Homemade Yogurt **Updated** Cheese and Buttermilk

[ozark hen]

I always seem to go about things the hard way. Duh, me, that is the way I should do it. thanks.

 

[cookinmom]

I finally got to eat some of my yogurt! I drizzled a little bit of honey on it, and it was so good! Tomorrow I'm gonna mash up some blueberries and put with the honey, and have it for breakfast. I so love this! Mine came out nice and firm, but I didn't add anything to the original recipe except about 1/2 t of vanilla. This is great! Thanks so much MissPrissy!

 

[BirdBrain]

Quote:
I wash the jars with dish soap and rinse with cool water then fill the jars with an inch or two of water and stick them in the microwave for a couple of minutes. I figure if that doesn't do it, nothing will.

Someone mentioned how difficult it is to lift the coolers to empty out the hot water... I have a cooler with a vent spout in the bottom... It is really easy. I just put it up on the counter and fill it up. When I am ready to empty it, I pull the plug and let it go. Works great.

My MIL is diabetic so I made some this afternoon with vanilla and sweet & low. We'll see how it turns out. I put extra starter in it so it should be thicker this time.

Is this fun or what!!

 

[MissPrissy]

For those who want to make cheese next week - while I am gone out of town you can take the time to get a couple of things together in order to make mozzarella in 30 minutes or less.

You will need rennet in tablet form (I do not know the conversion for a liquid rennet)

and

Citric acid in powder form (check a health food store)

and

Lipase Powder-Italase (it is what gives Italian cheese its flavor)

and

Cheese salt (it is in flake form and melts easily)

You can look for these online or locally. I have to get mine online because it is very hard to find rennet locally here.

 

[ozark hen]

Yay|!|! We are going into Springfield this morning so I pray I can find these ingredients there!! I love fresh Mozzarella!! I love to make my own pizza using only fresh ingredients so this will be awesome. Plus we love sliced mozzarella, tomato and basil leaves. I have tons of basil in my herb garden for Italian cooking. I am so excited now.

 

[cookinmom]

Goody! I can't wait! I'm goin' online to look for the ingredients. I'll let y'all know if I find a good site!

Well, I just found a cool site -
www.cheesesupply.com

 

[ozark hen]

Here is another site that is cheaper;
http://www.mountainhomebrew.com/browseproducts/Vegetable-Rennet-Tablets.html $7.50.
They also have the lipase powder for $8.85.
My DH & I drove all over Springfield, MO today looking in health food stores. Asked them and only one knew what I was talking about. I made six calls to stores before we left home with no luck. If anyone else finds a good site, please share it with us.

 

[cookinmom]

www.cheesemaking.com is even cheaper.

I figured to get the mozzarella kit has everything we need except the Italase powder. It would be $30.90 from this site. It also has a thermometer, muslin & recipes. Supposed to be enough to make 30 lb of cheese.

Buying the 4 ingredients separately would only be $21.35 from this site! I think I'll order mine from here.

 

[ozark hen]

good job, cookinmom! this is going to be fun! Did you see the step by step photos on how to make the mozzarella? That was so neat!!

 

[cookinmom]

I did, and read a bunch of recipes too. This is going to be great!

Re: yogurt, I think I just defeated the purpose of organic milk and good health and all that -- I put Hersheys syrup on my yogurt. It's great! It tastes kind of like chocolate sour cream icing.