Milk Kefir is either produced by placing living grains in whole milk or by mixing prepackaged powders into milk. Grains and powder will produce a an extremely similar looking drink but there are several differences to the two.
Easiness: Because the traditional grains are alive they must be looked after, they should not be left out or ignored for lengthy periods because they bacteria will die. There are ways of making them last longer such as freezing them, drying out them, or storing them within the refrigerator with fresh milk, but they still will die if not looked after. The powers will last around 12 months unopened which should be long enough for anyone to use them. This means that for somebody who doesn’t want kefir constantly, but rather only sometimes, the packets is going to be better, however for someone who desires it consistently the grains really are a better option.
Price: Grains only need to be bought once and usually priced around $10 to $15 for enough to create a cup of kefir a day time. One may be able to get grains for free from a friend once you have extra. These grains will quickly develop, doubling in size at usually weekly or faster, until anyone’s kefir needs could be satisfied. Powders are only good for a small amount of uses, usually less than 10, and then will eventually die regardless of what the user does. They will not grow and multiply so that they must be purchased continuously. Due to this, the grains are a better choice from a dollar perspective and are the best choice for anyone saving money.
Health: While it is not really a deeply researched topic, general consensus is that grains will create a wider variety of probiotics within the kefir than a powder may. The organisms are in the powder is the decision of the manufacturer and kefir grains a re complex and difficult to mimic. For this reason the powder will not produce kefir indefinitely, the bacteria and yeasts aren’t balanced and one will eventually dominate and the kefir produced will be useless. Purchased grains come from long lines of other grains so they definitely will be balanced to create the perfect kefir. From a health perspective, grains should be used because you can be sure that they are producing the very best kefir if you can see them thriving and growing.