Also kefyr, kephir. [Caucasian.] An effervescent liquor resembling koumiss, prepared from milk that has been fermented; employed as a medicine or food for invalids.
1884. Nature, 3 July, 216/2. Kephir has only been generally known even in Russia for about two years.
1894. Lancet, 3 Nov., 1072. Koumiss and kefyr are examples of sour fermented milk containing an excess of carbonic acid gas.
b. Kefir ferment, grains, or seeds, a composite substance used by the Caucasians to ferment milk.
1887. in Syd. Soc. Lex.
1898. Blackman, in Working Men’s Coll. Jrnl., V. 60. The inhabitants of the Caucasus have kephir grains. To produce kephir, about 6 parts of milk is mixed with 1 part of the grains…. Kephir grains consist of 2 sorts of bacteria and a yeast.
