RE: 's Yogurt Looks To Be Plain - Is it?

[Guest guest]

perhaps... yogurt and kefir microorganisms consuming the lactose in milk, if the soy milk has a similar enough sugar in it, it might support the cultures. If I were asked to bet, I'd bet against it. try it and let us know.

FWIW since the lactose is the effective nutrient, I routinely use low fat milk to make my kefir.

JR

-----Original Message-----From: apricot85 [mailto:apricot85@...]Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 4:02 PM Subject: Re: [ ] 's Yougurt Looks To Be Plain - Is it?Dumb questions follow: can yogurt be made from soy or milk not from animal? I assume not, but thought I should ask. Presumably, animal milk is what develops the healthy bacteria. jwwright wrote:

What do you think of all those additional cultures in there? Doesn't that make it something diff from "yogurt"? Not that it's bad, but if someone started making mozzarella from acidophilus, I wonder if it was mozzarella.

Wonder what those 140 yo Russians ate (ha)?

Regards.

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[Guest guest]

Kefir, especially when made from low fat milk is more watery than yogurt. Since I make up to a weeks worth at a time and kefir continues to ferment albeit slowly in the refrigerator, I can't rely upon stopping it early to retain some of the lactose for sweetness. In fact the kefir will convert some of the sugars from the berries I mix in too, so I blend in a small amount of sucrose for sweetness (kind of like drinking daily smoothies but I only have to clean the blender once).

Mature Kefir is more like a drinkable slurry than a firm pudding. I suspect this is why Kefir is not as popular as yogurt, and yogurt is often adulterated with firming/stiffening agents. After sitting in the refrigerator for a few days the curd and berries separate from the whey (liquid) forming a semi solid mass in the top inch or so if the container. Some shake it up to remix before drinking or just eat the curd with a spoon and then drinking the whey, which is very tasty.

JR

PS: The few times I experimented with making cheese I saved the whey and used it in place of water in baking recipes. I speculated there might be something useful in it. I trust this group will tell me if I guessed wrong.:-)

-----Original Message-----From: Ruth [mailto:cccucc@...]Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 10:30 PM Subject: Re: [ ] 's Yougurt Looks To Be Plain - Is it?Good evening,I am not familiar with the container you use to let your yogurt 'gel', so I can only talk about my method.I use a 1 3/4 quart Corning caserole that is about 2" or more deep. Before I wrap it up to keep it warm, I stretch a clean towel, 2-3 thicknesses if a smooth tea towel or 1 thickness of turkish toweling over the top of the container. I use a large rubber band to keep it taught as it soaks up a lot of moisture. Then, put on the lid and wrap it in a large bath towel to keep it warm for four hours.At four hours, it should be 'gelled' and the towel should have absorbed any extra moisture. By not letting the cultures work more than the four hours, the flavor should be a pleasant tartness.As you use the yogurt, whey (?) will be released when you cut into it. I haven't found any method of getting rid of this moisture other than running it off into the sink. Are there ways to make good use of this?If your starter does not 'gel' the milk, there is either a gelling agent in the starter or the milk was too hot or cold when the milk and starter were mixed together.Ruth

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