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Milk Kefir: The Common Mistakes You Might Be Making

If you're curious about the benefits of milk kefir, and you want to try it for yourself, you'll want to make sure you avoid some of the most common mistakes that people make. These are a few of the things you'll want to watch out for. 

 

Expecting Two Batches to Be Exactly Alike 

If you've prepared a batch of kefir at home, and you've been happy with the results you've seen, you might be eager to prepare a similar batch again. However, it's important to remember that cultures are alive. Even if you follow the same steps, the cultures that you produce may not be identical. 

If you're expecting complete consistency when you're preparing kefir supplements at home, it's likely that you'll be disappointed. There will be a great deal of variation in the batches that you make. With that said, if you prepare kefir properly, you should still be able to enjoy its benefits. 

Drinking Kefir When It's Not Safe to Drink 

For the most part, kefir is completely safe. As a matter of fact, it can actually improve your health for the better. With that said, there are a few specific warning signs that you'll want to watch out for.

The main thing you'll want to be wary of is visible mold. If you can see mold on your kefir, it's not safe to drink. As long as there isn't any visible mold, you should be able to drink this beverage without any issues. 

Failing to Strain the Grains

When you're making kefir at home, you need to make sure that the grains are being strained every 24 hours. If you fail to do this, it's likely that you'll have some issues with the quality of your kefir. You'll want to make sure you're providing those grains with fresh milk every 24 hours. 

If you don't strain the grains regularly, you may not wind up with kefir that you are able to drink. Your kefir could also have a sour taste that you find unpleasant. You'll want to make sure you're vigilant when it comes to draining your grains.

Not Increasing the Volume of The Milk

Once you have active grains to work with, you need to make sure that you increase the volume of milk. If you don't do this, you won't be able to take full advantage of the active cultures that you are working with. 

If you're new to making kefir at home, you may want to look for guides that will give you a better idea of what you should be doing. Making kefir isn't overly complicated, but if you don't take the right approach, you might not get the results you're looking for. 

Not Taking Steps to Avoid Cross-Contamination 

There is another risk you will want to try to avoid if you're making kefir on your own: cross-contamination. If you're not careful when you're making kefir at home, you could wind up with a cross-contamination problem. This could leave you with kefir that you won't be able to drink. 

Cross-contamination is always a risk when you're cooking, and it can be an even bigger problem when you're making something like kefir. If you take a few extra precautions, you'll be able to prevent this and get more enjoyment out of your kefir overall.

Not Reading Labels 

If you're not up to making kefir on your own, you have the option of purchasing milk kefir at a number of stores. If you decide to do this, you'll want to make sure you closely read the labels of any products that you're thinking about buying. 

When you buy a pre-packaged product, you're going to want to make sure you're fully aware of all of the ingredients that this product contains. You'll want to look carefully at labels so that you can see if a product contains sugar or any other ingredients that you might want to avoid. 

Drinking Too Much -- Or Too Little -- Kefir 

It's perfectly safe to drink kefir daily! With that said, it might not be a good idea to replace one of your daily meals with kefir. Instead, you'll want to drink a smaller portion of kefir each day. 

On the flip side, you might wind up with issues if you don't drink kefir frequently enough. If you make a large amount of kefir, but you only choose to drink it occasionally, it's possible that a lot of what you've made will go to waste.

These are just a few of the problems you could run into if you're making or enjoying milk kefir. While these issues are mostly minor, you'll still want to avoid them if you can! Make sure that you're able to experience all the benefits of kefir without creating headaches for yourself.

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