Maple Kefir

For my third attempt which the class will be tasting I decided to do a crowd pleaser, maple flavored kefir. 

I basically used the same technique as the blueberry kefir but this time I put a little bit less kefir starter in about 4 grams instead of the whole 5gram packet. 
To start I heated up a quart of 2% local organic milk to 180 degrees like before. 

I then took the milk off the heat to let it cool slightly. I decided to add the maple syrup while it was still hot so it would blend better. I then put it in my blender and blended it at a low setting to make sure it was evenly distributed. 

I did boil my jar this time since this is something I'm serving to the class and want it to be totally sanitized. 

I then let the blended warm milk and maple syrup cool to between 73 - 77 degrees. This took a while so I sped up the process with a cool water bath under the pot. Once it got to the desired temperature I added the kefir starter to a small portion and then blended it again with the remaining milk and maple mix. When I used the blended in the second attempt to puree the blueberries it did a really good job mixing everything together so I decided to use it again. 

I put the mixture of pasturized milk, maple syrup and kefir starter well blended together in a jar. 

I let that sit for 24 hours on the counter and then put it in the fridge to stop the process for 8 hours and we will try it in class today and see how it tastes!