Tibetan Kefir Grains Mushrooms Bulgaros Pajaritos Probiotic Healthy Diet

After failing with other kefir grains purchased on Amazon repeatedly that produced only thin, curdled, yeasty kefir at best, I finally found these Tabitan grains. What a difference! They produce creamy and delicious kefir every time!It took 3 small batches to wake up the grains from their shipping trip. I was using pasteurized milk (but not homogenized) so they needed a little extra time to adjust to the change in milk bacteria from the raw milk they were grown in.I received about 1-1/2 to 2 TB of FRESH grains in a well sealed plastic condiment cup and I used 3/4 quart of milk to start them. As the grains increase in numbers (which is fast once they're established) you'll need to increase the amount of milk or decrease your grains.The pictures depict my batches which are now made in half gallon Ball Mason jars. You can give any extra grains away, or blend them up with an immersion blender or just add them whole to a cup of milk or back to the kefir itself. They're very mild tasting.BTW - fresh grains can last a lifetime whereas freeze-dried grains are known to slowly die off and require a new starter from time to time. If you take care of these fresh grains it'll be a one-time purchase.Kefir can be thin and/or curdled, or thick and creamy. After much trial and error here's what I found works for me. I make my kefir with a second ferment in the fridge. I first allow about 36-48 hours at room temp in a half gallon Ball mason jar filled up to the shoulders. I prefer it when you can see a very slight separation of whey toward the lower third of the jar, otherwise it tends to be thinner and does not thicken up as well even in the fridge. Too great of a separation (like a half inch or more of visible whey) and it gets thin and runny again. I don't know why.I cover the jar with an organic nut milk straining bag (same as a fabric produce bag, but a towel would work too). This allows the wild bacteria in your air to mix with the ferment.Our home is pretty cool, 67 degrees or less in the winter, but warmer, maybe 74, in the summer. Gage the timing based on the amount of grains to milk along with the temperature in the house. Warmer = a faster ferment. A lot will also depend on how tart you like it - the longer the ferment (or the more grains to milk) the tarter it tastes - but that's also when it starts to thicken up nicely. Don't worry, you really can't hurt these grains as you find your personal groove, especially if they are made with clean, raw milk. ;)After the room temperature ferment, I gently stir it, replace the cloth bag and put it in the refrigerator for another day or two which thickens it up nicely. I recommend whole milk. Not only is it healthier (especially if you can get raw milk) but it produces a thicker culture. Then I strain it through a nylon strainer and it lasts for up to a month.Note: avoid metal utensils and strainers which could eventually harm the bacteria. I use a latex spatula, a nylon strainer, and a glass bowl. But after straining I pour it through a stainless steel wide mouthed funnel without any issues.Update: It's been several years and my grains are doing great. I converted them back to raw milk not long after I received them without any problem. I also converted some of them to raw camel milk successfully so other milks, like goat, shouldn't be a problem. The trick is to do it slowly - over several ferments, increasing the ratio of the new milk with each batch.I only require a half gallon of kefir now about every 4-6 days. To stretch out the time I allow a 36-48 hour room temperature ferment then gently stir and transfer to the fridge for up to another 3 days before straining. I leave the milk nut bag on the jar until I'm ready to strain them, then I cap the strained, ready-to-drink jar with a plastic Mason Jar lid.Often I add the jar to a blender with organic strawberries and blueberries and back in the fridge for a few days worth of smoothies.These are very forgiving grains that easily adapt to your needs. You can get thick kefir every 2 days (one day on the counter and one day in the fridge) or 4 or more days depending on your needs. I've forgotten about them several times and left them for 5 days in the fridge before straining and they were still great. The longer ferments slows down the growth of the grains.A few times I forgot them so long in the fridge that a lot of the grains looked grayish and smelled too strongly of yeast. One time they had a very slight pink color, which I recognized as typical milk mold. I removed and discarded the odd-colored grains and washed the remaining grains very well with spring water (distilled or reverse osmosis would be fine too, just no chlorine or other chemicals) I started them again and they fully recovered.2nd update: I was able to "train" my grains to produce a half gallon once every 7-8 days because that's all I needed for awhile: 2 day ferment on the counter, with 5-6 days in the fridge before I stain and start a new batch. (Note, my refrigerator is very cold, just above freezing.) I increased the time gradually. And you can train them back to ferment more quickly too.I do feel using raw milk vs pasteurized makes them more adaptable to the longer ferments because raw milk does not spoil like pasteurized milk. This is due to its naturally high inherent beneficial bacteria - as long as your milk comes from a clean source. I.E. the udders and milk receptacles are well cleaned and the milk is immediately cooled, and if transported then under refrigeration - at least this has been my experience over 38 years. I've had raw milk that only tasted good for three days and I've had taste great after 2-3 weeks.Also worth pointing out is I noticed occasionally another seller tags their grains onto Paul Grubic's original selling page here. Sometimes they undercut him by half (around $20) and from what I can tell they're probably responsible for the only negative reviews. I urge you to take care to only purchase from the original seller, pgrubic (at Gmail) as these are the authentic grains described on this product page. He brought these grains over from Tibet when he was in the service and he grows the grains using fresh raw organic milk from his own cows. If there are multiple sellers then you might need to select "see other sellers" to select pgrubic. His grains are well worth the extra cost - there's no way to know where, or from what type of milk, the other seller's grains are coming from. I'm surprised Amazon allows them to tag on here since these are such specifically sourced grains - proprietary in nature, so Paul might be able to get Amazon to block other sellers from selling here. 🤞If you have any questions during your ferment, Paul is very quick to respond. (I bugged him continuously while I worked all this out, lol!)Thanks Paul for such wonderful kefir grains and for your great customer service!(Note, I am not affiliated with this seller in any way - just a super fan of his kefir grains.)

My first home batch of kefir, couldn't be happier. (Can't speak for the total newbie, but if you've dabbled in fermentation and culinary experiments are up your alley, you'll be pleased.)Process & Product ~ lil guys came well sealed in the teensiest of containers; I left them as is for maybe a week before using. Combined grains, booster, and a cup or two of store-bought glass-jar whole milk (yanno, the fancy stuff); left to do its thing in a dark cupboard.BATCH 1 (36 hours, hot as fury outside but we keep the AC at 74) ~ over-curdled. (Mmm, tart cottage cheese and whey shots!)>> Separated grains from curds, put just the grains back into my glass jar and added another cup/two of milk. (They're easy to visually separate, kinda like tapioca balls in pudding but smaller. They also don't crush like a curd would so worst case just get your fingers in there.)BATCH 2 (same as above) ~ see definition of insanity 🤪>> removed grains & flipped per previous>> added blackberries to the curd/whey concoction and shook it like a shiver before placing in fridgeBATCH 3 (18 hours on countertop) ~ PERFECTION 💚 the most delicious, earthy, satisfying kefir I've ever had the delight to try. [NB] I'd lost some grains by this point so not sure to what extent success was shaped by time, temperature, or decreased starter.>> went back to my fridge failure and to my joy, the muddled blackberries had seeped throughout the suspension, dying the forsaken grain remnants a light blue (v. curds, which had become off-white). This allowed me to easily remove and add back into BATCH 4.BATCH 4 (same as above) ~ again, perfect.Thanks for letting me nerd out; hope this helps 🤓[TLDR] 10/10. For gifting and just to up my own stores, I'll be purchasing this product again.**pic is an easy way I found to separate the kefir from grains. (This method also works for over-curdles, you'd just have to sift through curds & grains.)

One teaspoon of kefir grains was inadequate. Should have been a minimum of one tablespoon. The one teaspoon was mostly cream. Not that many grains. The grains were small. I followed directions. Within four days the grains had died.

This kefir tastes amazing. Just as I remember from my childhood in Bulgaria. True kefir. Nothing I tried in the west compares to this. I took one star off only because the packaging was very poor. There was liquid spilled all over the envelope. Luckily the kefir grains/mushroom was still alive. I feel like for this money it could have been in a little container at least. Also you do get very few grains, tiny amount. But I’m not worried about that, because it grows naturally. Main thing is the quality of the grains is great.

It is the best kefir I ever had, with a Creamy and cheesy flavor. Excellent.

Again I was disappointed with the quantity received, very far from what was described - a very generous 1.2 oz, or as other customers said from 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons of grains.It seems that these kefir sellers have a problem with understanding the difference between a tablespoon and a teaspoon. What I received was 1/2 teaspoon of grains, in a very small jar.After using them in a few batches, about 2.5 gal of milk, I can say that now I have about a small teaspoon.I thought this seller will respect their word and be true to the description, unlike others I used before. But, judging by other reviews, I wasn't part of the "favored" customers to get not even a1 tablespoon, forget about 2!Otherwise, the kefir is good and creamy. I hope it will continue like that and the grains will split and grow as the seller and some reviewers claim.