Yeah, I bought some gardening books yeaterday. Esp. since I managed to go and break my finger nearly falling down the stairs yesterday, reading seemed like a safe activity. Never heard of kefir? Off to the web to investigate. (It is really hard to type with only 8 fingers) 2008-11-02T13:28:01Z false 5659 1466 2008-11-02T13:28:01Z 3568 Yikes - sorry to hear that Nax! I found out that the 'tea book' I mentioned is also available in French: 'Les infusions du jardin' by Peter Bauwens. You can get it at amazon.fr No English-language versions yet. Maybe there's a job for me in this... :) 2008-11-03T09:35:51Z false 5661 1466 2008-11-03T09:35:51Z 372 Annet - how are your experiments with kefir going so far? I have only tried milk kefir, which I love. I need to get some really good lively kefir grains, since there seems to a be limit to how long I can keep a culture of bottled grocery store kefir going. 2009-06-19T08:04:59Z false 11196 1466 2009-06-19T08:04:59Z 1435 I just got some kefir grains in the mail about a week or two ago ves and I have to say you really should try playing with the live grains. They are nothing like the stuff from the grocery store (in fact the stuff from the grocery store is really simply a type of yoghurt strain with yeast added to it...not actually true kefir at all). It's amazing watching each day as the grains start to rehydate and grow. The kefir does start to taste different also as it gets used to your milk. That said, my husband won't touch the stuff with a hundred foot pole so it still is an aquired taste :-)....but even if all of the health claims are 90% bogus the 10% would be enough to make it worhtwhile, so why not try? 2009-06-19T14:52:01Z false 11202 1466 2009-06-19T14:52:01Z 1302 I'm trying to find a source closer than 30 miles away, but I'll keep looking. I'm cheap, so I'm looking for free or cheap rather than mail-order....what was your source? I have successfully made bread with nothing but the grocery store kefir. 2009-06-19T15:37:10Z false 11203 1466 2009-06-19T15:37:10Z 1435 I tried all sorts of local lists that said they had free grains available but no one ever got back to me or else they didn't have any available when I got a hold of them. So in the end I ordered them off of e-bay from Australia...they were quite reasonably priced if I remember correctly but I did end up ordering dry grains that I had to rehydrate. In the end it seemed the seller had a network of friends that all had the grains and they ended up being shipped to me from someone close by. I think there were a few American sellers on e-bay if you end up looking on there that had the grains and kombucha mushrooms though. I hadn't thought about using kefir for bread making but now that you mention it I think I remember reading something about that somewhere. Do you have a kefir bread recipe that you used or did you just revamp a regular bread one? 2009-06-20T20:35:44Z false 11237 1466 2009-06-20T20:35:44Z 1302 I think I know of one local source, a small farm and dairy operation. I just need to make connections and they are just far enough away that I'm not driving out just for kefir....at least not in my failing car. I think if you look through the website for your Australian source, you will find recipes for both bread and other fermented foods such as sauerkraut - I've explored that website (don't have the link handy, but know who you mean, I think). What worked for me, though, was to take an active culture and add a little flour too it (just to give the critters a taste for flour) and let it sit a few hours, then thicken the kefir with flour to a paste and let it sit until it was all bubbly, and then add in all the rest of the flour (and the salt in the recipe -- I just used kefir for all the liquid, I think. At least that's what how I remember it; it's been a while. It was great sourdough flavor. 2009-06-20T21:02:23Z false 11239 1466 2009-06-20T21:02:23Z 1435 Mmmmm...kefir. I have milk & water kefir & also make my own kombucha tea. There's a really good site with loads of info "here.":http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/index.html (can be a bit fun to navigate but it's worth persevering). One thing I like using the milk kefir for is in quiche recipes. I add it instead of milk when making the filling - gives it a lovely rich taste. The kids devour it. I'm also going to try making kefir cheese at some stage. 2009-11-17T02:08:58Z false 13692 1466 2009-11-17T02:08:58Z 9591