Susan- Nope. You can make it as often as needed, but it helps to use the grains once every 7-10 days - maybe as long as 2-weeks, but they will be pretty sluggish after a 2-week rest. You "rest" them in milk in the refrigerator when not in use. I make a cup of milk and rest the grains in a pint jar with a tight-fitting plastic lid on it. Be sure to label it so your family knows it's not something that has spoiled and toss it out. That happened to my sister (LOL). FYI: When you take the grains out of the milk they have been resting in, just seal the lid back on the jar and leave it on the counter along with the new batch. The remaining resting milk will develop a curd because there is enough good bacteria remaining in the milk to ferment it. If they have been resting very long, it may have already developed a curd. It doesn't take long to ferment if the grains have been in there for 5-7 days (maybe just a few hours). If the grains haven't been resting in the milk very long, it might not thicken. In that case, just use the milk in a smoothie or cooking. At the price you're paying for milk, you wouldn't want to waste the resting milk. The more frequently you make kefir, the faster the grains will grow. I pull them apart with my fingers (thoroughly wash and well rinsed hands if handling the grains) when they get about as big around as a quarter. I also never rinse the grains. I make sure my jars are hand-washed and well rinsed. I've read where rinse-aids in dishwashers coat the jars and cause problems with ferments - even with things like a sourdough starter. I also scald the jar with boiling water to be on the safe side, before beginning a batch of kefir or adding them to the resting jar. Be sure to leave plenty of room in the jar you are making kefir in - don't fill it to the top with milk. I usually use 2 to 2-1/2 c. of milk in a quart jar plus about 1/4-1/3 cup of kefir grains. You need plenty of headspace for the fermentation gasses. I also tighten the lid because I like the fizziness of the finished kefir. If you don't want the effervescent effect, just leave the lid only lightly screwed on, and the gases will escape. The grains will float to the top of the milk when fermentation starts, and that's where they can be located for removal. I use a plastic slotted spoon (used only for my kefir grains) to lift the milk kefir grains out of the top of the curd. If you mix or shake the finished kefir, you will destroy the curd and it will liquefy, and remain so. If you want liquid kefir once it's thickened (and it can also separate a curd from the whey), just shake the kefir. If you haven't yet read everything about kefir at Dom's Kefir In-Site, that's one of the best places for information. http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html Good luck! ;-) -Grainlady

This has gotten to be a big challenge - probably due to the length of my post. I posted this yesterday and thought I fixed it this morning, but only part 2 shows up. Here is the first part I posted, but I think I'll have to divide it as well, so I'll entitle it Part 1A and 1B. Sorry for the delayed response and mix up. -Grainlady Part 1A There is an abundance of information on the subject when you start to study it. In fact, it is quite an interesting subject when you get into it. What we think of as a tasty broth/stock to enhance the flavors of sauces, vegetables, and soups, is really much more than that. So when you see someone cooking/poaching a few boneless chicken breasts for broth/stock, that's one time they're doing it wrong. I look at broth (especially bone broth) as a supplement to my diet - a gelatin-rich food that helps just about everywhere in the body. These are foods that have all but disappeared from the modern dinner table and we are less healthy for it. Here's information according to "Nourishing Broth" by Sally Fallon Morell and Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN. I would suggest it for further reading on the subject. -You want bones that have lots of cartilage along with those small amounts of meat for flavor. Meat contains only about 1% by weight of collagen, while bones contain about 20%. Skin - like chicken skin (think schmaltz) and pig skin (think pork rinds), contains up to 30%. Veal knuckles contain up to 40%. What this means is when making chicken stock include the backs, wings, and necks. For beef and veal stock, use cartilage-rich knuckles or oxtail (tailbones) along with more cartilage-rich meaty bones like short ribs or shanks. -To ensure plenty of gelatin - include feet -- chicken feet (and heads also! - although I've never used the head - even when we raised our own chickens). For beef include calves' feet. For pork broth use split pig's foot (fresh, not smoked). You can add a split pig's foot to any kind of broth to increase the gelatin. -Some ingredients yield gelatin more than others, some add flavor and color. Adding vinegar helps extract minerals from the bones as well as the vegetables you add. Any kind of vinegar can be used. -You will get better gel using pasture-raised chickens than conventional (battery-raised) OR simply organic chicken. Pasture-raised will also be more nutritious.

I know it's late but fyi, a vacuum sealer CAN be used successfully for soft items, like soft breads and such, even liquids. The trick for soft things is to take a fairly strong plastic container (Tupperware, Rubbermaid, Sterlite or what have you) and poke holes in the top of it so the air can get sucked out by the vacuum sealer. I'd guess the cheap "Ziploc" type containers would crush so be sure you use a heavier type. The intention is good but a friend tried to give me a treat by sending some of her cinnamon rolls and, well, stale rolls just are not a treat IMO. Especially considering the cost of FedEx, UPS, packaging, etc... well, I'd rather have the cash to buy something at a bakery! OTOH, I've had good luck with frozen items and can freeze them a week or two and they're very palatable. But that would require some dry ice to ship it. There again, there's a cost issue. But admittedly, I'm cheap. The other possibility is freeze the unbaked rolls then bake them up fresh. I'm sure there would be some loss in the process but as the old commercial went, hot from the oven beats cold from the box any day. Hope things worked out well and hope they enjoyed the treats.

eld6161- Will do... Which thread????