Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet
You’re visiting a friend and they offer you a kefir smoothie, or maybe you’re at a restaurant and you come across a salad with kefir in the dressing. One thing’s for certain: kefir is certainly a trendy food at the moment. Is it something vegans can indulge in?
Kefir is vegan if it’s made with water, but the traditional kefir recipe calls for goat’s or cow’s milk and kefir grains. Food manufacturers will sometimes use non-dairy milk to ferment kefir grains, which vegans can also consume.
If you want to learn more about kefir, this is the article for you. Ahead, we’ll explain how kefir is usually made as well as when it’s vegan and when it’s not. We’ll even tell you how to prepare your own kefir at home, so make sure you keep reading!
What Is Kefir?
How can kefir be used in smoothies and salad dressings? What exactly is it? Kefir, which is sometimes spelled kefier or kephir, is made with kefir grains and fermented liquid. You can drink that liquid or consume kefir in all sorts of other fun ways. For instance, you can make kefir into a spreadable cheese, ice cream, popsicles (when you combine frozen fruit), and parfaits.
Kefir was first created within North Caucasus, a part of Russia where the Caspian Sea is eastward and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov are westward. It’s in Balkaria, Karachays, and Circassia within Mount Elbrus specifically that kefir’s homeland is said to be.
In its grain form, kefir features a polysaccharide matrix that keeps the large, cauliflower-like grains together. The grains have microorganisms and acetic acid bacteria as well as yeasts and lactic acid bacteria like leuconostoc, lactococci, and lactobacilli. The kefir grains aren’t traditional grains like wholewheat or pseudocereals. Instead, kefir grains are usually a cow’s milk byproduct.
To ferment the grains, you need ambient temperatures. Most fermentation occurs at least overnight but sometimes longer. The result is a liquid that has a yogurt-like consistency and contains some alcohol. The kefir at this stage is also carbonated and smells quite sour, although it’s said to taste like yogurt as well.
When fermentation occurs, it’s due to Saccharomyces turicensis and Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens. The bacteria undergo auto-aggregation so they adhere at surface level, sticking due to biofilms. The biofilms comprise kefiran made of galactose and glucose. This step makes a kefir microcolony with three different dimensions.
The lactose will become lactic acid at a rate of about 25 percent, which explains the sour odor of the fermented kefir. The propionibacteria in the kefir grains convert some of the lactic acid to propionic acid, which is actually how Swiss cheese ferments as well.
As the proteins in the kefir grains degrade, the formation of amino acids, acetaldehyde, citric acid, acetoin, diacetyl, acetic acid, and pyruvic acid occurs. These all contribute to the flavor of the kefir grains, especially acetoin and diacetyl, which lend the grains a buttery taste.
Low-fat plain kefir may contain the following nutrition per 100 grams:
- 41 calories
- 9 grams of total fat (1 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 7 grams of saturated fat (3 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 0 grams of trans fat
- 5 milligrams of cholesterol (2 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 40 milligrams of sodium (2 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 164 milligrams of potassium (5 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 5 grams of carbs (2 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 0 grams of dietary fiber
- 6 grams of sugar
- 8 grams of protein
- 11 percent vitamin A
- 3 percent vitamin C
- 13 percent calcium
- 2 percent iron
Is Kefir Vegan?
Fermentable kefir grains are most commonly sourced from cow’s milk, but sheep and goat’s milk are used as well. The resulting kefir is different in texture, odor, and taste, as well as the nutritional profile, depending on which type of milk the food producer uses.
Here’s some good news for vegans. Dairy milk is not the only way to produce kefir. Food manufacturers will also use coconut, nut, rice, and soy milks. Even ginger beer, beer wort, coconut water, and fruit juice can ferment to make kefir. If a beverage can support the bacteria needed for fermentation, then you can make kefir out of it. However, the long-term growth of the bacteria must be sustainable or the fermentation will stop.
Kefir Water – The Vegan Alternative
By far the most popular form of kefir for vegans is tibicos or water kefir. This contains no milk, neither cow’s milk nor plant-based, just water and bacteria. Tibicos cultures include varying yeasts and bacteria, with yeasts such as Kloeckera, Candida, and Saccharomyces often used. The bacteria that may be found in tibicos cultures include Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, Streptococcus, and Lactobacillus. These bacteria should sound familiar from the section above on how dairy kefir is made.
The tibicos fermentation process actually isn’t all that different from the way that dairy milk kefir grains ferment. The bacteria and yeast in the tibicos create the culture and make carbon dioxide for carbonation, ethanol or alcohol, and lactic acid.
Water kefir tastes somewhat sweet but has an overall mild flavor with some tartness. To make it bubblier like soda, you have to strain the tibicos grains and then bottle them for at least a day, ideally two days.
One cup of water kefir contains:
- 61 calories
- 2 grams of protein
- 9 grams of carbs
- 7 milligrams of sodium
- 6 grams of dietary fiber
- 9 grams of sugar
- 13 grams of added sugar
- 6 milligrams of vitamin C
- 4 micrograms of folate
- 16 milligrams of calcium
- 1 milligrams of iron
- 5 milligrams of magnesium
- 39 milligrams of potassium
The Benefits of Water Kefir
Water kefir can be just as nutritionally balanced and beneficial for your health as kefir from cow’s milk. Here are some perks of ingesting tibicos.
May Reduce Illness Rates
Everyone wants a healthy immune system, and drinking water kefir (or eating it, your choice!) could be one way to achieve it. Many studies have noted what tibicos can do for lowering illness rates through stronger immunity.
One such report is this one from 2013 in the journal Mikrobiyoloji Bulteni. The researchers did a study with 18 participants. Over six weeks, the participants consumed water kefir every day. The participants had more immune cells and less inflammation by the time the study wrapped up. Of course, the sample size of that study is rather small, but still, the results are promising.
Plus, data on the anti-inflammatory properties of kefir is backed up by this 2007 Immunobiology report that discovered that animals had fewer inflammatory responses to asthma and other health conditions when they consumed kefir.
You might even be less likely to develop respiratory infections, urinary tract infections (for women), and intestinal infections by making tibicos a regular part of your life.
Could Combat Cancer Cells
There’s a growing body of evidence that supports that water kefir might be able to prevent the onset of cancer, such as this Nutrition and Cancer report from 2016. If you already have cancer, tibicos could limit the growth of cancer cells for blood, colon, and breast cancers.
Might Help You Lose Weight
Kefir of all kinds is low-cal, and that goes for water kefir as well. Yet it’s not only the low caloric load of tibicos that might aide in weight loss. It’s also the gut bacteria that could influence your metabolism, appetite, and food intake for the better, notes this 2016 publication of Nutrition & Metabolism.
Can Strengthen Your Gut
Speaking of gut bacteria, the probiotics that tibicos is rich in can do everything from reducing your risk of disease to boosting your mental health as well as reinforcing your gut.
How to Make Water Kefir at Home
The best part of tibicos by far is how simple it is to make this vegan-friendly kefir at home with just a few ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Unsulfured dried fruit, ideally dates, raisins, prunes, apricots, or figs (1/4 cup)
- Active tibicos grains (1/2 cup)
- Sugar (1/2 cup)
- Hard tap water (8 cups)
- Lemon (1)
Once you have your ingredients ready, follow these steps.
Step 1: If your dried fruit isn’t already sliced, then do that now, cutting the fruit into pieces.
Step 2: In a saucepan, pour in one cup of water and warm it up. Don’t let the water come to a boil though.
Step 3: When the water is sufficiently warmed, transfer it to a plastic or glass bowl. Mix in the full quantity of sugar, stirring until it’s dissolved.
Step 4: Take two empty jars, each a half-gallon, and pour the sugar water into each jar in equal quantities. Then add tap water that’s between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit to each jar, 3 ½ cups. Pour in your kefir grains, 1/4th a cup. Stir together all the ingredients in the jar.
Step 5: Mix 2 tablespoons of the dried fruit as well as a single lemon wedge per jar. When you’re done, secure a piece of cheesecloth to the top of the jar with a rubber band.
Step 6: Move the jars out of direct sun but let them sit in a room temperature environment no warmer than 80 degrees and no colder than 65 degrees. Wait at least 48 hours, ideally 72 hours.
Step 7: With a plastic strainer, pour the water into a bowl. The kefir grains should be in the strainer and the kefir water in the bowl. You can then repeat the above steps to ferment the leftover kefir grains.
Step 8: If you want more carbonation out of your tibicos, then put the kefir water in bottles and add a sealable lid made of plastic or another nonmetal material. The bottle should have an inch of space near the top. When you seal the bottles, come back to them in 12 or 24 hours. Put the bottles in the fridge for upwards of three days, opening the lid every now and again to reduce pressure.
Conclusion
Kefir is usually fermented with bacteria and cow’s milk, but non-dairy kefir produces the same healthful food that’s full of probiotics. So too is water kefir or tibicos a very healthy alternative that vegans should enjoy regularly for better gut health and fewer illnesses.