Kefir came
from the
people of the Northern Caucasus Mountains located between Russia and
Asia. For centuries these people have used its powerful health
benefits to survive the harsh winters deep in the mountains. It
was often known as a source of family and tribal wealth. In
fact, they kept the secret of kefir grains and its process for
thousands of years, even to the extent of protecting the art and the
grains with their very own lives! This stuff truly is ‘to die
for’.
In the early
1900’s Russian scientist knew of the kefir grains and its
health benefits. They wanted to perform research to understand more
about this mysterious grain but there was one big problem. The
people of the Caucasus Mountains would not hand any over. So The
All-Russian Physicians Society some how contacted and cut a deal with
two Blandovs brothers who owned cheese factories in the Caucasus
Mountains. The brothers planned to use a beautiful girl named
Irina Sakharova to seduce the Caucasian Prince, Bek-Mirza Barchorov
into giving her some kefir grains. And yes indeed, she dazzled
him with her beauty but the prince still refused to hand over the
probiotic jewels.
However,
he did not want to give up Irina. On her return
home he had her kidnapped and brought back against her will.
Hoping to win her love he proposed to her, but Irina refused. She
stayed captive with the prince until the Blandovs, who employed her at
their cheese factory, came and rescued her. Then, backed by the
two brothers, she brought her case against the Prince to the Tsar’s
court. In payment for his crimes against her, he offered all
sorts of gold and jewels but she didn’t take it. She
demanded the probiotic jewels. And just as most women get
what they want, she indeed received the precious secret. It
wasn’t until late 1908, Irina Sakharova brought the first amounts of
kefir to Moscow, where it was used medicinally with great success.
Thanks to her,
people all over the world now have learned and used this
powerful grain to promote better health. In 1973 at the age of
85, Irina received a letter from the Minister of the Food Industry of
the former USSR, expressing their grateful acknowledgement of her
primary role in bringing kefir to the Russian people.
Microbiologist
performed many attempts at trying to propagate kefir
grains from the culture. After failing over and over they finally
asked the Caucasians how they acquired the grains. They said “The
grains were a gift from God given to us over a thousand years
ago.” Other orthodox tribes claimed that the grains were a gift
from the prophet Mohammed as he travelled through that region over
1,400 years ago. It has also been said that they call this
cultured product ‘the Drink of the Prophet’. But the question
still remains to this day. How or where did the Prophet Mohammed
acquire the original Kefir Grains?