Cultures for Health Milk Kefir Grains | DIY Frothy Dairy Non-GMO Probiotic Drink for Stronger Gut Health | Limitless Heirloom Style Starter | Easy to Flavor or Add to Recipes | Bulgaros De Leche

I have a had great luck with this product. The seller has been super helpful and I had achieved success!!! (It can a day for him to reply...but like most of us...we cant be on the computer or phone all day) I started by healing my grains as instructed. I put them in fresh room temp milk every 12 hours (a cup of milk, I used organic milk from the grocery store) in a warm dark place. I removed them from the milk with a little plastic strainer from the dollar store. Rinsed them off with filtered water. It takes a few days for the grains to increase. Somedays I had what appeared to be new ones and other days they just doubled in size. I found that they can be stuck in a thick milk/yogurt type goo at the bottom of the jar. I just scooped that out into the strainer and rinsed off gently. After 6 days ( I did 6, 4 would have been enough), I strained off the milk and used the kefir (I started with about a cup and a half of milk). I let mine sit for 8 hours. It is a bit thicker than milk, not much thicker though. Mine has very little smell (warm milk/buttermilk smell) when I strained it. After I chilled it, it had a sour milk smell. This is normal. I can not drink it straight. I don't like the flavor. I put about an 1/8 of a cup in a fruit smoothie every day. The flavor does not come through. That amount of kefir last me several days (for two people) . I store my grains in a jar ,in a cup of milk, in the fridge (a sealed jar). If it sits for a week, I add a splash of fresh milk. When I go to use them, I strain and rinse them, then just put the back in room temp milk and start again. I now have about a tablespoon and a half of grains. When I have 2 tablespoons, I will divide in two and only use half and store other half in the fridge. I will give these away or just rotate using my two portions to keep all of them alive and fed. I also want to make coconut milk kefir. The seller advised that I grow them to the point of the two portions and use one for the coconut. Apparently coconut milk does not have all the components that regular milk has and the grains can not feed as well in coconut milk. So I will use my additional portion just in case they don't do well in the coconut milk. I have tried to write about the things that were not entirely clear to me in the instructions. Oh...btw...the grains don't look like much when you get them. Just empty out packet contents into milk and let it go. It will take a day or two for them to look like tiny pieces of cauliflower. No rinsing with tap water. Bottled water,I wouldn't trust for this. I used R/O filter but distilled or brita type filter would do. Be patient and follow the instructions. The seller is soooo helpful. I had may a good chat via email with him ( I think it was a "him"). First couple of days using the kefir. My digestion was a bit "rumbly" but very much improved. Rumbling has stopped. I seem to be less tolerant of fried foods. This is how my system was when I was younger. No complaints from me on that. I am glad to have a deterrent from my unhealthy eating habits. I have a dairy tolerance issue and the one day I did not have my smoothie, Ice cream upset my stomach. If I have my smoothie,it seems that my dairy intolerance is in check. I love that the kefir shows its promise so quickly. I hope that you give this a try... I have been very pleased. Good luck Jax

I bought these grains (Cultures for Health - CFH) during the second week of August 2016. The extremely small amount of grains you get is a joke. I had several issues getting good kefir, including poor texture and taste, and lack of growth in the grains. I made several adjustments, including different amounts of milk and different culturing times, and still had difficulty. I ended up getting another order of grains during the first week of September 2016, and after activating them, I combined both sets of grains. I have continued culturing through early October, again making several adjustments (including adjusting ambient temperature) to try to get a good batch of kefir. The grains have made very minimal growth and could barely produce 2 cups of okay kefir, still lacking in texture. I did get a few decent batches of kefir over the course of almost 2 months, but it seemed to be by chance and did not appear to be directly related to anything differently I did, because I could not reproduce the same kefir while keeping all the other factors the same. I was hopeful and really gave these grains a chance, but after almost 2 whole months of investing a lot of time and effort, I only have 1 TEASPOON of grains (a heaping teaspoon, and that is with 2 orders of grains). I then bought from a competitor, and am amazed at the superior quality of their grains. The taste and texture is excellent and significantly better than CFH—you can't even compare the two. What I achieved after about 1 week with the competitor's grains, I could not achieve after 2 months with CFH grains. The competitor's grains grew from 2 TBS (what I ordered) to 3/4 cup in ~ 2 weeks (14 batches). Now that is what I call healthy, active grains. Maybe others are having a good experience with these (CFH) grains, and if they are, good for them. But I wonder if people who gave 5 stars for CFH actually know how amazing kefir can be. Don't get me wrong, CFH grains do turn the milk into kefir, but the overall quality is poor and far inferior to at least one competitor that I tried. I did contact CFH with questions and they were prompt and helpful, and they did send me a free order when I had issues. But I am still dissatisfied with the poor quality of their product. The pictures attached show the amount I grew with TWO orders of grains after ~2 months of culturing. (one order was cultured for less than 2 months as it arrived later).

This was my first time attempting Kefir. As a matter of fact, I never even had Kefir, so I didn't even know what to expect. I went through the 7-day get started process. the first couple of day, I was very disappointed. The taste was horrible. But I figured I'd let it run it's course. By day #5, I was shock at what I saw. The Kefir was as thick as Yogurt and the taste changed dramatically for the better. By day seven I had a very think creamy kefir that I needed a spoon to eat. I added a dash of salt, a teaspoon of honey to a bowl of it, and boy did I enjoy it. The one mistake I made was I left the grains in the kefir for another 24 hours after enjoying that bowl. The next night it suddenly became very sour. When I searched Ai, it said that I should have strained out the grains the night before if I enjoyed the taste then. However, Ai also said that when sour, it is more probiotic. I am still enjoying it. The next batch is already on the counter getting ready for when this one is done. One thing of note about these grains. According to Ai, the fact that I have a think kefir is a sign they were very healthy grains! I highly recommend, not to mention the fact that it is great for gut health. Tonight, not only did I add salt and honey, I also added Hemp hearts, and ground flax seed! A nutrient‑dense probiotic power shake! In the photo, the one on the left is the new batch just beginning. The one on the right is done and going into the refrig!

It’s been 5 months since i bought the kefir grains. I followed the directions and in 24 hours i got my first 32 oz jar of milk kefir. Made with cow’s whole milk the result was a creamy, tart and tasty beneficial drink. In the beginning to make more I would carefully use a screen filter to filter out the grains. Nowadays, I just wait until the jar gets down to its last 20% and I just add more whole milk and it works perfectly. I wouldn’t recommend doing this until the milk kefir grains is very abundant and the fermentation process becomes faster. I live in Hawaii so when I leave it out at room temperature, it only takes 12 hours to be fermented to the point that I like. I ferment it until I start to see a little bit of the whey protein separation then I put it in the refrigerator. From there, it continues to separate but is slowed down dramatically, and before it can separate extremely, I would have finished the jar and added new milk.. when I take it out of the fridge I make sure to shake the jar to remix the whey protein into it before I drink it and the result is a nice thick creamy milk kefir. I also started to experiment with it.. when I make dishes that uses yogurt as a binder with chicken for example, I replace it with some kefir and the result is great. I also used an instant pot yogurt setting to make kefir yogurt instead of greek yogurt which i would usually do and that was also successful. I would recommend this to everyone. Most importantly it helped me to have consistent healthy digestion, limiting stomaches and other negative digestive Issues.

As a 20+ year veteran of both water and milk kefir brewing, I was excited to try Cultures for Health's Milk Kefir Grains. Unfortunately, my experience turned out to be incredibly disappointing, and I cannot recommend this product in good conscience. Here's why: Activation Failure: Despite meticulously following the instructions and having extensive kefir-making experience, the grains refused to activate. After waiting weeks, hoping for any sign of life, I was left with nothing but inactive grains and wasted milk. Quantity Disappointment: Even if the grains had worked, the provided amount feels woefully inadequate for the price. For that cost, other reputable companies offer significantly larger and more active cultures. Worrying Trend: After seeing a disturbing pattern of recent 1-star reviews all echoing the same activation failure issue, it became clear this isn't an isolated incident. Lack of Transparency: The vast number of negative reviews raises serious concerns about quality control and transparency. It seems the company isn't addressing these issues head-on, leaving customers frustrated and out of pocket. My Recommendation: If you're looking for reliable milk kefir grains, look elsewhere. This product from Cultures for Health is a gamble that ultimately leads to disappointment, frustration, and wasted money. Opt for companies with consistent quality, larger quantities, and a history of satisfied customers. Your kefir journey deserves better than this!

I bought this product around the beginning to middle of May 2011 &, at that time, it showed a picture of the box from the company Cultures for Health LLC. It also had (& still has) their name on it as "by Cultures of Health LLC" but then further down is says "Ships from and sold by Lifetime Kefir." I just want to clarify for everyone out there, who like me thought I was buying from a specific COMPANY that sells milk kefir, that this is not sold through Cultures for Health & it is not sponsored or affiliated with them in any way. I contacted Cultures for Health today and the customer service lady said that they are not affiliated with this "Lifetime Kefir". I also received my kefir grains in a plastic baggie & wrapped in about 5 more plastic baggies, all smooshed up flat, and looking nothing like the cauliflower looking kefir grains you see pictures of. Needless to say I was a little freaked out. I decided to just try it out & see if the kefir grew and 'worked'. ----- THAT BEING SAID ..... the kefir grew wonderfully! and has tripled or quadrupled in a months time. I also sent the seller a question after working with and growing my kefir for about 2 or 3 days and he gave me a quick, polite, fairly thorough answer. Customer service seemed just good ... and quick. I started with making about 1c of kefir and it was fizzy, clumpy/watery, weird. I didn't know what I was supposed to be looking for but I guess this is normal and I just kept working with it each day changing the milk out and making new kefir. It took about 1-2 weeks before it was producing well and I was making good kefir (not fizzy, but creamy now). I was slowly figuring out how to work with the product. I now make a quart jar of kefir daily. I switch out the grains/kefir each morning and am left with about 3-4 cups of kefir each day. All-in-all, I think the product is good. *****UPDATE 7/13/11******: Since the initial review here, I have contacted the seller about some things & have had wonderful, very polite, and very quick customer service. There is nothing bad to say at all about the customer service with this seller, in my opinion. He seems to go out of the way to make sure the buyer is fully satisfied with the product. And the product seems great. My grains have grown tremendously and I have probably 1 to 1 1/2 CUPS of kefir GRAINS now. That is all from about 1T of smooshy, yellow looking 'stuff' (kefir grains) that I initially got from the seller. It took a couple weeks for them to start working "normally" and looking more "normal" but just give them some time and they seem to come through and make great kefir. The only reason for less than 5 stars is simply because I feel like there still is a little misleading advertising in the product. It appears this seller (Lifetime Kefir) has a few different kefir grain ads/products on amazon & the one that I bought from ([...]) shows that it is "by: Cultures for Health, LLC" and "shipped and sold by Lifetime Kefir". I thought I was buying the grains from Culture for Health through a middle-man, so to speak. When actually it is not a Cultures for Health product at all. Maybe no big deal to others, but it was for me. It ended up being a great product in the end though.

They work as advertised. Nothing happened to my milk, until the fourth day, and there was suddenly kefir in my mason jar. Just follow their directions and you should be able to start making some good tasting kefir. Also my first few batches were very bland, not sour or sweet or tangy. Just neutral. After a week it started tasting better and richer until it finally tasted like real kefir. You just need to be patient. I would buy again from this company. By the way, I had bought live grains from Amazon before purchasing these, and the live grains I had purchased were very dehydrated and most likely contaminated when I received them. The live grains didn't make kefir. They only made my milk curdle. Maybe it was bad luck. Either way, these grains from Cultures for Health worked as advertised, so I'd buy from them again and I highly recommend them. I am making 4 cups of kefir a day, I might add. So the grains will get stronger in time and I can already see them slowly multiplying too. I guess I'm a dad now. Update 7/29/17 I thought I didn't need kefir anymore so I had thrown the grains away after a couple of months of good use. I should've saved some of the grains (for which there are methods) but I am lazy. My digestion issues returned (chronic constipation, bloating, nonstop horrible gas that can kill people and kill me). Naturally I bought some more kefir grains from Cultures for Health. In the past, I had made them in the winter and back then, to help them ferment properly, I needed to put them in my room on the second floor where it was warmer in my house. Well It's summer now and I stupidly put them on the second floor where it can get really hot. While I was at work, they overfermented to the point where I killed them. The subsequent batches no longer made kefir. I guess I'm a murderer. You see, when kefir grains are young, starving them can stress them out and render them pretty much useless. When they mature, they are tougher and can survive overfermentation sometimes. Anyway, I contacted Cultures for Health via email, asking them if there was a way to revive them. They surprisingly responded within an hour and were extremely helpful and friendly. They had me make two more batches with the grains to see if the grains would come back to life and start making kefir again. The grains didn't. So Cultures for Health sent me new grains for free, even though it was clearly my fault that the young grains were dead. The new grains they sent are currently working great for me. I am now making kefir again and this time, I wisely let the kefir ferment in the basement where its much cooler and temperatures are stable, instead of upstairs on the second floor. Anyway Cultures for Health has excellent customer service, which really cares about you the customer. And well me :) I highly recommend them. They are a safe bet!

Snowberry is the best seller for Kefir that I've ever found, other than one hippy lady that I ordered from years ago. You get large grained kefir, shipped quickly, well packaged, with excellent instructions. Mine took off immediately ... I rinse them in filtered water, place them in a mason jar with 8 oz of whole milk (do NOT use ultra pasteurized ... it just doesn't work for some reason), cover the jar with a paper coffee filter that I screw the mason jar ring over to retain it, and leave it in the cupboard for a day. As the grains revitalize after the shipping (usually 2-3 batches), you just increase the amount of milk you feed them. These are GREAT grains. I've had some from other sellers that looked small to start with, and never produced very well, others that looked large and healthy, but died quickly. These are hearty and easy to self-sustain. My last batch died after an month long trip away from home, and I had wanted to start over anyway with fresh stock. [UPDATE - 1 month] - These are definitely the best grains I've ever received. They're multiplying like mad, and the consistency of the finished kefir is exactly like thin yogurt. The grains are very large (easy to strain/identify), and the taste is great. The included instructions would be very hard to go wrong with if you follow them explicitly ... no substitutions, just do what it says, and you'll be very successful with these grains. [UPDATE - 11 months] - Still going strong ... really strong. I give some of the multiplied grains away every week or two, and the rest get eaten or blended into a smoothie, as they double in size every two weeks when cared for properly. I'm currently making 3 quart batches at a time using these grains (in a Fido pickling air-lock jar), and four tablespoons of the grains will make 3 quarts in about 3 days, regardless of temp. The consistency of the end product has stayed remarkably stable. It's always identical. Other grain sources I've had in the past have varied based on time of year, temperature, type of milk, etc. These grains just bend the raw material to their will. Great, great grains.

I live in a hot climate area and I leave the kefir in a glass container in a shady area in my kitchen and I have kefir within less than 12 hours and I can add less milk so it becomes yoghurt :) I love it !!

These grains are excellent. I am a newbie at making kefir but following the instructions and looking at how-to videos on the Cultures For Health website was a great help. I have learnt from other websites that organic milk does not work because it is heated to a very high temperature and therefore is UHT milk. I used grass fed whole milk and I am making delicious kefir. Some people also say to use a lid, but I found that using a lid makes the kefir runny, whereas using a cloth with a rubber band makes the kefir thick and creamy. So overall I am very happy with this product and would recommend it. Also I would recommend to follow their instructions and checkout their YouTube videos if you are new to making kefir.

الكمية قليلة وناشفة جدا مما يتطلب عدة مرات لتنشيطها بعد 10 ايام من محاولة تنشيط الفطر(granula) بقيت جافةوهذا دليل على موتها وعدم فعاليتها علما بأنني عملت بها قبل عدة سنوات ولدي الخبرة الكافية للتعامل معها وللأسف بعد هذه المدة لا بمكنك ارجاع المنتج او استبداله

Great product, clear instructions, a fair price, patience is needed, I'm five batches in, all excl. batch #1 are tasty and healthy! Admittedly the grains haven't grown massively (I'm using full fat milk from Spinnies but it's homogenized and pasteurised, so still workable but not the best), 24hrs is enough (in our hot heat) now they're activated. All in all, after lots of research, this was the best option on paper. And it's proving to be the same in reality!

You can re use as many times. Just remove the grains with a plastic spoon and a plastic sieve / strainer