Make Yoghurt!

Yoghurt is amazingly easy to make. Like, seriously. If you're going to make it though, make large amounts. That way you will save cash. But really, it's cool to have your own batch growing.

I like tangy yoghurt, I like Greek yoghurt. The other day I was almost out of Greek yoghurt, and I wouldn't be going to the store anytime soon. So I made up a batch of yoghurt, incubated it and when I got home from work I had a bunch of free delicious yoghurt to eat. Blah, just do it.

So this is how yoghurt is made

INGREDIENTS
946ml milk
1 tbsp yoghurt

METHOD

• Heat milk to 180F/82C. The longer you hold it at this temp, the thicker your yoghurt will be.
  
• Let it cool. Wait until it's 110F/43C.
  
• While waiting, boil jars to sterilize. (Or you can just take them out of the dishwasher when it's just finished.)
  
• Preheat storage area. You'll have to keep the yoghurt warm for about 8-12 hours.
  
• Add yoghurt to milk. Stir.
  
• Pour milk into jars.
  
• Cap jars.
  
• Wrap with warm towels, store for 8-12 hours.
  

You can incubate it in a crockpot filled with 110F/43C water, set on warm then turn off and put your jars in, cover with a towel. Try to maintain 110F/43C.

...but what I do is, wrap the jars in towels, put them on top of the dryer in the dryer cupboard, then dry some clothes. Keeps the cupboard warm.

That's it! You need a tbsp of yoghurt to make about a litre of yoghurt. You can use the yoghurt you make to make the next batch of yoghurt too. I've read that after a few turns of doing this, that you should start with a fresh batch, but that doesn't make any sense to me. If you have a healthy, culture going, then by all means use it.

Btw, the iPhone sucks fucking dicks for taking pictures. iPhones are lame, guys. Worst phone ever.

--edit: made more yoghurt today (4th Aug 2011), did it with about 1 minutes work total, and took a bath while I waited for the milk to cool. This time, I shook up the jars to get that yoghurt dispersed in the milk. Checked on it 8 hours later and it was super thick. Success! Shake your jars!

Free Bramble Jam

As honorary members of the Slow Cycle Club, Whitney and I often find useful things in our neighbourhood.

We're currently living in Conway, AR and this is a car-dominant city. The advantage to us is that, on foot and on bicycles, we find so much useful, hidden stuff around here that you simply can't see from a car. Our bicycles are the key to a more useful and intimate second city. This is true of all cities, I'm sure, but it's especially welcome to us here.

On one of our meandering bicycle routes, I found bramble bushes. When I was a kid in Scotland, my family would go bramble picking and then my grandmother would make it into pies or cobblers. Discovering bramble bushes here is awesome.

We only managed to grab one jar full of berries, but it was enough to make about 3/4 of a jar of jam.



I always thought jam was complicated but it really isn't. Mash some berries, add some sugar, boil it until it reaches 104 °C/220 °F (about the same time that you think to yourself, "is this going to explode?") and then pour it into a sterile jar. I added some ginger and some lemon juice to it too. That's it: awesome jam in less than 20 minutes.

It's about 3 parts berries, 2 parts sugar.

The best kind of kraut is sauerkraut

Three weeks ago, I made sauerkraut. This is my first batch.


Sauerkraut is essential for reuben sandwiches. It's a great side for lots of dishes, contains a lot of vitamin C, keeps for a long time and it's easy to make.

Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. You submerge slightly salted shredded cabbage underwater and leave it to ferment. You can taste it a few days to a few weeks later to see how it is. You can include other vegetables such as garlic, onion or carrot.