When reading about the recipes configuring what to eat, we hear about ingredients that are pretty rare and doesn’t use in usual recipes. One such ingredient is kefir, and the first thought that comes to mind when learning about it is what does kefir taste like.

Key Takeaways
  • Tangy sour with hints of vanilla, clove, and even banana.
  • You might feel the kefir taste a bit odd for the first time.
  • It might get tangy on the shelf; however, shaking the jar well before consumption can help you get a less tangy taste.
  • Kefir brands offer it in different flavors to ease your palate while boosting your immune system.

“Kefir tastes in variety based on the ingredients used to make the drink.”

The content is all about kefir taste, its appearance, and kefir flavors. So, if you are someone new to the field of cooking, it will be the information you need which will come in handy in your cooking career.

What is Kefir?

Before moving to what does kefir milk taste like, here are some words on what kefir actually is.

Kefir is a dairy product made by using fermented milk and kefir grains. Kefir grains are not manufactured but are actually based on a colony of living organisms that occur naturally when animal milk is added and removed frequently into bottles made of animal skin.

Microorganisms in the milk react with the cellules in the animal-skinned containers and make a structure like several tiny balls attached collectively, labeled as kefir grains.  These grains are mixed with animal milk to produce Kefir or kefir drink.

Is Kefir Milk?

It is not precisely milk but a drink made from fermented animal milk that can be obtained from cows, goats, or sheep. The interesting thing is that the kefir drink can be made using water or milk.

To make it, kefir grains are mixed in the milk and blended well, so the grains get evenly mixed in the liquid. Milk can be replaced with water.

Therefore, you cannot call kefir milk. However, it has all the nutritional properties of milk and is designated as the ancient cure-all beverage.

Where Does Kefir Come From?

Kefir originated in North Caucasus, Turkey, and Russia a thousand years ago, where milk was added to goatskin bags and then hung for the day to let the microbes react. Nobody knows how ancient the phenomenon is.

What Does Kefir Look Like?

In appearance, kefir looks more like thin yogurt, yet it can taste diverse. Once it finishes culturing, the mixture is passed through a strainer to remove undiluted grains.

“Kefir grains aren’t literal grains like wheat, oats, rice, or corn but a colony of microbes known as grains.”

What Does Kefir Milk Taste Like?

Kefir can be sweet or tart. No, it has nothing to do with the freshness of your drink, but it depends more on the ingredients.

Let us explain: as kefir grains are made from animal milk, while the milk of all animals has a different palate, the flavor of kefir depends more on the grains.

If you use grains available in the market to make kefir, you can expect Kefir to taste more like, 

“Tangy sour with hints of vanilla, clove, and even banana. It can slightly taste like thin yogurt or Aryan.

Does Kefir Taste Good?

According to taste experts, your palate takes time to get used to a flavor. Those trying for the first time might feel it tastes slightly strange, just like some people don’t enjoy eating curd or drinking milk.

However, if you ask what does kefir taste like, overall, it tastes good.

What Makes Kefir Taste?

Kefir taste is made by kefir grains. So, the taste of kefir depends more on the animal whose milk has been used to ferment kephir grains.

For instance, if you use camel milk that’s slightly salty with a sweet aftertaste to make kefir grains, the kefir drink will taste salty.

Reversing it, if you use buffalo milk to produce kefier grains, your drink will taste sweet as buffalo milk is somewhat sweeter than regular milk.

Is Kefir Supposed to be Sour?

What does kefir taste like? Is it supposed to be sour? Kefir, when stored in jars, the brew gets separated entirely, making it taste relatively sour at first sip.

However, the key to revel kefir in the original taste is giving it a good shake before sipping. By doing so, the separated particles will ferment again, and you can nip on a less tangy drink.

What Does Water Kefir Taste Like?

Once again, what does kefir taste like when made with water depends more on the ingredients—the taste of kefir grains and water (sweetened or fruity).

To make water kefir, when the mixture is fermented for 24 hours, bubbles are formed on the surface as various microbes are yet reacting with each other.

It can taste tangy, but by shaking well before sipping, the taste will be sweetened with a more fruity texture.

Yakult vs Kefir

Yakult, another drink made by using good bacteria just like kefir, but both have they differ in nutritional content. The good thing is the nutritional content of Kefir is more than Yakult because of the high sugar content.

Some differences between both are:

Kefir Yakult
Kefir is full of necessary vita-nutrients and minerals, the powerhouse of nourishment. More in sugar and less in nutrients, which makes it less petite than kefir drink.
Kefir is rich in vitamins like A and D and minerals like Calcium and Potassium. High in calories with low protein and micronutrient content.
Calories obtained from  healthy fats, carbohydrates, and proteins Calories are obtained from sugar.
Non-natural yet healthy ingredients. Non-natural ingredients that come with warning signs.
What does kefir taste like? Sweetened and tangy What does Yakult taste like? Any specific fruit added to the recipe.

A complete guide ➔ Yakult VS Kefir, Which One Is Better?

What Are Some Good Kefir Flavors?

Are there any other kefir flavors available other than plain? The good news is, yes. There are plenty of flavors available for this good-bacterial drink so that your palate is never bored.

Depending upon the kefir brands and recipes, it is available in classic 6 flavors, including blueberry, raspberry, vanilla, mango, and strawberry.  

Depending upon you, select the flavors according to your desire. You can read the labels.

How to Make Kefir Taste Better?

First of all, you will not put more than one slice of fruit in the jar, or else the kefir is going to taste sour. Yes, it’s true. The more fruits you add, the tangier kefir becomes.

Besides this, with seasoning, you can make your kefir taste better. There are plenty of options available to add in the drink and make it taste better.

The options include:

  • Adding one citrus peel to the jar
  • Putting cinnamon and vanilla sticks (broken and small parts)
  • Dash of cocoa powder
  • Chopped fruits (keep quantity low)
  • Mix kefir in fruit beverages.

If you see that the kefir is tasting tangier, put some honey to make kefir taste better.

What is the Best Tasting Kefir?

There are plenty of brands offering kefir seeds or drinks. The more natural ingredients a brand will use, the better tasting kefir it can offer.

Here is the link to check the top kefir brands to find the best-tasting kefir available. When made with sweetened water and fruity flavor, it tastes more like a dilute cordial or squash.

You can also get some readily available Kefir flavors like blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, mango, and vanilla.

Moreover, the kefir flavor also depends upon the brand you are obtaining it from. Some good brands offer flavors in almost all fruits.

How Long is Kefir Good for After Opening?

Kefir gets expired within a week, unopened. Besides, it stays good for not more than 5 days when the box is opened. You should know that kefir has alive living organisms in it, just like yogurt.

It would help if you had a cool, in fact, most excellent place to store kefir when the box is opened so that you can stop microbes from reacting even more. The more you let the fermentation happen, the sourer kefir will become.

So, as you see kefir getting old, its taste will start getting tangy with a slightly uneasy smell heaping from it. However, when stored in a suitably cold place, the life of kefir can be enhanced.

Why is My Kefir Watery?

Kefir is actually a drink obtained when kefir seeds are mixed with milk, water, or any flavored liquid. When you store it on a shelf, the ingredients start getting separated from each other so you see more watery kefir.

The best thing to do in this situation is to shake the kefir well. With that, the ingredients will get again combined with water and you will get a fluffy texture.

Also, you need to understand that, when kefir is made by mixing it with water, you see a bubbling carbonated product obtained. This kefir will remain watery even after shaking due to the second ingredient.

Bottom Line

What does kefir taste like? We have tried to cater to this query from all angles. Now you know how different watery kefir or kefir drinks made with milk can taste.

For more interesting content on savory, do visit us at look broad, the number site with health encyclopedia.

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Last Updated on November 22, 2022