Yogurt | Cultures for Health Blog

Beyond Yogurt: Making Probiotic Mayonnaise

February 22, 2012 in Yogurt

In my last post, I talked about making yogurt. We have 11 different kinds of yogurt here at Cultures for Health. Any one of them will work for these recipes. Did you know that you can do more with yogurt than just eat it? It’s true! I’m going to tell you how to make two things out of yogurt, using items you probably have in your kitchen right now. How cool is that?!

Would you like to make your own homemade, probiotic mayo? How about some delicious probiotic yogurt cheese? Did you know that it’s super simple? It is! Really!!

In order to make mayo, you first need to make yogurt cheese. It doesn’t get much easier than this. Take a half pint of yogurt (or more if you want more cheese), pour it into a tea towel, cheese cloth or something similar, tie it to a wooden spoon and hang it in a large glass measuring cup or mason jar to drip. Let it sit and drip (about 8 hours or longer for a dryer cheese). The whey will separate from the yogurt.

What you have left from this process is whey, that we will use in a moment, and yogurt cheese. You can flavor the cheese in a variety of ways. Simply add sea salt for a tasty cream cheese or add any type of herbs and spices for a delicious spreadable cheese. Eat it on crackers or fill a stalk of celery with it. Delish!!

Now on to the mayo. This is a bit more complicated, but don’t worry. It’s not that difficult. You have to remember one thing, and I can’t stress this enough, when it’s time to add the oil you must, must, must stream it in verrrrrrryyyyy sloooooowwwwwllllly.

Okay, here we go!

Ingredients

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp organic Dijon mustard
1 1/2 TBL lemon juice
1 TBL liquid whey
1 cup expeller pressed sunflower oil, light olive oil, macadamia nut oil or other light tasting oil
Large pinch of sea salt

Put all ingredients EXCEPT OIL into a blender or small food processor. I hear stick blenders work well, too. Turn on to combine ingredients, then ever so slowly (even slower than that) stream (drip) in oil and blend until thick. Leave this out on the counter to culture for 6-8 hours.

Now you can leave it plain or get creative by folding in herbs and spices. Try 1/3 tsp. cayenne pepper or dill or basil or cilantro or garlic or onion or hot sauce or curry powder or a combination…use your imagination.

There are times your mayo just doesn’t turn out thick. There are a variety of reasons and even when you’ve made perfect mayo 101 times, you can still have a batch that just doesn’t thicken. Have no fear what you’ve made is still completely usable! Add herbs and spices and maybe a little vinegar of choice for a delicious dressing.

Go ahead and give it a try! I know you’re gonna love it!!

Bonni

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Do You Like Yogurt?

February 15, 2012 in Yogurt

I do. In fact, I like it quite a lot . . . sometimes. You see, I’m the kind of person who goes yogurt crazy for a week and then I’m done for a few weeks or a month, sometimes longer. I’m probably in the minority. You love yogurt all the time, right? Well, even so, keep reading. You might like what I have to share.

I prefer not to buy yogurt in the grocery store because I want to know where my ingredients come from. For the longest time I ignored my yogurt cravings, not wanting to maintain a mother culture.

When I started working for CFH a few months ago, I decided to try one of our direct-set yogurt cultures because it sounded like it would meet my needs. I could have yogurt occasionally and there is no mother culture to maintain! How cool is that?!

I read our informational page and watched the awesome video in preparation for yogurt making. Yes, I’ve made yogurt before, but if you’ve read my previous posts you know that I get nervous whenever I try anything different or new.

Everything was straightforward and simple! Heat the milk, cool the milk, mix in the culture. Then I poured it into four half-pint mason jars and put it into my Excalibur dehydrator at about 105º F, set my kitchen time and waited. I checked it at 6 hours and decided to go for the full seven. I removed it from the dehydrator when the time was up, put it in the fridge and waited.

That evening I decided to have a snack. Stirring the yogurt, I was impressed with the creaminess of it. This looked good. Then I tasted and all I can say is YUM. It was delicious. I had chosen our Mild Flavor Yogurt Culture and this was truly mild. It was so rich, creamy and mild I’ve been eating it plain. I’ve still got two half-pints left, but they’ll be gone soon. I think I’ll try the Traditional Flavor Yogurt Starter next time.

If any of you are like me, or if you’re a little nervous about making yogurt for the first time, why not give a direct-set culture a try!

Bonni

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Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes

February 8, 2012 in Buttermilk, Cheese Making, Yogurt

People tell me that I’m a good cook. My husband talks about how flavorful my foods are, but things weren’t always that way. I used to be a pretty basic cook. I found recipes with five ingredients or less and made those, following the recipe to the letter.

A couple years ago a shift happened. It came from watching cooking shows, reading recipes (mostly on the internet), watching other people when I was at their home, and experimenting with different ingredients and spices. Experimenting was a huge leap for me. That was probably the thing that changed my cooking most.

I had mixed up oil and vinegar for a salad, but I had never made a dressing and certainly not on a daily basis. I thought it was too much work to mix it up every time we had a salad, so I didn’t bother. One day, while at a friends with my daughter for a playdate, she was preparing a salad. She pulled out a salad bowl and started mixing up a homemade salad dressing. I watched her like a hawk, memorizing everything she did.

I took that process home in my head and decided to alter it and make it my own. Here is my process.

A few tablespoons (eyeball it) of extra virgin olive oil
A tablespoon or two of vinegar – I change this up all the time, using red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar or any vinegar I might have on hand and feel inspired to use.
Salt & pepper to taste
Herbs & spices: I choose herbs/spices based on what I’m making for dinner, selecting ones that either match or compliment the herbs/spices I’m using in the main dish. Try parsley, basil, oregano, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, or anything that you think will work well. Get creative!

Then I add the secret ingredient . . . homemade, cultured sour cream. YUM. You can find the culture here. I drop in a dollop, probably about a teaspoon or two. This allows the oil and vinegar to combine and adds a wonderful flavor.

My husband raves about my dressing and thinks it’s about the best ever. He makes a pretty mean blue cheese dressing, too. And I think it’s about the best blue cheese dressing ever. For this, you can use our Blue Cheese Starter Kit to make your own blue cheese. You will also need homemade cultured sour cream. Here is his process.

1/2 pint cultured sour cream
1/2 pint (homemade) mayo
Garlic powder and onion powder to taste
Salt to taste
1-2 cups blue cheese, depending on your taste – mix in half, then fold in the other half
Let sit in fridge overnight to allow flavor to develop
Add water to thin if necessary

Enjoy!

Bonni

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SCOBYs, SCOBYs Everywhere!

February 7, 2012 in Buttermilk, Kefir, Kombucha, Sourdough, Yogurt

I like Kombucha. No. I love Kombucha!! A lot! All summer long I was culturing my Kombucha in the cupboard above the refrigerator. Then winter arrived. With the colder weather and my insistence that we keep the thermostat down, our house is cold. Brrrr… The cupboard above the fridge will no longer do. I found the perfect solution. It turns out that in my oven with the light on just happens to be the perfect temperature for culturing. How cool is that? (Be sure to check your temperature before attempting this.) It’s a balmy 73º in there and as winter progresses I just might be tempted to crawl in there for a little vacation.

Julie

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Yolife Yogurt Maker

February 2, 2012 in Yogurt

We have a brand new product available in the warehouse and I’m particularly excited about this one. For awhile now we have carried another line of yogurt makers which offered either a set of 6 oz. glass jars or a 2 qt. plastic container for making yogurt. We have regularly received feedback from customers that neither of these options is really a good fit for everyone. While having your yogurt in handy 6 oz. glass jars works for some people, the reality is that many families need to make yogurt in much larger quantities and prefer a large single glass container.

So I went on the hunt for a yogurt maker that was more versatile and allowed a glass container, large batch option. I’m excited that we can now offer the Yolife Yogurt Maker. The Yolife model comes with seven 6 oz. glass jars and a cover for the set of jars. But here’s what gets me excited: This yogurt maker also comes with a second taller cover (7″ high) that can accommodate several quart size canning jars or even a single 64 oz. glass jar (we have these available too as an optional add-on). Now you can make yogurt in all those canning jars you have around your kitchen and get away from plastic touching your food!

The price is right too, just $39.95 for a yogurt maker than can accommodate a variety of yogurt making needs. It works well with traditional cow or goat milk yogurt as well as dairy free varieties of yogurt.

Intrigued? Click here to check it out and let me know what you think. We will be expanding our line to include more types of yogurt makers shortly (including one that doesn’t require electricity!) and we always love feedback.