Just a collection of random thoughts
Dec 11th, 2007 by Laura
What are we, or they, so afraid of? I stopped at our neighborhood QFC today, not really to grocery shop, but to grab a few things I knew they would have. Or at least thought I knew they would have since I didn’t have time to go to the co-op.. All I was after was organic milk to make yogurt (more on that in a minute), organic butter for the fridge, cheese cloth and some new jar lids.
The milk and butter come from the local commercial dairy, not my first choice, but they’ll do in a pinch. What I didn’t realize was that all of that organic milk is ultra-pasteurized. What the heck? They can’t just pasteurize it normally? I don’t expect raw milk at the standard grocery. But why is the organic milk being subjected to that harsh treatment? In the end I bought my butter, jar lids and cheese cloth and then got the heck out of there.
But what on earth are we afraid of that even organic milk has to be ultra-pasteurized? Or are they doing it just so that it will last longer? Guess my yogurt project will have to wait until I can get to the co-op for real milk.
*****
Can I really make yogurt in a pot and a cooler? I’ve been buying greek yogurt for my breakfast for months now. It’s really been one of the last things that I haven’t been able to find a local source for aside from spices, sugar, coffee and other trade-route goods. There’s a local dairy that makes it, but theirs has a strange gritty texture and the flavor is off. But the yogurt that I love is actually made in Greece. Can you believe that? All the way from freakin’ Greece.
So today I went online and searched for greek yogurt instructions. Seems straigtforward enough. Scald some milk, cool it off, add culture from my favorite yogurt, put in a cooler with warm water overnight, then strain it in cheese cloth until I get the texture I want. But really? I can really do this?
Anyone else out there making greek yogurt? I know a few of you are making regular yogurt, but I really don’t like my yogurt runny. At all.
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Apparently they are no longer afraid of the bogeyman. Penny and Lucy, who should have been named Shirley and Laverne, have decided that they are no longer afraid of the dark. Now this is pretty big in chicken terms. You see, chickens are night blind and are genetically predisposed to be afraid of the dark. And mine always have been, until now.
Penny and Lucy have decided that between the glow of the heat lamp in the roost box and the new 100 watt CFL that Mike put in the light above the backdoor there is enough light to stay out until all hours.
They’ve all been coming out to greet me when I go out at 6:30 or so each night. I usually give them a handful of cracked corn in their cake pan. But then they eventually pile back into the roost box and hang out. The last week or so Penny and Lucy have been hanging out in the run after that until about 10:00 or so.
But tonight? Tonight I got home at 6:00, two hours after it got dark, to find the two of them still grazing out in the yard. Imagine my surprise when I let the dogs out when I got home. Good thing I headed straight out with them to close the coop door and get the eggs. Otherwise those two silly hens would have had a good time playing with Jake. Not. They even squawked and got all pissed when I hurriedly shooed them back in.
I don’t know if you’ve read some of my recent posts about yogurt, but I have been playing with it a lot lately. I’m sorry to say I am not really exerienced with “Greek” yogurt but agree with you in that I really do not like runny yogurt at all either. Actually even when it is gelled nicely and get’s the liquid separation after settling, it still kind of bugs me. This is the recipe that I have been using. It makes such creamy and thick yogurt I almost liken it to a custard. I like to add vanilla to mine, because that’s how I like it, but this will make plain:
4 cups milk (your choice whole-skim)
1/2 cup powdered dry milk
1/2 cup yogurt starter (unflavored plain yogurt with active cultures)
I always boil water and quick sterilize my jars before making the yogurt. I figure I am going to purposefully create an environment for them that is condusive to growing bacteria, so I want to make sure that the bacteria I grow is the good ones. After sterilizing the jars I add the hot water to a inch or so of cool water in a cooler. This will be to incubate the jars in later.
I bring the milk to 185-190 deg. then place the whole pot in a sink full of iced water to cool it down stirring slowly as I do this. I cool the milk down to 130deg and then mix in the powdered milk. (This really makes the difference in the thickness.) After wisking in the P. Milk, I pour it through a wire strainer to remove any undissolved bits and then temper my yogurt start by adding a bit of the warm milk to the start and mixing it in thoroughly and then add the whole start to the milk. Next I pour the milk into small pint size jars and place them in the cooler of the warm water (as close to 130 degrees as I can seems to be the best.) I always do this last thing at night, and in the morning, I take out the yogurt and refrige for the day. That’s it. You should be able to make it like this, but in larger jars, say two quart jars, and then pour out one at a time into a cheese cloth in a wire strainer till it’s the consistancy you want. Hope this helps. Good luck.
P~
I have used the cooler method to make yogurt, and I always had trouble with runniness. I tried all sorts of tricks, but never got the thicker results I wanted. I broke down and bought a yogurt maker and have been very happy with the results. And, truth be told, I ruined more than one batch (and a whole gallon of milk) by forgetting about it in that cooler. With the maker, it beeps if I forget.
I haven’t tried making yogurt yet - it’s on my list for the new year. I’ll see what you do.
As to the raw milk, we’re embroiled in some raw milk battles here in California where they are trying to make raw milk distributors pasteurize their milk to get rid of any and all pathogen - beneficial or no. It looks like the tide is turning though and that we’ll get the bill reversed but I’m with you - WHAT are they afraid of?
I’ve played with making Greek-style yogurt and have had issues with it being too thin. Then I had a couple of batches fail in a row so I gave it up for a while. I should try again now that I have a source for pasteurized and not homogenized milk. http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/yogurt_making/YOGURT2000.htm is the method that I was using. BTW I had no luck getting Fage to work as a starter, but perhaps you’ll have better luck. http://www.greekgodsyogurt.com/ has their HQ in Mountlake Terrace so it’s fairly local maybe if not organic. Perhaps good for a moment of laziness anyway.
I like the plain but the honey is too sweet.
Thanks all. Green bean, I’ve been following along for CA’s fight and hope that you’ll come out on top!
P~ I might give your method a try. I found a pretty good recipe (well at least it looks complete) online that I might try first.
Farm Mom - nice to know that you found the yogurt maker to be helpful. I just found one on Craigslist for $10 and I think I’m going to jump on it. Might make two small batches this weekend and see which was turns out better - maker or cooler.
Saara - the Greek Gods is the one I don’t like. I’m partial to Fage and the Trader Joe’s that comes from WI or somewhere back east. Thanks for the heads-up that the Fage doesn’t work as a starter - maybe it’s tired after traveling so far? Maybe I’ll grab some TJ’s tonight to hold me over until I get mine made this weekend and to use as a starter.
I successfully made yogurt in a cooler several times over the summer, but I too finally bought a yogurt maker. Mine is a Salton brand one, very simple, and I like it because I can use a glass quart size canning jar in it rather than the plastic tub it came with. I also used Fage yogurt a few times, but then found yogurt culture at my local natural food store, and had better success with that. They key to making it really taste and feel like Fage yogurt was to strain it. That worked well, and I mix the whey with oatmeal or make mash with it for the girls, who gobble it up. The key is a starter with l. bulgaris. Have fun!
Hope it works out well for you however you do it. I tend towards the non electrical means when I can in order to learn how to make things with our electricity if I had to. It’s just a thing I do. I forgot to mention though, that the milk I started with came from powdered milk. I don’t know how that effects the final product, but I am pleased so far. I’ll be interested to hear in your “experiment” results between cooler and maker.
P~
Thanks Ali - I looked up the Salton maker and perhaps that’s a better option than the one I found used. And it looks like it’s about the same price if I combine it with another Amazon order that I was going to place. Makes sense to make it in a quart jar rather than 6 5oz jars if I’m going to have to strain it…
P~ I totally hear where you’re coming from. My concern is that I might just forget about it in the cooler and then completely ruin it. I am after all the woman that put bread to rise on the counter after work the other night and forgot about it until 10:00 am the next morning. It still baked up okay but would have been ruined if it had been yogurt…
Laura, not necessarily. The reason for for the incubation period is to grow the benefitial bacterias and thereby thicken the yogurt. Depending on when you make the yogurt the night before, you may well be fine. I have settled on making it on Sunday evenings, because I can make it late in the evening, (8/9 pm) and add it to the hot water bath in the cooler. I know that Monday morning I have to get to work so I am up at a decent hour. I set the cooler on the floor in the kitchen in easy site, and take the yogurt out and refrige it first thing in the morning. The incubation period is about 11-12 hrs at that point, but I know that since I sterilized the jars before I put the inoculated milk in, there are no bad bacteria to grow and harm the product. I have read that a longer incubation period helps to form thicker yogurt and a fuller flavor.
Geez, have I blabbed enough about yogurt in this comment section or what. Just tell me to shut up or I’ll go on and on.
You know, if you like your yogurt thicker, you can always drain it. Some Turkish villagers who are friends of the family (long story) do this just to make it keep longer. Line a strainer with cheesecloth, set the strainer over a pot/bowl/sink, dump in the yogurt, let it sit until enough whey drains out that it’s thick enough for you. If you let it go overnight you end up with ‘yogurt cheese’, similar to cream cheese in texture, which you can flavor any way you want, spread on bread, cook with, rehydrate, etc.
My guess on the ultrapasteurized milk is that, because it’s organic and likely more expensive than the regular milk, it is treated that way to give it a longer shelf life. The more expensive items in the store generall move more slowly, so this gives the store a better chance to sell it before it goes off.