Anyone making full fat yogurt? : Kitchen Talk Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#46 ^

Sat, Jun-21-08, 14:02

LessLiz

Registered Member

Posts: 6,938

Plan: who knows
Stats: 337/204/180 Female 67 inches

BF:100% pure
Progress: 85%

Location: Pacific NW

Hah! That's the one advantage to not eating much in order to lose -- the heat doesn't get to me as much. Of course, I'm not in Florida where the heat is 95 and the humidity 3 or 4 times that.

I don't care what they say, you can have 300 or 400% humidity without rain. I lived in it for 32 years. In the dead of winter it got down to, oh, 50 - 99%.

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#47 ^

Sat, Jun-21-08, 16:12

Baerdric

Registered Member

Posts: 2,229

Plan: Neocarnivore
Stats: 375/345/250 Male 74 inches

BF:
Progress: 24%

Location: Vermont

Well, today's batch turned into yogurt, but still had that unpleasant yellow film on top. It fermented for 24 hours, I strained it, and put it in the fridge, but I don't know if I can eat it.

I need it to come out looking nice and fresh and clean. Maybe my wife will eat it, perhaps with some fruit - she's not so neurotic about her food.

#48 ^

Sat, Jun-21-08, 16:19

Kisal

Never Give Up!

Posts: 14,482

Plan: It's anybody's guess!
Stats: 350/250/160 Female 70 inches

BF:
Progress: 53%

Location: Oregon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baerdric

Just a wild guess since I haven't actually seen it, but that yellow film might be coagulated protein from heating the milk/cream/whatever-you're-using to too high a temperature. You might want to test your thermometer to make sure it's accurate.

#49 ^

Sat, Jun-21-08, 16:23

Baerdric

Registered Member

Posts: 2,229

Plan: Neocarnivore
Stats: 375/345/250 Male 74 inches

BF:
Progress: 24%

Location: Vermont

No, it's kinda there before I even heat the milk. I think it's the milk. I suspect that the cream partially turned to butter in transport or something.

And I was very careful to keep track of temperature this time and I have two thermometers that agree... unless they are both wrong.

I'm going to try next with just regular milk and some cream I found with no additives. I don't like the idea of powdered milk although I'm sure it's fine. Just persnickety.

#50 ^

Sat, Jun-21-08, 18:05

Nancy LC

Experimenter

Posts: 25,865

Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67

BF:
Progress: 72%

Location: San Diego, CA

It takes a huge amount of shaking (or whipping) to make butter. I think it is just the cream rising to the top. It isn't homogenized it is natural for the to come to the top. If it bugs you, skim it off.

When you're messing with fermenting I think being too persnickety might be expensive. You can make lots of very edible mistakes.

#51 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 07:51

capmikee

Senior Member

Posts: 5,160

Plan: Weston A. Price, GFCF
Stats: 165/133/132 Male 5' 5"

BF:?/12.7%/?
Progress: 97%

Location: Philadelphia

If it were my yogurt I would stir the creamy top back in. But if it's too lumpy to mix, or that doesn't appeal to you, you could skim it off... heck, even use it as butter!

Mike

#52 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 08:14

Wifezilla

Senior Member

Posts: 4,367

Plan: I'm a Barry Girl
Stats: 250/208/190 Female 72

BF:
Progress: 70%

Location: Colorado

The instructions I followed said to skim off the film....or don't worry about it. I didn't worry about it.

#53 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 09:17

Baerdric

Registered Member

Posts: 2,229

Plan: Neocarnivore
Stats: 375/345/250 Male 74 inches

BF:
Progress: 24%

Location: Vermont

Yeah, it's wasn't that thin film of cooked milk, it was an 1/8 of an inch of bright yellow greasy butter.

I've about gone sour on the whole thing.

#54 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 09:58

Wifezilla

Senior Member

Posts: 4,367

Plan: I'm a Barry Girl
Stats: 250/208/190 Female 72

BF:
Progress: 70%

Location: Colorado

Bright yellow? Hummmmmmmmmm

#55 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 10:30

Nancy LC

Experimenter

Posts: 25,865

Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67

BF:
Progress: 72%

Location: San Diego, CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baerdric

Yeah, it's wasn't that thin film of cooked milk, it was an 1/8 of an inch of bright yellow greasy butter.

I've about gone sour on the whole thing.

You're just too fussy to please.

Quote:

Then I stopped by the Health Food Coop and got some raw milk with the cream still in it.

The cream rises to the top since it probably isn't homogenized, the heat makes the butter fat separate from the milk proteins, thus the butter on top. Skim it off and use it on something, eat the yogurt.

Then you might want to stick with using homogenized, whole milk the next time around so you don't get so squeamish.

Last edited by Nancy LC : Mon, Jun-23-08 at 10:36.

#56 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 10:32

Nancy LC

Experimenter

Posts: 25,865

Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67

BF:
Progress: 72%

Location: San Diego, CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by capmikee

Ok, here goes.

Since I'm totally casein-free, I didn't want to use a dairy-based yogurt starter. Instead I made a West Indian condiment called pineapple vinegar. It's not actually vinegar at all. I found it in the cookbook "Nourishing Traditions:"

Pineapple Vinegar

skin and core from 1 pineapple
2 quarts filtered water
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes

Place all ingredients in a bowl, cover and leave at room temperature about 36 hours. Skim and remove pineapple pieces. Strain vinegar into clean jars and cover tightly.
This will keep in a cool place for several months.

To make coconut yogurt, I put 2 tablespoons of that in a pint jar with a can of full-fat coconut milk. Stir well, cover tightly and leave at room temperature 12 hours. When the jar is finished, I don't clean it out, I just add more coconut milk and repeat. I've been doing this every day for a couple weeks and it's still coming out great.

Wow, interesting! Does the coconut milk actually ferment?

#57 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 11:11

capmikee

Senior Member

Posts: 5,160

Plan: Weston A. Price, GFCF
Stats: 165/133/132 Male 5' 5"

BF:?/12.7%/?
Progress: 97%

Location: Philadelphia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wifezilla

Bright yellow? Hummmmmmmmmm

Yellower butter has more vitamins. There's a scene in Laura Ingalls Wilder - I think it's in Little House in the Big Woods - where Ma adds carrots to winter butter to make it yellow. The interesting thing is that adding carrots would replace missing Vitamin A with carotenes.

#58 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 11:20

capmikee

Senior Member

Posts: 5,160

Plan: Weston A. Price, GFCF
Stats: 165/133/132 Male 5' 5"

BF:?/12.7%/?
Progress: 97%

Location: Philadelphia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nancy LC

Wow, interesting! Does the coconut milk actually ferment?

Does it ever! I ferment a lot of things, and this is one that works more thoroughly and more reliably than just about anything. I've been doing it for a few weeks and I haven't once had a batch go bad, and no problems with mold, even though I'm very sloppy about double-dipping and keep reusing the jars without cleaning them.

It goes from slighly tart after a few hours, to super-sour, almost fizzing after a day. Sometimes if it's too sour to enjoy (it can hurt my tongue at its sourest), I mix it with some plain coconut milk and it becomes sweet again.

I'm sorry you're not happy with your yogurt, Baerdric. Maybe your body's trying to tell you something about dairy. Sometimes it's hard to tell if squeamishness is just a reaction to novelty or if there's a serious reason why you shouldn't have something.

#59 ^

Mon, Jun-23-08, 14:55

Nancy LC

Experimenter

Posts: 25,865

Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67

BF:
Progress: 72%

Location: San Diego, CA

Does it get as thick as yogurt? Or does it stay like a smoothie or kefir?

I wonder if whole pineapples are in season.

#60 ^

Tue, Jun-24-08, 10:53

capmikee

Senior Member

Posts: 5,160

Plan: Weston A. Price, GFCF
Stats: 165/133/132 Male 5' 5"

BF:?/12.7%/?
Progress: 97%

Location: Philadelphia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nancy LC

Does it get as thick as yogurt? Or does it stay like a smoothie or kefir?

Mine gets thicker than yogurt. You can spread it when it comes out of the fridge. I use Native Forest Classic Coconut milk which is over 80% fat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nancy LC

I wonder if whole pineapples are in season.

Somewhere they are. Not here!

I mostly eat local food, but with my choices already very limited, I go for a few imports: Salt and spices, casein-free ghee, coconut products, canned fish, olive products, fish oil, avocadoes, and onions [edit]and lemons[/edit]. We had salad all last winter but I've been thinking about sticking to sauerkraut this year. I've bought one pineapple this year and I thought it was an excellent tradeoff between carbon emissions and kitchen riches.

Last edited by capmikee : Tue, Jun-24-08 at 15:26.