Author Topic: A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own  (Read 507906 times)

Mrs Pingu

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Today's yogurt experiment was un-adulterated yog brought in by bike and then frij'd.
It still went all runny. Though possibly not surprising being as it was given an extra special battering when that prat knocked me off this morning and my pannier went flying.

The SCIENCE will continue.......
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Hmm, we do our own yogurt, so I'll have a play by adding some strawberry jam and leaving overnight. Can't see why honey would have raised the acidity though, or for that matter jam.

Do you knit it from full cream milk? Do you strain it?
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Mrs Pingu

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This was my very 1st attempt which was made using semi skimmed UHT, no milk powder added and no straining either.
I do plan to experiment possibly with milk powder, different incubation times etc but that was my first go.

If you care to share any yogurt knitting tips I'd be pleased to hear :)
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

hellymedic

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AIUI milk proteins are least soluble in a somewhat, but not extremely, acidic medium. A pH of 4.7 rings some sort of mental bell. I suspect thing with a high sugar content attract water to themselves, which may affect runniness.
Fruit jams are mildly to very acidic; honey is not.

Mrs Pingu

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But yesterday I didn't add anything, so it's not to do with adding stuff. Looks like it doesn't like being transported.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

This was my very 1st attempt which was made using semi skimmed UHT, no milk powder added and no straining either.
I do plan to experiment possibly with milk powder, different incubation times etc but that was my first go.

If you care to share any yogurt knitting tips I'd be pleased to hear :)

It's simple really, honest. Always use fresh full cream milk (although if I want to fill the flask I use more fully, I add a bit of semi-skimmed, which is what I usually use for tea/cereal).

Heat milk to 40-45C. We do have a medical thermometer I used to use, but now I find that the temperature is right just as steam starts to drift off the top.  YMMV. Then take off the heat and stir/whisk in 4-6 tablespoonsful of live yogurt (in practice we use some from the previous batch for maybe 4 or 5 batches, than use some "fresh" from the shop - again, avoid low fat versions). The whole is then tipped into a flask - not a galss thermos, but an all plastic wide mouthed one more suited normally to keeping sausages warm - which was it's original duty many moons ago. This is then left overnight (so say 12 hours) on the kitchen widowsill (cos thats a convenient spot for us, not because it's warm!), and is then strained (we like our yogurt thicker than the straight result, which is more like drinking yogurt and great for lassi or smoothies)  The straining involves a square of fine muslin doubled over twice, a colander and a bolwl, and some string. Place colander in bowl, and muslin in colander. Pour yogurt onto muslin and tie corners up with string. hang from convenient kitchen cupboard handle (first removing coffee from cupboard!). Strain until desired consistency is reached - trial an error of course, but I reckon for 1l of milk, strain off 1/3l whey 9or whatever it is that comes out of yogurt!) which I'm hoping to find a use for (buttermilk??).  Then spoon/scrape out of the muslin the finished product. It'll thicken in the fridge, and may separate a bit - I suspect that if you're not straining then that will encourage separation during transit.  So, no milk powder, just heat, milk and some live yogurt. We've had one or two failures - but we make a batch a week and have doen for the last year, so not a huge problem. Don't be tempted to start with low fat yougurt - it doesn't work.

Oh - and leaving a spoonful of jam in the yogurt over night had no impact (as I suspected)- there was just a little normal separation of whey.

I've google a bit but can't see a flask like ours (all plastic) but I'm sure you can find something suitable.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Mrs Pingu

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Thanks :) Do you just wash out your muslin and re-use it again? I've just read about someone using a bouillon strainer to make straining easier but I don't have a dishwasher so I suppose it's just as much hassle hand washing that as it is to wash some muslin :)

I think I might have a bash at the straining but I'll stick to the semi-skimmed for the moment for scientific porpoises (change one variable at a time....). If I like what I get I'll stick with it and if I don't I'll look at whole fat milk(yuk).
But first I have to eat all the supermarket yog I bought before I started this hare brained scheme.....
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Boil the muslin between uses.

Boil the muslin between uses.

In our case rinse it out, then wash in normal white wash at 30C with other suff and Ecover liquid detergent.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Thanks :) Do you just wash out your muslin and re-use it again? I've just read about someone using a bouillon strainer to make straining easier but I don't have a dishwasher so I suppose it's just as much hassle hand washing that as it is to wash some muslin :)

I think I might have a bash at the straining but I'll stick to the semi-skimmed for the moment for scientific porpoises (change one variable at a time....). If I like what I get I'll stick with it and if I don't I'll look at whole fat milk(yuk).
But first I have to eat all the supermarket yog I bought before I started this hare brained scheme.....

The bouillon strainer would, I suspect, not be fine enough to keep the yogury goodness in whilst allowing the whey-type stuff through. We usually leave it for a couple of hours to strain.  As for full fat - I couldn't drink ff milk in tea or have it on cereal, but you (well I, nor my wife, who is a skimmed-milk-all-the-way sort of persongenerally) don't notice the fatty-ness in the yogurt. Having said that I suppose skimmed might work, and semi almost certainly will - but perhaps less coagulation takes place?
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Also.. I should have remebered sooner! One of the reasons hard cheese and yogurt keep well is... they're high in acidity, which acts as a biostat.

And if it seperates, just stir to re-amalgamate.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)


Cudzoziemiec

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Quote
"You pay more for these prepared salads and trust they've been prepared properly," she said.
Do you? I'm not sure that I do. At any rate I always wash it and look at it as I'm doing so, though it claims to be washed already. I've often noticed little bits of non-salady weedy stuff and very occasionally small pieces of plastic, but never anything as interesting as a frog.
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Mrs Pingu

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Re: A random thread for food things... the yogurt knitting diaries
« Reply #63 on: 19 September, 2012, 07:31:38 pm »
Yogurt knitting experiments #2 & 3 are underway.
In flask 2 I have semi skimmed which I will strain after incubation, flask 3 I have semi skimmed plus milk powder, which I will decide whether to strain or not after it's been knitted....
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

I am not very good at poaching eggs. One of those was half uncooked. Oh well, fingers crossed.
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Cudzoziemiec

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Today there was Angel Delight, which I probably haven't eaten since I was 10. I was mildly surprised to discover they still make it.
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Eccentrica Gallumbits

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Today there was Angel Delight, which I probably haven't eaten since I was 10. I was mildly surprised to discover they still make it.
Butterscotch is the best one.

When I was a teenager I had a job in a supermarket, on the tills, and over time I noticed that if a person is buying one packet of Angel Delight, it will almost always be butterscotch. If they're buying two, one will be butterscotch. The other one will probably be strawberry or chocolate. Not many people buy the other flavours.
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Kim

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Today there was Angel Delight, which I probably haven't eaten since I was 10. I was mildly surprised to discover they still make it.

We made a similar discovery and randomly bought several packets of it the week before barakta became lactose intolerant.   :facepalm:

tiermat

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I used to work the graveyard shift at a local petrol station.

Friday and Saturday nights were our busiest nights for selling Angel Delight, and the milk obviously.

Mainly to the student population thereabouts. :)
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mcshroom

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Chocolate Angel Delight (or more often Lidl copy) is a staple on cub camps I run as it saves cooking a pudding over a campfire :)
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CrinklyLion

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Today there was Angel Delight, which I probably haven't eaten since I was 10. I was mildly surprised to discover they still make it.
Butterscotch is the best one.

Yes!

Mrs Pingu

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Today there was Angel Delight, which I probably haven't eaten since I was 10. I was mildly surprised to discover they still make it.

We made a similar discovery and randomly bought several packets of it the week before barakta became lactose intolerant.   :facepalm:

Do you think the two were linked?
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Feanor

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Whilst were on the Butterscotch Angel Delight childhood memories theme,

Does anyone remember Creamola Foam?

Mrs Pingu

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Yes. Bleuch.
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

<prologue>

Most Mondays, I make a big batch of pasta sauce, which sees me through the week to Thursday. The meat part varies (tuna, mince, chopped up frankfurter etc), but the sauce is generally tinned tomato, onion, pepper and courgette.

<fade down>
<fade up>

On Thursday, prompted by seeing the label on a tin in the recycling, I had a sudden urge to make ratatouille. We used to have the tinned stuff when I was a kid, but I hadn't made it for ages. I informed MFWHTBAB of this, and said we'd have it as part of Saturday dinner.  "Ok", he said.  "What IS ratatouille?" 

"Well, it's tomato based, with aubergine, onion, pepper, courgette....."

Yeah, so, I've pretty much been eating ratatouille 3 or 4 times a week for the last couple of years, without noticing... :facepalm:

<fade down>

(actually, I generally chop the veg in my pasta sauce quite small, so a proper chunky ratatouille will make a change. We've got some nice sausages to go with it).

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