The name ‘‘kefir’’ is likely derived from the Turkish word
‘‘keyif’’ which means ‘‘good feeling’’ [2]. Kefir is an
acidic, viscous, somewhat effervescent, slightly alcoholic
milk beverage produced by the actions of bacteria and
yeast embedded in a resilient, insoluble protein and polysaccharide
matrix known as a ‘‘kefir grain’’ [5–7]. While
other fermented milks are produced using the practice of
back slopping, or adding a sample of fermented milk as
inoculum to fresh milk to produce more of the fermented
milk product (the common fermentation start for yogurts,
viili, filmjo
¨
lk, and other traditional fermented milks), traditional
kefir requires inoculating fresh milk with the entire
kefir grain and allowing fermentation to occur [3, 4].