I Am A Specialist In Finding The Easy Way Out

 I call it streamlining.

Did you ever notice how the instructions for so many things are so weirdly ornate?  I'm not sure why there is the urge to make more work than there has to be.  The thing I try to do is analyze the actual thing I am trying to accomplish.  Here is a little example.

   Years ago, I started making kefir at home.  The directions would scare anyone out of the project.  There was a lot of hoohah about timing, sieves, containers, the correct material to use in stirring kefir, so that it doesn't give up the ghost or something.  I can't even remember it all.  I use metal implements and it still works just fine.

   Know how I do it?  Say I already have a jar of it finished, thick and fermented.  I get a clean jar and set it beside the other one.  I put as much WHOLE milk as I want to have of kefir the next day in the clean jar. I take my big long spoon with the holes in it and I fish out the lump of grains, as they call the stuff that carries the ferment organisms in it, with the spoon.  I plunk that into the fresh jar of milk.  I give it a good stir, so that the fresh milk can contact the grains.  I put a lid on the new jar and set it aside anywhere in the kitchen.  I put the finished kefir in the fridge to chill, it tastes better cold.  

   The new stuff will be fermented in about 24 hours.  You know it's done when it gets thick.  If it separates, you need to remove some of the grains because it's too much for the amount of milk.  You can give these to someone who wants to make kefir, freeze them in case yours die for some reason.  I have never had any die, but I guess it does happen.  Or you can throw the extra away. If you don't have anyone to get some grains from, you can buy them on Amazon.  The first few jars you attempt might take a long time to get going.  It is a little rough on the stuff to be shipped, but persevere and all will be well.  Write me if you have problems.

   If you think that sounds ornate, you should hear the official directions!  My way works and is stripped to the bare functional essentials.

   That's the ticket!  Bare functional essentials!

   One other thing, kefir is much more complex than yogurt.  It has both yeasts and healthy bacterial in it.  Good stuff for the guts, our second brain, you know!