Dripping Yogurt

[Guest guest]

The following directions are for dripping cow's milk yogurt. I drip ALL my

yogurt, and since I use a LOT of yogurt, only the best mass production

methods work!

I find that I get the best results from dripping yogurt which has been

chilled at least eight hours (for a two liter / half gallon batch) in the

refrigerator.

I bought a dozen inexpensive all cotton handkerchiefs at an outlet store

for dripping yogurt. I wet one, and line a colander with it (wetting it

makes it stick to the sides of the colander so it doesn't go FLOP just as

the yogurt goes PLOP) and then scrape the yogurt into it. I cover it and

set it over a bowl. And then fold the handkerchief corners up over the top

of the bowl. (If you don't, they will wick the liquid up and over the side

of the bowl, says the woman who came back to find a counter covered with

yogurt drippings....)

When dripping a half-gallon of half and half yogurt, I only get about 2

cups of liquid out of the half gallon, whereas with regular whole milk, I

get 4 cups liquid to throw away.

It takes anywhere from 4-6 hours to get the yogurt dripped the way I like

it.

Dripped or drained yogurt is also called yogurt cheese.

The advantage to the handkerchief is that after a couple hours, I can

remove the cover, gather up the corners of the handkerchief, and hang the

package from a string on my cupboard door to finish draining. When it is

drained, I can open the handkerchief, and turn the dripped yogurt into a

storage container, and use a spatula to scrape the remaining yogurt off the

handkerchief. Then I can easily wash the handkerchief, and, if desired,

rinse it in bleach water to sterilize it. (Personally, I think American /

Canadian reliance on antibacterials is absurd: hot water and soap get rid

of as many bad buggies as most of the commercial antibiotic products.)

I keep meaning the sew some bias tape along the edges of the handkerchiefs

to create self-strung yogurt drippers, but somehow, I'm always trying a new

recipe, instead of doing that!

-- Marilyn (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA)