My breakfasts lately have been pretty simple; granola and yogurt. I have been making my own yogurt again lately though, especially since I've found the trick for getting yogurt the right consistency.
About a year or so ago, I tried making my own yogurt using a large coffee thermos (the one to our coffee maker, in fact), some local nonhomogenized milk (that means it still has cream floating on top...mmmm...), and some local plain yogurt. I could never get the yogurt thick enough for my liking. The process was simple: bring the milk to boiling (the boiling kills some of the enzymes which is why lactose intolerant people can often eat yogurt and cheeses). Once it's boiled, let it cool back down to around 100 degrees. Mix in yogurt and then incubate for many, many hours. I thought maybe the problem was my coffee thermos--it possibly wasn't keeping it warm enough. (I warmed the thermos up by putting boiling water in it, emptying the water and then adding the yogurt). So, for Christmas I asked for a yogurt maker. I got a really simple one, basically it's 7 6-oz glass jars and a fancy hotplate with a lid. (only around $30 or so). I tried again: nonhomogenized milk, local yogurt. The first time I made it I was pleased with the results, but after that, it just wasn't setting up like I wanted it to. I took a break from yogurt for a while.
A few weeks ago, I decided to give it a try again. This time, I got yogurt starter (it's in the dairy section, next to the yogurt at Central Market--Whole Foods I am sure has it too). I've made it three times since then, and each time I've been pleased with the results...nice thick, creamy yogurt. I sweeten it with a some honey and then stir in some granola that I've made (that's on the to do list for tomorrow. I have enough granola left for my yogurt for breakfast). It's perfect and doesn't leave me hungry after an hour like the usual bowl of cereal will.
Why bother with making my own yogurt? It's actually cheaper than by organic yogurt. I get to put as much sweetener in as I want, plus I get to control what kind of sweetener (always local honey!) I put in. I don't generate waste in all the yogurt containers, which although they can be recycled, it still takes energy to recycle the plastic. Plus, it's easy and I just like to do it (which is really the biggest reason).
I boiled the milk this morning when the kids and I were eating breakfast and then let it cool while I worked in the garden for awhile. I strained it (to get rid of the skin that forms on top of milk as it cools), mixed in the starter, and the left it in the yogurt maker for 6 hours. That was it. Maybe 15 minutes of hands on time and lots of time when it just took care of itself. Not too bad.
6 comments:
Love the yogurt making. One trick I do to speed things up is to cool the milk in the pot in an ice bath. Cools in minutes to 110 and makes getting outside to the garden quicker.
Need to make some more tomorrow..we're down to 1 glass jar. Maybe I'll just come over there :)
I was in the garden while it was cooling. The timing was actually perfect. About the time I needed to come in, the yogurt was cool enough to deal with.
where do u get local milk? sounds interesting.
You can get it at the either Farmer's Markets (on Saturdays), Central Market (I know North has it, not sure about sound), and People's Pharmacy (across from Central Market) has it sometimes. It's called Remember When Dairy. They make both whole and skim milk (the whole has the cream floating on top!).
cream floating on top?? What does that mean?? Do u drink the cream part?? It must be pretty obvious that I was a walmart child. I don't think I can say it enough how cool it is to learn all this great stuff.
It makes richer, thicker milk and the best homemade (not from a box) chocolate pudding imaginable. You shake it before you drink it. The difference is like between whole milk and skim milk (skim milk has the creamy/milk fats removed, whole milk doesn't). In regular whole milk the cream has been broken down so it blends with the rest of the milk. I don't drink milk so I can't really tell if there is a flavor difference, but the proof is in the pudding as they say! :)
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