Come the Revolution

Archive for June, 2008

I’d been meaning to try making yogurt since I read about it in The Tightwad Gazette, but Maria’s post got me jump-started a couple of weeks ago.

It’s super-simple: take whatever kind of milk you like, heat it to about 185 degrees, cool it back down to 120, add some starter-yogurt (store bought or from your last batch), and keep it warm for 8-12 hours. You can go visit the Small Red House for all the means and methods (and I’m adding a link to the “food” page, too).

The yogurt comes out tangy and tasty and is perfect with a little bit of strawberry rhubarb preserves stirred in. I seem to be getting about a quart and a half out of a half gallon of milk, after I’ve strained off some of the whey. This week I let that extra half-quart sit in the cheesecloth-lined strainer for an extra few hours to produce thick, creamy, tangy yogurt cheese, which is lovely spread on bread and topped with sliced fresh strawberries. This way, a half gallon of milk replaces not just my weekly tub of yogurt (and, conveniently, the tub itself), but also the $7 tub of goat cheese. Plus, I get the satisfaction of having done it myself — and seriously, you can’t put dollar value on that.