The Indian, Greek and Middle-eastern cultures have yogurt.  The Germans have sauerkraut.  The Japanese have miso and natto.  The Koreans have kimchi.  The Chinese have pickled vegetables.  The Balkan countries have kefir.  The English have errr. ummm.. beer(?).  What do these have in common?    They are all fermented foods that our ancestors considered beneficial to health.

I have been on a fermentation kick recently.  Fermentation preserves foods as much as it preserves our digestive systems due to the healthy bacteria called “probiotics“.

Kefir Smoothie

Growing up, making yogurt every night was a constant and a fresh batch for the next day was always ensured.   If we went away on a holiday, the first thing we did when we got back was to carry a cup to the neighbor to borrow some yogurt to start a new batch.

Now we make yogurt every two or three days with organic whole milk.  Even though V and I do not consume milk or other dairy products, I consider yogurt and ghee to be exceptions.  (V has his reservations about this theory of mine.)

Speaking of yogurt, kefir is yet another probiotic beverage made from cultured milk.  In her book Cultured Foods for Your Kitchen, Leda Schientaub says “The Turkish translation of kefir, “to feel good”, is a fitting description”.  As with yogurt, she says, “there is little or no lactose remaining in dairy kefir”.   This book has a treasure trove of recipes for making cultured foods and I highly recommend it for anyone who is starting to explore fermentation, in conjunction with Sandor Katz’s The Art of Fermentation.

  

Since I wanted to add some variety and probiotic power to our regular breakfast smoothies, I decided to give kefir a try.  I do intend to make kefir at home as soon as the kefir grains I ordered get delivered.   For now I used store-bought kefir – unsweetened, plain, organic with live cultures.

Recipe for a healthy, probiotic breakfast smoothie
Adapted from the Moroccan Style Avocado, Date and Orange Shake recipe in Lena Scheintaub’s Cultured Foods for Your Kitchen

[Printable Recipe]

Makes 2 glasses

Ingredients:
1 cup kefir (if store-bought, look for unsweetened plain kefir with live cultures)
1 cup water or unsweetened almond milk
Half an orange, peeled and cut in to sections
4-5 dates, pitted
1 avocado, peeled, seeded and sliced
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder (I used Healthworks Raw Certified Organic Cacao Powder that I ordered on Amazon.com)

Method:
Throw all the ingredients in to the blender and blend till smooth.  If the consistency is too thick for you, add half a cup of water or almond milk and blend.

Kefir Smoothie

With a boiled egg on the side for protein, this is a great all-rounder breakfast smoothie with healthy fats from the avocado, vitamin C from the orange, fiber and a hint of sweetness from the dates, antioxidants from the cacao powder and of course, probiotic power from the kefir.