Written by Dyami Millarson

It is many years ago now that we had water kefir and milk kefir at home in Leeuwarden. There was a discount on kefir starter in my local ecological supermarket a little while ago, so I decided to give it a try. Yesterday was the first time I made almond milk kefir. In fact, it was probably the first time that I ever made kefir on my own. I was already quite familiar with the process because I had observed countless times how my father made new batches of kefir.

There was a two-sided instruction manual in Dutch which I read. It said it is possible to use almond milk for making kefir.

The instruction manual explained the making of the kefir in four steps, which I will be covering here. The first step was to pour one litre of almond milk into a mason jar:

The second step was to add 1 sachet of kefir starter and stir it until the white powder was gone. My father recommended not to use metal utensils for stirring it, but wooden ones. He said metal might spoil the kefir.

The third step was to close the lid of the mason jar or to cover it with a coffee filter. Afterwards one has to wait for 24-48 hours for the kefir to be ready. I have already left the kefir alone for 24 hours, tomorrow will be the second 24 hours. I may decide to leave it for a third 24 hours to make it extra strong and this may also prove useful for making the next batch of almond milk kefir.

The fourth step: after waiting for 24-48 hours, the kefir may be stored in the fridge for up to weeks. At least 200 ml ought to be left for making the next batch of kefir. The manual says that one may make at least 10 litre of kefir with 1 sachet and that it is best to use the 200 ml of leftover kefir as soon as possible. I believe it may be possible to make kefir indefinitely if one consumes less or nothing of the first batch and chooses to use a large quantity or everything from the first batch for making kefir.