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Is it okay to refrigerate kefir whey for a few days before fermenting other foods with it (i.e., almond butter http://www.thecandidadiet.com/forums/topic/fermented-almond-butter-16/ ), or will this prevent the good bacteria from eating the bad stuff (kinda like kefir itself nearly stops fermenting lactose when refrigerated)?

It seems like one would need to use it on the almond butter immediately upon production to achieve the desired effect, but I'm not sure if refrigerated kefir whey will still work, due to the fact that it has already been allowed to ferment for a day or two before refrigeration.

user35927
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  • I'm assuming you're talking about homemade kefir you ferment yourself. Kefir microorganisms will gradually go dormant and die off in the fridge. I don't tend to do whey fermentations myself, because they generally involve putting microorganisms adapted from one thing (dairy) into something they're not as well adapted to--and this can have unpredictable results. By refrigerating the whey for a couple days, you'll have even fewer microorganisms who may process the almond butter, so the results will be even more unpredictable. Is it possible it will work sometimes? Maybe. Would I do it? No. – Athanasius Jun 03 '15 at 13:28
  • Thanks, can you go into any more detail about the "unpredictable results" that can occur from putting the kefir microorganisms into a non-dairy product? – user35927 Jun 03 '15 at 16:49
  • Basically: your kefir bacteria, yeast, etc. like eating one kind of "food"--the stuff found in milk. Over long periods, they come to a stable equilibrium with certain populations of various organisms to consume the specific food you give them. When you feed them something else, some of those organisms won't like it and grow slowly (or even die off), some will grow much faster than before, and things can get "out of balance." In many cases, you'll still end up with a fermented product, but fermentation may be faster, slower, or grow things you don't want (which in some cases could be unsafe). – Athanasius Jun 04 '15 at 14:06
  • Just to be clear: I don't know much about nut butter fermentations, and this might work fine (or not). But there seems to be a trend in the past few years to just think you can add a little salt or whey or whatever to just about anything and it will ferment safely. In reality, the reason we have so many different fermentation methods for different foods is because different foods require different methods to cultivate the "right" microorganisms efficiently and safely. – Athanasius Jun 04 '15 at 14:10
  • Okay, thanks! I thought that was the right culture method, but perhaps there is no correct culture method for almond butter. – user35927 Jun 12 '15 at 14:52

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