Dough Dough at home Milk Kefir Starter Culture, 15 Grams - Dehydrated easy to use

I paid £9.99 for this. I followed the instructions enclosed with the package to the letter. It just produced sour milk. I went to the company website to seek more information and saw the online instructions are different. It says use a muslin cloth over the jar (not a sealed jar), no metal spoons etc. Neither mentioned in the package instructions. So I contacted the company via their online contact form for advice and/or a replacement. No reply. After 3 weeks I contacted them directly using their email asking the same. Still no reply after 2 weeks. A complete waste of money and no customer support whatsoever. Very poor for not responding to a polite request for advice or replacement. Just another load of complete online rip off merchants.

I ordered these kefir grains because I like kefir and want to have a go at making kefir cheese (labneh). The problem I have with shop-bought yoghurt and kefir is that I Iike it sharper and more tangy than it's usually sold, so by making my own I can let it mature longer to get the stronger flavour.The grains arrived very securely but simply packaged. The grains themselves look rather like finely ground almonds and are a dark cream colour. I tasted one and they taste like a sharp cheese - very nice! There are clear instructions provided alongside.I started the process immediately, using 150ml of full cream milk (I'm using Jersey milk) heated to just above blood temperature. I was taught with making yoghurt that is what 'lukewarm' means in this context: you should only just be able to feel the milk is warmer than you are. The kefir grains sat on top of the milk (see pictures) then stirred in easily. I covered the jar with cheesecloth to keep unwelcome visitors out; and as I started this on the hottest day of the year so far, there's no difficulty in finding a warm place for the jar to sit to let the kefir ferment! So now to wait...When the curds have formed, the instructions say to add a litre of lukewarm milk, stir through, then leave that to ferment to get the finished product. Unfortunately I submitted a review for the wrong item, so I have to do this review earlier than is ideal to correct my mistake. I'll update it when the kefir is matured. Watch this space!I make my own vinegar and kombucha and sourdough starter, so I'm familiar with the process and it really is very simple - the hard part is the wait while the starter does its thing! It's a great thing to do with children, too - my kids loved their home-made ice cream made with their own 'special yoghurt', and I think children would have similar pride in their own kefir drinks.These grains appear to be great quality and carefully presented, and I would happily buy again. Recommended!----------------UPDATE: after 24 hours, the mixture smells sour and cheesy as it should, and clumps (curds) are forming, particularly in the cream that rose to the top (see additional pictures). I shall leave it another day to act before using it to make the kefir; but I'm satisfied these grains are doing what they should, and confirm my recommendation.

This was my second attempt at making kefir from dehydrated grains. The first attempt (bought elsewhere) went very yeasty and because I was using so much milk I gave up quite early on.For this kit, I had a lot more grains and less milk to start with, which made it feel slightly less risky (I really didn't want to waste lots more milk!). The instructions are very clear, but pretty basic. I ended up searching for some more detailed ones online.After the first 24 hours my grains were expanding nicely but didn't have a tangy yogurty smell so I left them for a further 24 hours as advised in the instructions. At 48 hours it had a slightly yeasty smell so started to worry slightly. After researching online though, I felt that probably the grains just needed a bit more milk, so I moved on to the next step and added a litre of lukewarm milk. 24 hours after this I could really see the grains had expanded more but were all floating at the top. After checking online I realised that they were stuck in the layer of cream at the top (I used unhomogonised, whole milk) and just needed a stir. Roughly 10 hours later I could see the curds and whey separate and decided to strain the grains. The instructions in this pack do not direct you to strain, but all other instructions I have read tell you to do this and I figured that if I did I should be able to keep my kefir production going indefinitely. Plus I'm not sure I fancy drinking lumpy kefir.I now have a nice, fairly mild kefir plus re-hydrated grains ready for the next batch. I will experiment with how tangy I like it over time.I'm really pleased with how this has turned out but I do feel that for the cost of these grains you should have more thorough instructions.

I ordered this thinking I’d get real kefir grains that grow and multiply, but it’s actually just powdered starter. It works for a few batches, but no grains ever formed. If you want real, live grains to keep culturing forever, this isn’t it. Pretty disappointed—hope this helps others avoid the same

Disappointed that the product name and photos suggest kefir grains, but what actually arrives is a fine powder. There is no mention in the instructions of salvaging the grains for reuse as one would with proper grains, only retaining some of the kefir to start another batch. I feel the product is misleading.

this starter is very useful, it contains dehydrated kefir grains that come back to life after being left in milk, this is more convenient than fresh grains as they store well and do not need to be used immediately. worked great and now I have fresh kefir for life. As for some of the negative reviews on here, I simply think people are misunderstanding this product, or simply not being patient enough with it.

This is not kefir grains, as in the lumps you can strain out and use again.Feeling misleaded by the description.