Tesco has predicted kefir will become one of the major food trends of 2020 after sales “dramatically rocketed” in the last year.
The UK retailer said demand for kefir – a yogurt-like drink containing gut-friendly bacteria – has risen by 400% in the last 18 months.
Kefir is a centuries-old product made with milk and live cultures that is high in protein and calcium.
“Shoppers are really switching on to gut health and demand for kefir is now so strong that in the last few years we have nearly doubled our range and we have plans to add more this year,” said Tesco dairy drinks buyer, Vicky Smith.
“Its popularity has been building, mainly by word of mouth on a monthly basis to the extent that we now stock seven different drinks as well as four yogurt variants.
“The original natural variety has a slightly sour but wonderfully creamy taste. Last year, in order to widen its popularity, we added cherry, strawberry plus mango and turmeric flavours.”
Tesco said as demand took off in the last decade, it brought in its first UK kefir producer, Biotiful Dairy, and ranged the drinks in its regular dairy aisle.
Ex-figure skater Natasha Bowes founded Biotiful Dairy in 2012 to fulfil her ambition of introducing kefir to the increasingly health-conscious UK market.
“I grew up in Russia where kefir is a way of life and it is rare for anybody to have problems with their gut,” she said.
“When business brought me to Ireland and then England more than 20 years ago, I found it hard to find kefir but then had a lightbulb moment of creating my own dairy.”
Last year, Biotiful Dairy launched a strawberry-flavoured kefir and three spoonable kefir quark pots with fruit compote.
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