Blakes Kefir – Local, Organic and Delicious

At Simple Simons we are always striving to get as many products from local suppliers as we can. We find supporting small businesses is a great way to build up a lasting relationship, because smaller businesses will go the extra mile. The product and business we want to highlight this week is Blakes; a fantastic company based in Drumshanbo Co Leitrim. Blakes are our sole providers of organic milk kefir. Have you heard of kefir before? Over the last few years the popularity has risen massively but in fact people have been making kefir for hundreds of years. The practice orginates from the Caucauses mountains, where shepherds used to store their milks in bags or containers made from calf stomachs! This caused the milk to ferment and in turn create beneficial gut bacteria. 

So what exactly IS kefir? Kefir is a milk drink which is made by adding a live bacteria culture and leaving it to ferment. It is usually a slightly thicker constency than milk and has a tart flavour, similar to buttermilk. The live bacteria added is known as kefir grains, which are cultures of lactic acid bacteria and yeast. They look like small pieces of cauliflower or cottage cheese and in the right conditions can thrive and multiply rapidly. When this happens the grains ferment the natural sugars in the milk which turn it into kefir. The kefir is then strained and the grains can be used again to make another batch, and so on.

So how much kefir do you need to be taking a day? The guys at Blakes recommend taking around 100ml every day. We sell the kefir in 250ml bottles or 750ml bottles, so you can choose which ones are the most suitable for you. Most of our customers drink it first thing in the morning to get it into the system nice and early.