It was a gift by Gerone and Jeremy as they learn with us Hilot. It was just a tiny grain like dried cooked rice but it was not. They shared to us 20 small grains or more and we soaked it in a liter of water and sugar with sliced lemon and on the other day it was ready to drink. We had a Probiotic Drink that we can enjoy.
Water Kefir is a fermented, carbonated beverage using kefir grains. These grains are also known as Tibicos, California Bees, Japanese water crystals and many other names have been called to this wonderful gift of life. But the word kefir is an arabic word which means Fermented Milk and its origins connect to the story of the Prophet Mohammed giving kefir grains to the orthodox people of North Ossetia in the Northern Area of Caucassus Mountains between Russia and Georgia.
I want to share here a wonderful story of how Kefir originates and this can be found on the website Kefir Story
According to the people of the northern slopes of the Caucasian Mountains there is a legend that Mohammed gave kefir grains to the Orthodox people and taught them how to make kefir. The ‘Grains of the Prophet’ were guarded jealously since it was believed that they would lose their strength if the grains were given away and the secret of how to use them were to be common knowledge. Kefir grains were regarded as part of the family’s and tribe’s wealth and they were passed on from generation to generation. The kefir was made in cows or goats milk in sacks made from the hides of animals. Occasionally it was also made in clay pots, wooden buckets, or oak vats. In some areas sheep milk was also used. Usually the kefir sacks were hung out in the sun during the day and brought back into the house at night, where they were hung near the door. Everyone who entered or left the house was expected to prod the sack with their foot or hand to mix the contents. As kefir was removed more fresh milk was added, making the fermentation process continuous. For many centuries the people of the northern Caucasus enjoyed this food without sharing it with anyone. Strange tales spread of the unusual beverage which was said to have ‘magical’ properties; Marco Polo even mentioned kefir in the chronicles of his travels in the East.
However, kefir was forgotten outside the Caucasus for centuries until news spread of its use for the treatment of tuberculosis and for intestinal and stomach diseases. Russian doctors believed that kefir was beneficial for health and the first scientific studies for kefir were published at the end of the nineteenth century. However, kefir was extremely difficult to obtain and commercial production was not possible without first obtaining a source of grains.
The members of the All Russian Physician’s Society were determined to obtain kefir grains in order to make kefir readily available to their patients. In the early 1900’s a representative of the society approached two brothers by the name of Blandov and asked them to procure some kefir grains. The Blandov’s owned and ran the Moscow Dairy, but they also had holdings in the Caucasus Mountain area, including cheese manufacturing factories in the town of Kislovodsk. The plan was for the Blandov’s to obtain a source of kefir grains and then produce kefir on an industrial scale in Moscow.
The Blandov’s were excited since they knew that they would be the only commercial producers of this much sought after product so Nikolai Blandov sent a beautiful young employee, Irina Sakharova, to the court of a local prince, Bek-Mirza Barchorov. She was instructed to charm the prince and persuade him to give her some of his kefir grains.
Unfortunately, everything did not go according to plan. The prince, fearing retribution for violating a religious law, had no intention of giving away any ‘Grains of the Prophet’. However, he was very taken with the young Irina and didn’t want to lose her either. Realizing that they were not going to complete their mission, Irina and her party departed for Kislovodsk. On their way home though they were stopped by mountain tribesmen who kidnapped Irina and took her back to the prince. Since it was a local custom to steal a bride, Irina was told that she was to marry Bek-Mirza Barchorov. Only a daring rescue mission mounted by agents of her employers saved Irina from the forced marriage. The unlucky prince was brought before the Tsar who ruled that the prince was to give Irina ten pounds of kefir grains, to recompense her for the insults she had endured.
The kefir grains were taken to the Moscow Dairy and in September, 1908, the first bottles of kefir drink were offered for sale in Moscow. Small quantities of kefir were produced in several small towns in the area where there was a ready market for it. People mostly consumed it for its alleged medicinal value.
Commercial manufacturing of kefir on a large scale began in Russia, in the 1930’s. However, it is difficult to produce kefir by conventional methods on a commercial scale due to its ever-changing state and complex biological make-up.
By the 1930’s kefir was being made as a set-type product which entailed growing a quantity of grains in milk and then straining out the grains and adding the cultured milk to a larger batch of fresh milk. The mixture was incubated and, when set, allowed to cool. Unfortunately, this type of product was not as good as the one produced using the traditional home-style method.
During the 1950’s workers at the All-Union Dairy Research Institute (VNIMI) developed a new method for commercial kefir production which gave a drink similar to that produced in the home by traditional methods. The kefir was produced by the stirred method. Fermentation, coagulation, agitation, ripening and cooling, were carried out in a large vessel, and then the kefir was bottled.
In 1973 the Minister of the Food Industry of the Soviet Union sent a letter to Irina Sakharova thanking her for bringing kefir to the Russian people.
Presently, kefir is the most popular fermented milk in Russia. Various reports have stated that it accounts for between 65% and 80% of total fermented milk sales in Russia with production of over 1.2 million tons per year in 1988. The average yearly consumption of kefir in the Soviet Union was estimated at approximately 4.5 kilograms per person per year in the early 1980s.
Currently kefir is being manufactured on a commercial scale in Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia and various of the former soviet union states, Denmark, the United States, France, West Germany, Canada and parts of southeast Asia. You may even be familiar with some brands such as Lifeway’s Kefir, now available in many up-scale and organic grocery stores.
As kefir makes itself known across the globe, more and more people are able to enjoy this delicious ancient beverage today. It is wonderful to see that despite our sometimes hectic lives full of ever-evolving technology serving us instant gratification that we are still able to appreciate, encourage and share something as simple and natural as kefir grains.
The milk kefir beverage has acquired many names from all over the world throughout the centuries, including:
• Snow lotus
• Tibetan mushroom
• Kefirs
• Keefir
• Kephir
• Kewra
• Talai
• Mudu Kekiya
• Búlgaros
• The Grains of The Prophet Mohamed
• The Drink of the Prophet
• Tibetan Mushrooms
• Tara
• Yogurt Plant
• Yogurt Mushroom
• Kin-oko
• Yogoot-tane-oko (Japanese)
• Tibetanischer Pilz (German)
• Galodium (Romanian and/or Polish)
• Kefyras (Lithuanian)
And we are so glad that this couple shared to us this wonderful gift of Life. From the bottom of our Heart we thank You Gerone and Jeremy for sharing to us this medicine of Kefir.
And just to add these are some of the Potential benefits of Drinking Kefir Water.
The long wait to improve our Academy is over. Starting November Hilot Academy of Binabaylan will have a partnership with M Enchanted Beauty and Wellness Shop which is located at 11 Olives Street, Dona Petrona Subdivision, Brgy. Pasong Tamo, Novaliches, Quezon City, 1107 Philippines. We officially have arrange for a shared space to learn our very own Philippine Traditional Medicine. Along with the Seminar, Trainings and Workshops- M Enchanted together with Hilot Academy will provide services and products to the public.
Years passed by i try to look again along the street if there are wild gotu kola growing. But it seems people learned the importance of this plant that they kept it inside their yard. So i ended up looking for it on a Garden Shop. But this plant where i now grow is i bought beside Quiapo Church in Manila. It cost me Php 100.00 for this plant. And gladly i am growing it that we can make medicine out of it.
Thank You Iceberg Infante and Ms. Lera Padua for coming in to participate on our Hilot Pulsuhan, Bentusa and Pahid Workshop. Even by parts we have shared to you the Ancient Healing Methods of our ancestors. Indeed as we have discussed that our techniques might not be recognized by the allopathic doctors to be an exact science on determining the cause of illness but we can guarantee that learning Hilot Pulsuhan, Bentusa and Pahid can be a preventive healthcare modality that can maintain your optimum health and wellness.
Remember our August 8, 2019 post about Guava Leaves? Here we got result. I received a private message thanking us for our post and testifying how the Guava Leaf tea help her in her problem.
Sunlight and the Morning Sunshine is a Free Medicine where we can find in Nature. I remember Nanay bringing out Baby Luis and sit under the tree to receive the morning sunshine. This will help the child to develop strong muscles, bones as well as the lungs. It stimulates also the skin cells to bring natural color and make it firm. It also stimulates the kidney as well as the liver to flush out toxic waste naturally out of our system. Indeed that the Sun provides us Light and Heat energies that provides us life force within us. Through the power of the Sun derives the 2 modalities of Hilot which is Heat and Light. So the Manghihilot technology brings forth heat to the body through the Pagpapahid method and the light through talismans and charms that a manghihilot create as a Medicine.
Aside from Pilay Lamig, Hangin, Ipit and Bali, our Lolo and Lola knows that there is another powerful Pilay that could inflect the babies even adult that comes from another person and that is Usog. Usog literally means “to move” in tagalog, but this kind of illness in other province is the Philippines are called “bales”, “bati”, or “gaba”. This kind of Pilay is a form of Energy disturbance that blocks the flow of life force within an individual that makes the person sick. This is the reason why mothers go to Magtatawas to determine the cause of the child illness and obtain a cure. In order for the Usog be prevented. The Magtatawas prescribe a Medicine to counter Usog through a red and black bracelet or a red cloth infused with prayers to be pinned to the child.
Hilot Academy of Binabaylan 
You must be logged in to post a comment.