I am trying to incorporate wholefoods eating into my life, and have been able to figure out what most everything is except "kefir"

Obviously it is with the yogurt section so my questions are....

1. where can I get it?

2. Are the variations of preparing it?

3. Is it what you guys use as fage yougurt as a substitite?

Sorry if I sound a tad silly:P

No you're not silly, I'm interested to hear the answers. I think kefir is a yogurt drink, but I've never had it, so I'm not sure either...

It's basically liquid yogurt kind of like a yogurt smoothie. I haven't had it in quite a while but I think you can still get it next to the yogurt in a regular grocery store - but read the labels if you're trying to avoid sugars

If you have a Trader Joe's near you, they have it. I get the unsweetened stuff and then add sugar free torani syrup to it because to me it tastes yucky by itself :P You can also get it at a Whole Foods type store I bet.

Here is a wikipedia blurb about it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir

I've only ever seen kefir at Trader Joe's but I'm sure some other stores have it. It's right next to the yogurt/milk and is a yogurt drink.

Fage is a brand of Greek yogurt that I sometimes get, although lately I've really been enjoying the Trader Joe's nonfat honey kind.

Ooh! Something I know about! A lot of the kefir you buy in stores is about as real as the yogurt we pass off in stores. REAL yogurt is ALIVE and if you feed it it will multiply! Same goes for kefir grains. I bought mine online and unfortunatly I can't post the link because I don't have enough posts yet. *sad* But if you google "Happy Herbalist" it should be the top one. It's hard to find good kefir sources! Of course, I'm sure there are plenty more out there but this is one I will completely vouch for. I've also bought their yogurt.

Okay, so basically it's little grains and you feed it milk! Then you drain the milk off and drink it. And add more milk to the little grains and it makes more and more. Same for real yogurt... If you add some milk to a little real yogurt it will make the whole thing yogurt. Soooo economical and so good for you. I highly recommend it.

Oh, neither one taste particularly appetizing though. I blend mine with some frozen strawberries and blueberries and a little vanilla protein powder.

If you have anymore questions you can message me! Hopefully this has been helpful.

I know I've seen kefir in supermarkets; I'm pretty sure I saw it in Ralphs last week. But the previous comment about it not resembling the real/good stuff, just like with yogurt, is probably true. I'm not saying I've ever tried kefir :-) but just that if you look for it in a supermarket you might be surprised.

I've gotten Kefir at Trader Joe's. I think it tastes good. My only complaint is that it only comes in a quart, so I can't use it all before it gets icky. I guess I could just drink it. I wanted it as a convenient base for salad dressing.

Kefir is like yogurt in that it's a cultured milk product, but the cultures are different and it also contains yeasts. Other then smoothies I'm not sure how you would use it.

Fage yogurt is a Greek style yogurt that has live cultures and is strained to make it thicker.

I saw this and I just had to say... I LOVE Kefir! Now I understand that many people don't like the taste but I personally think it's amazing. I wanted Kefir so badly that for my exercise Saturday I walked a total of 90 minutes to go to the health food store to get it (I could have DRIVEN to Germany in 40 to buy it at their supermarkets... but WE don't have it in NL at normal stores!).

I think it's one of the most amazing things I've ever consumed! How's that for a food geek!

I love the taste of homemade yogurt and kefir....so do my kids. Plain, it's a bit like sour cream, and is a great sour cream substitute. But you can add fresh fruit, sweetner (we don't) and vanilla and it's better than anything you can buy in the store.

I love kefir too. I make it with some kefir starter I bought in the health food store. It is very easy to make in a jar and even easier in a yogurt maker. Either way, in a day you can have very healthy kefir without all the sugar, etc. You can add honey or sweetener or whatever but with more moderation than the store brands.

Is Kefir similar to sour-milk - the healthy kind of sour milk, not something thats been left on the counter for too long.. Mmm I love sour milk (it doesnt actually taste very sour)

The Kefir in stores is more of a yogurt like probiotic drinik. I buy it for convenience, and usually my kids drink the whole quart and I will only have a few ounces.

My frined gave me some Kefir grains, and I make my own at home sometimes. It is yummy, even unsweetened, but it does taste very much like a sour cream or something, but I like it.

From what I have learned, teh reason we started drinking kefir as opposed to just eating yogurt.. is that the strains of beneficial bacteria in real kefir will stay and colonize in teh gut. Yogurt and teh acidopholis probiotic is great, when you consume it it does good things for your body.. but like all foods and drinks, it will pass through. FWIU, breastmilk also has teh same gut colonizing probiotics (though I only fed that to my babies, ). Also, I swear by kefir whenever one of us has a stomach bug. It can really help.