Active culture club

Starfruit
(1745 W Division St, 773-328-2900)
The scoop Lifeway Foods, the local company known for its kefir products, is behind this new Ukrainian Village shop. Kefir (commonly mistaken for a brand name) is a fermented milk drink popular in Eastern Europe, and it contains strains of bacteria and yeasts that yogurt doesn’t. The health effects are hotly debated and haven’t been scientifically proven, but Lifeway claims the “probiotic” live cultures aid in digestion, among other things.
The skinny One ounce contains 3 grams of carbs, 21 calories and 0.25 grams of fat.
The verdict Like the unflavored kefir drink, this stuff is sour. Not citrusy tart like Berry Chill’s stuff, but the type of sour that leads most people to choose flavored yogurt over plain. Problem is, the flavor of the day we sampled had a strangely fakey peach flavor and overly grainy texture.