Making Yogurt Part Two -

This is the follow-on post to where I made Yogurt using a kettle full of hot water and a litre bottle of UHT Milk.  I believe I left the Yogurt overnight in the flask to form.

This is how the Yogurt looked the following morning.

If you look closely enough, you will see that there appears to be a layer of water sitting on the top of the Yogurt.  This is the Whey, and you can use this in all sorts of ways. This can be stirred-in, however, I would make sure that there is not too much whey before you do this as it can thin the Yogurt down somewhat. This particular Whey I am going to add to some homemade plain scones and serve them with some fresh Strawberries and cream.

After I had popped the Yogurt in the fridge to chill, and on checking it, it was too thin - more for a drink like Lassi than for what I wanted to use the Yogurt for on this particular occasion.  This does happen and there are a couple of ways around this.  Primarily the thickening of the Yogurt is down to how much fat there is in the milk you are choosing to use so full fat milk will produce a thicker yogurt, but straining helps enormously as well.  

I tend to have my fingers in lots of pies as it were when it comes to cooking, experimenting, trying things, getting things wrong - which does happen - no one is exempt from this.  It is however a learning curve and not everything is lost because you learn so much by actually having a go at making and producing an item. That information is invaluable and provides you with an aide memoire as it were for what not to do. 

I have a keen interest in making things my own, and before I start projects, I usually get all my ingredients, equipment ready to go.  A while back I bought a Lekue small cheese maker with a drainer in it with the express purpose of making some soft cheese which has not happened yet.  I therefore had easy access to this piece of equipment.  I have therefore popped the Yogurt into this and left it to strain for a couple of hours.  It is now nice and thick as you will see from the photos below. If you leave it for an extended period of time it will form a curd, and you can use this as a plain soft cheese or indeed flavour it up a bit with some garlic and mixed fresh herbs.

However, you can simply strain it through a sieve (or through a muslin/jelly bag) - just do not stir the Yogurt just let it sit and strain and the Whey will be removed naturally just leaving the Yogurt in the sieve/muslin/jelly bag.  Leave for about an hour or so at most to do this. (Guess who learned this the hard way!).

This is the whey left in the bottom of the pot, which will be used in the Scones.  It will keep in the fridge for a few days.

The Yogurt should keep happily in the fridge for seven to ten days.

I hope this helps.  I prefer homemade Yogurt.  It is also very healthy to have first thing in a morning as live natural yogurt puts a lining on the stomach and helps you absorb foods much more easily.  It can also be used in lots of recipes and items.  There is no need to waste this resource at all.  I would think that if you had a freeze dryer (it is on my wish-list, but I think that is a long way off at the moment although I would love to have a play with one) I think you would be able to dry this for long-term storage and reconstitution. There is always something you can do to turn an ingredient into an important and useful resource.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x