet flavor. If you have milk that separates like Kathy's there, you can just put it in a blender for three seconds, it'll be back into a thick kefir again. You don't have to drink it separated like that and it just takes three seconds, maybe not even three seconds, two seconds, two to three.  

If you want an acidophilus or yogurt that is best for you in human, then you use your own saliva as your starter. You've got more bacteria in your mouth and your saliva than dogs and cats, and that's where we start our digestion.  

Remember, Digestion is supposed to be at least 90%. Bacterial is supposed to be 90% of digestion, so it starts in the mouth. So, if you take some milk and swish it around in your mouth for a minute or so, and then expectorate that back into the milk, that's using your own bacteria.  

When you use a cow's rennet or the grains from a cow's stomach to make your yogurt or kefir, it will compete with yours, it won't encourage your particular kind of bacteria because ours are different from a cow or a goat or sheep or any animal where they use the rennet to help them.  

So, using your own saliva will always produce the best bacteria for you as an individual.  

[Fred] 

Sometimes it comes out like almost fizzy. What causes that? 

[Aajonus] 

Like turning alcohol, that means it's getting too hot, too fast, and a lot of alcohol forms in it, and that causes a gaseous reaction.  

[Fred] 

I've had that even in the fridge. I just let it sit in the fridge, but for a long time, maybe several weeks.  

[Aajonus] 

Yeah, it'll still do it. Turn in alcohol, absolutely.  

[Fred] 

Anything to do to prevent it doing that? Because sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it does.  

[Aajonus] 

It depends upon how warm the milk got before you put in the fridge.  

[Fred] 

Oh, okay. That's probably why, it got warmed then.  

[Kathy] 

You don't want it warm?  

[Aajonus] 

I like it warm. I will make my kefir out of the fridge and then put it in the refrigerator, but I'm usually consuming it within a week. Mine rarely ever goes beyond a week. If it does go beyond a week, it will get fizzy, it'll separate. You can blend it and that'll get rid of some of the gas, but still you have a high concentration of alcohol.  

[Kathy] 

Which is not good?  

[Aajonus] 

No, it just cause more detoxification. 

[Fred] 

And there's no limit? Let's say you've got some kefir and you've got a whole bunch, you can keep it for months, right?  

[Aajonus] 

Yeah. It's up to you. If you're like the Germans, you like it stinky and rotten. Really nasty stuff.