Herman is ‘exploding’……what to do?
Have you got a current day ‘cool’ but not too cool (temperature-wise), Herman in your kitchen? If not, why not?
And if not, or if you have no idea what I am referring to, please take a look at this blog, before reading further.
Herman, as my current Healthy Doable and Desirable Food Course group has named him, is the Kefir family that originates from outside the UK. A favourite in Turkey and also in my home country Norway, with a long tradition of providing its fans with healthy live bacteria to aid digestion. Now the Herman family is rapidly establishing itself in Huntsland and Crawley Down, West Sussex, and multiplying at speed! Brexit or no Brexit!
And that is indeed the challenge.
Whilst we are aware of close relatives of our Herman family multiplying at similar rates in Broadfield and East Sussex, we have been looking for ways to utilise this nutritious food that our guts so enjoy, because we now find we have so much of Herman and his offspring that we need new ways of putting them all to good use!
Here are some ideas for the strained Kefir, beyond the obvious replacement of natural yoghurt on breakfast cereals:
- Use it in smoothies (excess grains can also be used)
- Make delicious nutritious natural yoghurt-like fruit drinks by whizzing it with banana and / or pre-soaked cranberries or pre-soaked apricots
- Make divine salad dressings by adding chopped garlic, chopped ginger, chilli, a splash of olive oil, chilli flakes, a dash of sweet chilli sauce, and seasoning with salt or Stevia and pepper to your taste
- Make tasty dips by adding finely grated parmesan, finely chopped bacon and / or tomato paste and your favourite herbs
- Use it in pancakes or other cooked food instead of milk
- Mix with turmeric, garam masala, cumin and garlic to marinade chicken or other meats or fish before grilling
And crucially – if you really have too many Kefir grains, then freeze them. They go dormant, survive, and come back and do their jobs just as well as before, as soon as you thaw them and start feeding them again. Excellent work ethic!
If you have any questions or ideas to contribute, please share them in the comments section below or get in touch if you would like a Huntsland Herman for your own kitchen.
Sarah
Yes – what a versatile and tasty friend Kefir is! Really miss it when away without it – although I’m told it is possible to carry a few grains in a tiny pot when you travel!
Another very useful purpose for Kefir is to use it to make your raw salad items more easily digestible – prepare your raw broccoli or raw mushroom by slicing into kefir and leaving the kefir to work for an hour or more. You can add your other dressing ingredients such as lemon juice, olive oil, coriander or garlic, soy sauce, onion – mix and match to suit your taste!
Heidi
Excellent point – thank you very much for pointing this out, Sarah. Yes this is indeed part of the role Kefit has in the marinading suggestion I posted for meat and fish. Indeed it holds true for any foods that are more difficult to digest. After all that is why we sing its praises in the first place: Because it helps provide our guts with healthy bacteria to aid digestion.
Hilary Pearson
Missing kefir since we got back from Norway. I can buy it in a local supermarket now!! but confess I don’t have any at the moment. It’s a bit like Marmite in our house though…
Heidi
And who would imagine even Vogue wants to write about Kefir…….
Take a look at this link for anecdotal evidence of Kefir’s benefits when it comes to shedding excess weight:
http://www.vogue.com/13253613/kefir-yogurt-drink-next-superfood/