Eating local, healthy foods is apparently helping Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin save money too. At GOOD, Xeni shares her easy yogurt-making instructions: “It takes maybe 20 minutes of actual work and attention, zero equipment beyond stuff I already had in my kitchen, and yields a yummier, healthier, and yes, “probiotic” product that costs five to 10 times less than the store-bought stuff.” (via lifehacker)
Sterilizing the equipment seems like the toughest part of the process. Unfortunately Xeni uses a lot of disposable plastic cups to make her yogurt [correction: Xeni does not use plastic cups! The GOOD peeps decided to use Flickr photos from someone who used plastic cups, which confused me] — but I’m sure you can find more eco-friendly reusable substitutes.
Made too much yogurt — or let the yogurt you bought expire? Reader’s Digest has some great advice for using up old yogurt (via good human via allie’s answers). The post has instructions to:
>> Make moss “paint” — basically a moss-yogurt mixture that’ll beget more moss.
>> Make a face mask
>> Relieve sunburn — if you’re able to time your accidental burning with your accidentally letting yogurt expire
>> Make fingerpaint
>> Cure pet flatulence
Depending on how much yogurt you usually buy, these tips could end up saving you quite a bit of money — and keeping a lot of packaging out of the waste stream! Enjoy the yummy yogurt, the painting fun, and the extra cash –
Earlier: How to eat sustainably on a food stamp budget
Photo by Leamington Malfoof
There are a few truths in this world. Some of them even rely on, dare I say it, stereotypes. If there’s one truth that I can pass on to you, Siel, it is this: never trust a transgendered person’s advice on how to cook. I don’t know why this is true, but it is.
Xeni’s recipe, while it will work, is at least three times too much effort. Here’s how you should actually do it, in somewhat simplified form:
Get a big plastic or glass pitcher. You don’t have to be type A about sterilizing it. YOU ARE MAKING YOGURT. If your starter is good, a few stray bacteria aren’t going to hurt. If your starter is bad, sterilizing with bleach isn’t really going to help. Just make sure it’s reasonably clean.
Heat a half-gallon of whole milk to just over 170 degrees Fahrenheit. Let it cool to about 115. While it’s cooling, take an electric heating pad and stuff it down into a stockpot. Put the pitcher on top of the heating pad. Pour the milk into the pitcher. Stir in a starter culture of yogurt (a tablespoon of any reasonably fresh yogurt works fine, or you can use your last batch if you’ve already made one). Cover, let sit overnight.
In the morning, you’ll have yogurt. Pour off the whey (or drink it if you like) and refrigerate it. It will gel a bit as it cools. Don’t use low fat milk, or you’ll end up with too much whey, and besides, low fat milk is the devil.
I posted this recipe some time ago, here: http://tleaves.com/2005/10/12/your-milks-got-a-little-machine/
Enjoy.
peterb’s last blog post..The Dragon Age of Benny Hill
Comment by peterb — May 16, 2009 @ 7:03 am
Oh, and for refrigerating: if you buy those quart containers of Stonyfield / Brown Cow / Fage plain yogurt at the store, just save them when you’re done with them. Wash ‘em out, and they’re perfect for storing quarts of your own yogurt. You just pour from the pitcher into the yogurt containers to cool. A half-gallon of milk will typically fill two of them.
peterb’s last blog post..The Dragon Age of Benny Hill
Comment by peterb — May 16, 2009 @ 7:05 am
Thanks for the tips, peterb. I first need some startup capital to buy a pitcher, some sort of thermometer, and an electric heating pad…. I didn’t realize there were heating pads for food!
Another Q — If I want greek yogurt, can I just make it by making sure the starter culture I use is greek yogurt?
Comment by Siel — May 16, 2009 @ 8:19 am
It’s not a heating pad for food. It’s just a plain old heating pad, like you’d use for a backache.
Using the greek yogurt will give you a very mild, not-at-all-sour tasting yummy yogurt. The texture will be a little different than you’re used to, but if you want to match the texture also, just strain it through cheesecloth when you’re done (I’m lazy, so I don’t do this).
The shorter answer is “Yes, the yogurt will taste roughly like what the starter culture you use tastes like.”
peterb’s last blog post..The Dragon Age of Benny Hill
Comment by peterb — May 18, 2009 @ 7:02 am
This is so weird–I just made yogurt last night! And I didn’t even use a thermometer, heating pad, or pitcher, so Siel, just go for it!
I just poured the milk and mixed in the starter (i.e. greek yogurt) into a pyrex measuring cup, wrapped it in a dishcloth and put it on my stove. I was cooking dinner at the same time–using the oven and stove, which kept it warm, but I actually feared it got too warm so moved it off a couple times.
The first time I tried it, I let the milk cool down too much (wasn’t watching it attentively), and then didn’t keep it in a warm enough place, so it didn’t congeal at ALL. But the second time, it totally did–I was so excited–but I haven’t tasted it yet. Who knows, it could be wretched, haha. :)
I am eagerly looking forward to seeing if it came out like Greek yogurt. I tried it for the first time yesterday (since it’s what I bought for my starter), and that stuff is GOOD!!!
Carrick’s last blog post..My good deed for the year: saving sea turtles at the LA River
Comment by Carrick — May 18, 2009 @ 10:22 am
Hmmmm…. Perhaps I can blame my lack of yogurt making materials on my lack of backaches —
But I’m loving how these instructions are getting easier and easier! Will the recipes keep simplifying themselves in this manner, until it’s just “leave milk out until it turns into yogurt”?
Carrick — About the “I just poured the milk” part — is this after you heated it? If so, how did you know when it was hot enough?
Comment by Siel — May 18, 2009 @ 2:13 pm