Homemade Yogurt **Updated** Cheese and Buttermilk

[MissPrissy]

The photos and how to are posted in the thread. There is a lot of good information you will miss if you don't spend some time looking through the comments and additions. This thread is full of instructions and photos for more than yogurt. There are cheese making, buttermilk culturing and other cheese making photos.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=79538#p79538

 

[southernsibe]

Ms P has one more convert!!! I did it!!! Yesterday in fact. I wanted to wait until this morning to taste it, then post. It was incredible. I do not like plain yogurt, but this is not like what I have had before. Clearly, this is the real deal. No more store bought for us!! Now for my questions,

Is it dangerous to incubate too long? For instance, all told, my yogurt spent about 18 hours in the cooler. The inside of the towels were still a tad warm, but nothing very distinguishable. I put the jars in the fridge this morning. Will it still be ok if it cools to room temp before getting refrigerated?

approximately how long will this be okay to eat? Not that I expect it to last very long in my house,

but if I were to make a bumper batch, how long are the jars good for?

Ms P, you are absolutely right, we need to support and encourage and inspire each other. You certainly have inspired me, I never would have thought that I would, or Could make yogurt, and now? I am a firm believer. So is my husband who was grinning ear to ear when he saw what I was doing yesterday. He even called me on his way to work to see how it tasted, and to remind me to save him some so he could try the very first batch.

Thank you!!!!!

Rachel

 

[MissPrissy]

The longer you incubate it the more like sour cream it will become. I belive it can go as long as 24 - 36 hours before you really need to stop it and put it in the refrigerator.

I say this because that is the rules for buttermilk culture.

The jars you use should be sterile. If all bacteria has been killed when you heat the mix and all the utensils are clean and sterile then the only thing you are 'growing' in the milk mix is the yogurt cultures.

Have you have seen or heard of any one making creme fraiche? That milk is left on the countertop to go sour.

Which reminds me! We need to make creme fraishe!


Creme Fraishe

2 tablespoons cultured buttermilk (not ultra pasterized)

2 cups heavy cream (I like bakers heavy cream sold at Safeway)

Combine the buttermilk and cream in a pan and heat to 85 degrees.

Pour into a clean glass jar partially covered.

Let stand at room temperature for 8 to 24 hours or until thick.

Stir and refrigerate at least 24 hours before using.

The cream will keep about 2 weeks sealed tightly in the refrigerator.

This is the french form of what we or your grandparents might remember as 'clabbered cream' eaten with fruits - like strawberries and creme. You can sweeten it if you want but it is supposed to be a bit of a sour contrast to sweet fruits.

It is really good to thicken white sauces

Creme Fraiche has lots of uses. Try it.

 

[chcknrs]

Miss Prissy can we get a sticky with just the recipes? I have tried to find the cheese again, should have printed it the first time! It would just be so nice to go right to the recipe. It would take all day to go through all the posts again.
Thanks.

 

[MissPrissy]

You can just pan through the pages - like I did to find the link to the photos

It won't take that long. Cheese would be somewhere after the first 8 or 10 pages.

I wish we could but we can't sticky individual posts in the thread.

If I get time later when my 2 yr old naps I'll try to pull out some of the recipes and put them in one post at the end of this thread that can be easily bookmarked.

 

[chcknrs]

Awesome, thank you!

 

[southernsibe]

Hold it, you mean I can also make sour cream???? I suppose I sound like a total idiot, but, I had no idea. This is all part of my grand plan. I am determined to know where food comes from. I remember I did when I was little, there were no mysteries, my mother made sure of that. As I grew up, we moved into town and became farther and farther removed from the processes. I am going to make sure my children have this foundation. Food is not supposed to be mysterious.

Rachel

 

[MissPrissy]

If you do not sweeten the yogurt and let it go a full 18 - 24 hours it will be very much like sour cream. You can also buy a powdered culture to make specifically sour cream.

 

[lilcountry]

What is the best way to partially cover the jar? To make the Cream?

 

[MissPrissy]

Lay a papertowel/ piece of waxed paper/ clean cloth over the top.