There's a lot of fermentation and culturing going on over at our house. I'm re-learning how to make yogurt.
I'm not a gadget person, so I never saw the need for a yogurt maker; my idea of a food processor is a sharp knife. Before, I always just poured the milk in a pan, heated it up, cooled it down, added the starter and poured it in some jars to sit in a warm place until it was yogurt. According to the
GAPS diet that we are following, the only legal yogurt is cultured for a full 24 hours at 110 degrees. Not having an efficient way to do that, I broke down.
The first batch I made, using just the bottom layer, was with raw milk; I used Brown Cow yogurt for the starter. It turned out quite delicious. The next time I went to make it, we couldn't get the raw milk, so I used Organic Valley Grass-fed milk and the Whole Foods 365 brand Greek yogurt. That batch came out really grainy and crazy sour. I thought perhaps I had accidentally boiled the milk, so I tried again, being extra careful. Still grainy. The second time, I also used the top tier, and those jars didn't firm up as much as the bottom tier. In all the jars the whey was separated from the curd. Was it the milk or the yogurt? I don't know.
This time around, we procured more raw milk. I used Greek Gods brand yogurt for the starter, and I placed a towel on the top of the contraption. After ten hours I also switched layers. This batch is creamy and tasty, with just the right amount of tang.
I've been reading "The Art of Fermentation" by Sandor Katz. I'm learning about how the good bacteria from fermented foods can do wonders for the belly.
Right now we have sauerkraut on the counter, doing its fermentation thing. It's stinky! But it tastes good. We've chosen to let it go awhile longer. I used plain white cabbage, but put a plug of red cabbage on top to hold everything down under the brine. The red is seeping through. I think it's pretty:)
What's happening in your kitchen? Anything yummy that you want to share?
One of our daughters has been eating vegan for a few weeks. We went over to her apartment last night for my belated birthday supper, which was fabulous. She baked the most amazing chocolate cupcakes!
ReplyDeleteI am constantly reminded that planning ahead is the best way to eat healthy food, and keeping the fridge stocked with fresh fruits and veggies helps, too.
If I start the day right with a green smoothy or yogurt and fresh fruit and granola the rest of the day seems to fall into place.
There is a lot of buzz about fermenting these days. Are you feeling better as you make these changes?
We are feeling better and losing weight too:)
ReplyDeleteSo with a yogurt machine, you just pour in milk, and it heats up and cools down and does all that?? That might actually be worth having a unitasker to do it, instead of babysitting a pot for two hours! GAPS is a crazy hard diet...I hope it's working for you :) I looked at it when my daughter was sick, but we ended up not needing it. Our big kitchen thing right now are bentos- I'm just getting going, but the kids just ate apples and cukes cut into cute shapes, and onigiri that didn't have sugar sauce (teriyaki) on it. This could be good!
ReplyDelete@Myrnie, you do still have to heat up the milk, but it only takes a few minutes:)
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