Yogurt

I made yogurt Wednesday night. Haven't made it in years and I'm quite proud of myself to see that yogurt, after all these centuries, hasn't forgotten how to culture milk just because I quit using it to do so.

It's easy. I got a little carton of vanilla yogurt from the grocery store (NOT local, because apparently there is no local yogurt available for sale here, but I think I'll be able to score some yogurt from the grocery store at the first sign of zombies rising) and a gallon of milk (Smith's Dairy is nearby. So is Hartzler's, which is non-homogenized and better for you to boot, but costs twice as much).

Then I poured half the milk into a saucepan, stirred it occasionally while it heated nearly to boiling, and then turned off the burner and let it cool to about 120 degrees (okay, too hot to keep my hand in but not hot enough to burn me. I don't have a thermometer handy). Then I dumped the yogurt into the milk (I should have stirred up the yogurt first) and stirred it in. You can make yogurt with just a tablespoon of starter, but sometimes it comes out a little thin. And I didn't need the rest of the vanilla yogurt anyway, so I just dumped it all in.

Then I put the lid on the pan, wrapped the whole thing in a big towel, and left it on top of my fridge (warm location) for the night. Next morning - yogurt! I took a cup's worth out of the pot and put that in my fridge to make the next batch with.

To make it even better, though, I strained it. This entailed spreading a clean bandana out over a bowl, pouring the yogurt into the bandana, and tying the corners of the bandana together around the yogurt and hanging that from my cupboard knob over the bowl for about an hour. I wish I had something better to do with the yogurt-whey than pour it down the drain, but have no ideas yet. Once I scraped the yogurt from the bandana into a carton, it was finished...and amazing.

Next up, I'm going to brave the zombies and get some buttermilk. Apparently that's what you need to make paneer, and I think paneer will be an important food to have during the apocalypse, at least until we can procure a calf's stomach for the rennet. If I remember correctly I can keep buttermilk going off its culture just like yogurt.