Indonesia
Kefir, the world’s healthiest fermented drink from our ancestors via http://www.foodtrients.com
Kefir (pronounced “kef e-er“) is very famous among researchers in Europe due to its abundant health benefits for our body. Kefir is also referred as “The Champagne of Cultured Milk”, meaning that kefir is the most valuable drink among other fermented milk drinks. The word “Kefir” originated from the Turkish word “Keif”, which means “good or pleasant feeling”.
Kefir is a fermented product that was originally founded by a man who lived in the north region of Caucasus thousands of years ago.
Kefir, like any other ancient discoveries, kept quite a lot of mysteries. A lot of researches were carried out in the North Ossetia region (northern part of the Caucasus mountains, between Russia and Georgia) to find some reference about kefir. The area is inhabited by Ossetian community, whom are the descendants of the Seythian people known for living a nomadic life.
The legend of Caucasus community via http://mashable.com
Traditionally, people in the northern part of the Caucasus mountains prepared kefir by pouring goat milk or cow milk and kefir “grains” (a yeast/bacterial fermentation starter) into a pouch made of goatskin. The fermentation process took place for 24 hours at room temperature. After it was done, the milk was poured out of the bag and new fresh milk was added into the bag. So long the process continued.
Some literature mentioned that there was a legend from a community who lived in the northern mountains of the Caucasus, saying that Prophet Mohammed gave kefir grains to the Caucasian community and taught them how to make kefir. Therefore, some literature mentions kefir grains as “The Grain of Prophet”. Kefir grain is a valuable asset in the Caucasian community families and had been passed down to their descendants. Caucasian community also believes that the kefir grains should be guarded properly, they believe that losing kefir grains means losing strength.
The world explorer Marco Polo also had a chance to carve the name of kefir in a note. Kefir was forgotten for centuries outside the Caucasus region, and was revived due to rumors that kefir is actually beneficial for healing tuberculosis and digestive diseases.
History records that the development of kefir as a fermented milk product was very popular in Russia. Doctors in Russia were so confident of the efficacy of kefir and published a scientific research about kefir at the end of 19th century.
However, the scarcity of kefir grains made it difficult to obtain. Commercial production of kefir grains was impossible without having kefir grains in the first place. In response to this, Russian medical association was formed with the purpose of finding kefir grains for further cultivation. Kefir was used to cure patients in Russia.
In early 1900, representatives from medical experts approached the Blandov brothers. Blandov family owned a holding company in the mountains of Caucasus, which included a cheese manufacturer in Kislovodsk.
The Russian medical association asked the Blandov brothers to find kefir for industrial scale production in Moscow. It turned out that the Blandov brothers were very interested with the request as they would be the only person who could produce the drink.
Rigorous effort and strategies were carried out to find kefir grains. The attempt was successful, obtaining 4.5 kg of Prince Caucasus kefir grains. In September 1908, the first bottle of kefir was introduced and sold in Moscow. The advent of kefir in Moscow was welcomed with great enthusiasm of the public. In 1930, large-scale kefir manufacturing was initiated to fulfill the public’s demand of the historical drink.
