Kefir revisited: Insights from the North Caucasus
Palina Kh Katchieva, Khalimat Kh Katchieva, Fairuza I Kipkeeva, Zaira F Kharaeva, Vladimir V Smeianov · 2025
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Description
Palina Katchieva and co-authors (2025) return kefir to its homeland, the North Caucasus, to study the drink at its source. Kefir is milk fermented by kefir grains, knobbly colonies where bacteria and fungi live together in symbiosis. As fermentation proceeds, the microbes in the milk shift, yet the grains themselves stay remarkably stable in makeup. How such a stable partnership arose is an open question of origins.
Commercial kefir-like drinks often differ from kefir made the traditional way, with grains passed down in mountain communities. The authors argue that understanding the real thing requires studying old samples from the region of origin, particularly the Karachay area. They survey what is known about the grains' makeup and the species that matter most. The aim is to ground health research and new product design in the genuine article rather than its factory imitations.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Palina Kh Katchieva, Khalimat Kh Katchieva, Fairuza I Kipkeeva, Zaira F Kharaeva, Vladimir V Smeianov |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 35 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |