Guess what?
“Months that start on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th in them?” you guess.
Yeah, well that’s not it. What I was going to say is that this letter is a continuation of last weeks letter. I have stories stacking up again and with everything on my plate I can’t spend as much time writing as I would like to. Ultimately what happens is the stories get older and older and new stories come up and pretty soon the old ones drop off my radar and you never get to hear them. I would say for every three of four stories I tell you, there is at least one story that didn’t get written.
A couple of years ago my mother wanted to make her own yogurt and bought a yogurt maker. She made yogurt in it and hated it. So she gifted me with the yogurt maker. “Thank you, Momma!” I told her. “I’d love to make my own yogurt,” but I never got around to making it and it has just sat here at our mountain home every since then.
Then three weeks ago Mike saw something on TV that said that yogurt has so much sugar in it that it offsets the health benefits.
Mike, who had been eating Activia twice a day for several months, told me, “I’m not eating yogurt anymore.”
“Well then let’s make our own. That’s the best way to know what you’re eating.” I went out into my shop and got the yogurt maker and brought it in. I washed everything up and read the instruction book. Then I got on my computer and Googled it. One web site said to sterilize your jars by pouring boiling water in them for a few minutes to kill unwanted bacteria that could interfere with your yogurt making. Although my book didn’t say to do that, it sounded reasonable to me and I decided I would do that too.
The next trip to the grocery we bought the two ingredients needed to make homemade yogurt. Milk and plain unflavored yogurt. I mixed the milk with the unflavored yogurt - being careful not to whip it, as per the instruction book, sterilized my jars, per the website, poured the mixture into the individual jars, put them in the yolife yogurt maker and my first batch of yogurt was cooking. Now I only had to wait for nine to twelve hours.
Nine and one half hours later I checked my yogurt and it was thick and creamy. Perfect. I tasted it and it was tangy! I capped the jars and put them in the fridge for a few hours.
Mike tasted it and hated it.
Neighbor Stephanie tasted it. “I think I would like some sugar in mine,” she said.
Turns out that yogurt without any sugar in it isn’t everyone’s cup of sunshine.
“You can add fruit,” you say.
Yes you can but I didn’t have anything on hand except frozen blueberries. In an effort to get Mike to eat homemade yogurt, I added blueberries to one of the yogurts. It wasn’t very sweet and it didn’t have very much blueberry flavor. Mike tasted it but wouldn’t eat it. I ate it and I ate the rest of the first batch of yogurt by myself without anything in it at all. It definitely takes getting used to but I could do it. I got used to diet soda, which I haven’t had any soda in over three years. I got used to instant coffee and now I love it. I got used to air popped popcorn, I still like it better with butter and salt but I eat it plain. I got used to rye bread, which I used to hate, and Italian sausage. But with some things it’s just not meant to be. I can’t get used to Miracle Whip. I tried and I tried! I tried for years! Then it got to the point where I would rather eat whatever I was eating without anything on it at all than to eat Miracle Whip, the only exception being potato salad. I can eat potato salad with Miracle Whip. Last year I decided it was silly. I like mayo in my tuna! And now we are a two mayonnaise family, which I understand, is quite a common phenomenon.
But, back to yogurt. With the health benefits of yogurt I wanted Mike to eat my homemade yogurt. I decided that the next time I make it, I’ll add pineapple for sweetener. I know you can buy pineapple in it’s own juice -- no added sugar. That’s healthy for you, right?
I saved my very last yogurt to use as starter for my next batch, which the instruction book said I could do for five generations. Then it looses it’s potency.
“Momma, is that right?” I asked her on the phone one day.
“Yes,” she replied with no hesitation at all. “I only used mine for three generations, then I would buy new.”
“But if the cultures are live and active and growing, why don’t they just keep multiplying?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But it’s the same way with sourdough starters too.”
So I bought the pineapple and I made my second batch of yogurt. I did it the same way as the first batch only this time I used my own yogurt as starter. Nine and a half hours later my yogurt was thin and runny, not thick and creamy like the first time. I left it a couple of hours longer but it didn’t help. I was disappointed. I had used a different brand of milk, could that have caused it? I Goggled it and found out it doesn’t matter what kind of milk you use. You can use anything from skim to powdered to goat, soy and even raw milk. The only kind of milk it said to not use is ultra pasteurized. The kind of milk you use isn’t the issue. What the issue seems to be is the starter. I had waited a week to make a new batch, had I waited too long?
I went back to the web. The fresher your starter, the better, it says. Use your own starter in five to seven days, it said. Maybe I had waited too long.
I wanted to try again. I bought more milk and another plain yogurt. I followed the directions, sterilized my jars, stir in the starter without whipping it, put the yogurt into the yogurt cooker and waited nine hours.
And once again...failure.
What was going on!
I went back to the web again and I found a website called saladinajar.com and I watched her video on making homemade Greek yogurt. On her website she says she always saves some of her yogurt for the next batch, she hasn’t bought yogurt in over a year! Boy, was I surprised to read that! She has a page called Answers To Your Questions On Making Homemade Yogurt and the reasons why your yogurt fails is discussed on this page. But there are only a few reasons why your yogurt fails. Not being kept at the proper temperature or bad starter. It really is as simple as that.
Back to the drawing board I go for another attempt.
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy yogurt?” Mike asked.
It would be but I’m adamant that I want to make my own, healthy yogurt. I buy milk and the freshest yogurt I can find. I boil water and fill my jars to sterilize. I measure and pour the milk and mix in the yogurt while the jars are sterilizing. When I think enough time has passed I pour the water out of the jars as carefully as I can. That water is really hot! Then I reach for the yogurt mixture, pull a jar towards me and it hits me!
“Peg, you dummy, those jars are too hot! You killed your yogurt!”
I stopped and waited until my jars had cooled, filled them and put them in the yogurt maker. Nine and a half hours later I had yogurt!
Boy! It took me long enough to figure that one out, didn’t it?
During the yogurt making process the whey separates. You can stir it back in for regular yogurt or you can strain it off and make Greek yogurt. I made a batch of Greek yogurt, adding a little honey to it and Mike says he will eat it that way. I didn’t really know what to do with my whey, so I threw it away. But I decided to research it and find ways to use it rather than throw it away the next time. Did you know there are many ways to use the healthy whey? You can substitute it for other liquids in baking, including making bread. You can freeze it. You can use it in smoothies. You can water your plants with it. You can even make ricotta cheese with it if you have enough whey.
I decided to try it in homemade bread. I love the No Knead Bread recipe I got from my daughter Kat which is so easy and the only way I’ll ever make bread again. The recipe calls for three cups of water, there is no milk in the recipe. I had exactly three cups of whey from my last batch of homemade Greek yogurt so I mixed it up in a batch of bread and just used it all.
“How did it come out?” you wonder.
Even though it’s good, it did change the flavor of the bread and I probably won’t make it that way again.
I’m toying with the idea of making yogurt cheese next.
“What is yogurt cheese?” you ask.
It’s yogurt with the whey strained out. The method is the same as if you were making Greek yogurt but you strain it longer. Then you use your yogurt cheese much the same way as you would use a cream cheese.
“What will you do with the whey?” you ask.
Maybe I’ll try a little ricotta.
What an adventure making yogurt has been. And speaking of adventures, next time I am going to tell you about Plow Day.
Until then, be well and may God watch over and protect you.
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