May's Milk Moon, and a Recipe for Kefir

The following is an excerpt from Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection by Jessica Prentice. It has been adapted for the Web.

The Milk Moon falls right around Beltane—May Day—the first day of summer in the old Celtic calendar. On Beltane, Celtic people left their winter homes and drove their herds up onto summer pasture. According to tradition, a procession would form for the journey up into the hills. The sheep went first, followed by the cattle in order of their ages, then the goats, and finally the horses. The animals were kept on the summer pasture until Samhain, six months later, when they would be brought back down for the winter.

This annual ritual evolved from considerations of climate and geography. Higher pastures get more snow in wintertime. So in autumn, people would bring pastured animals down to winter homes where they could feed them cut hay—or allow them to graze on grass when it was available—and house them in stables to protect them from the weather. As the hills warmed in spring, the green grass on these higher pastures began to grow once again, fed by the water of the melting snow. This rapidly growing fresh grass was an especially nutritious food for cows and other ruminants, and so they were led back up into the hills to feast on this quality pasture.

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Kefir

Makes 1 1⁄ 2 cups

Pronounced kef-EER, this is an easy cultured drink that can be made from raw milk. You can get kefir grains online or from someone else who makes kefir. As you culture the milk, the grains reproduce. You can harvest the extra grains and use for making the ales, beers, or mead in this book. This is how I make kefir at home. I use it for my daily kefir shake.

1 1/2 cups raw whole milk

1 scant tablespoon kefir grains

1. Put the grains into a clean 1-pint jar. Pour the milk over the grains. Put the jar in a warm place and let it culture for 24 hours or more, depending on the temperature.
2. In my experience, kefir goes through a few predictable stages: First it stays liquid but gets a little slimy. Then it thickens into an almost yogurt-like consistency. Then it separates into a cottage-cheese-like thickness floating in clear whey. I like to use mine when it is yogurt-like (which usually takes about 24 hours), but will still use it when it is cheesy. If it is getting thick but I am not able to use it, sometimes I stick it in the fridge.
3. Strain the kefir through a sieve (some people advise not using a metal strainer, but I have never had a problem doing so) into a bowl to remove the grains. Sometimes I use a spatula to gently press the kefir through the sieve (not including the grains).
4. I usually transfer the grains directly back to the jar without rinsing them or the jar. Then I pour more milk over the grains and so get the next day’s kefir started. Since the grains reproduce, every few days I will harvest some of the grains to make ales. About once every 10 days or so I will wash out the jar or use a clean one. I don’t ever rinse the grains unless I am harvesting them for ales.

I use the kefir to make my Kefir and Superfood Shake. That is pretty much the only way I drink it, though some people enjoy drinking it straight.

Your grains always need to be immersed in milk to stay alive. If I go away for up to a week, I cover the grains with fresh milk as above, but instead of leaving it in a warm place, I put the jar in the fridge. This always works fine. If you’re going away for longer, you might want to ask whoever is watering your plants to change the milk on your grains!