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Monday, June 24, 2013

Kefir experiment: coconut milk kefir

Introduction:
I got curious about using kefir in non-milk situations - there is such a thing as water kefir, and I read that you can use milk kefir in non dairy milk. That sour-creamy (yoghurty) taste/texture is one of the few non-vegan things I actually miss eating regularly. The discoveries that the So Delicious coconut milk drinking yoghurt (the best non-dairy yoghurt I've found) was originally marketed as kefir, and that A makes kefir using what he calls 'santan' (which seems to be pretty much coconut milk) when he is home in Borneo sealed the deal: experiments are starting now!

Method / Results:
All experiments done in parallel at room temperature, which probably averaged ~23C during this period. I used clean glass jars with the lid left ajar (to avoid any gas build-up / explosions), and put them in the pantry away from direct sunlight.

Day 1: A brought me some milk kefir grains (in milk - he usually uses them in milk) in an old marmalade jar. When I got them home I split them between three glass jars: 1) the original jar, with milk in it; 2) one with a whole tin of full-fat coconut milk in it (I think Chaokoh brand: forgot to note - was a brown tin with coconuts on it); 3) one with about a cup of Almond Breeze almond milk in it. Left them at room temperature. Jar 1 (milk) already tastes sour and yoghurty, although still a bit milky.

Day 2: Jar 1 (milk) is well soured by now. Transferred to fridge. Jar 2 (coconut) is developing an interesting sourness and thickness, also separating a little. Jar 3 (almond) is separating but nothing much is happening to the taste, also the kefir grains don't look very healthy.

Day 3: Jar 2 (coconut) is good: thick, sour, slightly fizzy, separating (goes together when beaten with a fork) - A said all of these features were desirable - transferred to the fridge. Jar 3 (almond) is a loss: it did not sour properly, kefir grains looked bad, eventually mould developed on top and I threw it away.

Day 6: Jars 1 and 2 are currently stored in the fridge. To use the coconut kefir I have been stirring it thoroughly with a fork, then scooping out the quantity I desire to use, being careful to leave the kefir grains in the jar.

Day 8: Removed all the coconut kefir from Jar 1 and transferred it to a fresh jar, leaving the kefir grains behind. Cleaned and dried the jar, then put another tin of coconut milk (Goya brand, no additives, looked a bit like it had separated) into the jar with the kefir grains and put it at room temperature.

Day 9: Coconut kefir starting to smell and taste sour already. Room temperature is pretty high at the moment - approx 28C.

Next phases of the experiment will involve (1) attempting to strain the remaining grains out and (2) transferring them to a fresh quantity of coconut milk to see if I can maintain the culture without dairy milk.

(1) I haven't been bothering with straining: I have just been scooping the kefir out from around the grains / scooping out the grains and pouring off the kefir.

(2) Kept grains in coconut milk in the fridge for 2-3 days. Then transferred them to a clean jar with a new can (Aroy-D brand) coconut milk. The milk soured within 48 hours again (got so fizzy it almost boiled over). I transferred it back to the fridge.

Brands (all tinned, without thickeners added): Goya = $1.75 @ Brigham Circle Stop n Shop, very thin and slightly grainy; Aroy-D = $3.00 for two @ Super 88, very thick before but thin after culturing, Chaokoh = $2.50 for two @ Super 88.

Discussion:
Grains are not really growing while in coconut milk, and they are not all plump and gelatinous-looking like they were when they came out of cow milk. So, while they are efficiently souring coconut milk just now, I imagine this might not work forever. However, A has a constant excess of grains from his cow milk culture at the moment, so I can re-up my culture whenever I want.
The first batch I did thickened up, whereas the second and third batches remained thin. I think this was because of the brand of coconut milk: a second batch using Goya brand and some fresh grains from A was also thin. Seems like the thickness of the kefir mostly depends on the thickness of the coconut milk used. Shake the tin before buying and listen to guess at how thick it is - if it doesn't make much sloshing noise it is likely to be quite thick.
The big advantage of kefir-making over yoghurt-making is that works well at room temperature. I'm curious to try yoghurt culture with tinned coconut milk, as I only ever tried it with soy milk (which didn't work).

Conclusions:
I can make coconut kefir, although perhaps not indefinitely or at lower temperatures. It is still possible I could make kefir with other non-dairy milks, but the results with almond milk suggest that using a pure milk (without thickeners or other added ingredients) may be important. Seems possible to store kefir and grains in the fridge for at least weeks and be able to bring them out anytime and they still work straight away. Fizziness of freshly made kefir seems reduced after a few days in the fridge.
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