Yoghurt making

[Dandelion]

I've been making yoghurt with a bought one and then continuing, taking a Tablespoon of that into the next lot of milk. It's working fine, but it has come to my attention that I ought to ask a few questions about what's what. It's ending up much like cheese/curd - solid/spongy, that then breaks up into pieces and ?whey? I'm used to yoghurt being smooth, thick liquid. So, how come the difference?

[sproutgirl]

Hi Dandelion!

Here's what I understand about what all these things are.

The liquid that separates is the whey. You can sop it up with paper towels, if you want. However, whey is nutritious, high in vitamin B12 and minerals. Stir it back into the yogurt or drain it off for use in bread making or in other recipes calling for water.

If you want to make whey and homemade cream cheese, you can put some homemade yogurt (or even storebought plain yogurt) into a strainer lined with a clean kitchen towel. The whey will drip into the bowl beneath. Then after a few hours tie up the kitchen towel on a wooden spoon hanging over the bowl and let the whey continue dripping. When it stops dripping, the cheese is ready (the cheese is the part still in the towel). Refrigerate them both separately, and use as needed. The cream cheese is really good with some honey blended in, or used plain on zucchini bread or banana bread.

If you want more info. about the whey/cream cheese thing, let me know and I can copy down the info. from Nourishing Traditions for you. I have made the whey/cream cheese, and it is very, very easy, and good! I used the whey to ferment veggies and a gingerale drink. I used the cream cheese like I would store-bought.

As far as the other part about the yogurt, this site has lots of good info.:
www.dvo.com/newsletter/monthly/2003/june/0603tabletalk.html

HTH!

[Dandelion]

Thanks for that. It seems that I've been leaving it in incubating for too long.