Homemade Yogurt

Once you really think about it yogurt is kind of disgusting. Especially after working in a lab. Essentially you take bacteria from an already started yogurt culture (either store bought or from a previous homemade batch) and give it some food (milk) and let them go crazy, feed, and multiple. The result is delicious yogurt! But all I can think about is how I basically just made a homemade culture of bacteria is a makeshift incubator. Mmm.

To achieve the texture and taste of yogurt bacteria have to ferment lactose (a sugar found in milk) in the milk into a byproduct called lactic acid in order to produce energy for themselves. This byproduct of their metabolism in turn can interact with other milk proteins and actually curdle them (being that lactic acid is, well, an acid) giving yogurt it's delicious texture and taste.

Making homemade yogurt is easy and once you have a batch going you can continually renew it each week.

32 oz. fresh milk (not non-fat - I used 2%)
1/4-1/2 (one small container) of store bought or homemade yogurt
*Note: make sure if you're using store bought that it says "contains live cultures"

Heat the milk to 170 F (to kill anything nasty in it). Make sure it does not pass this point so use a thermometer and monitor it carefully. Once it reaches this temperature remove it from heat and cool it down to ~105-115 F. Mix in your yogurt starter. You must be sure to let the milk cool to this point otherwise you'll kill the bacteria you're carefully adding in. From here you can do a couple of things. One, you could fill a small ice chest with water no hotter than 115 F and place the yogurt in a separate container within the ice chest. Secondly, you could try the oven method of heating it to 175 F, turning it off, and placing the yogurt in a container inside the over. Either way, you want to let the yogurt sit for 4-8 hours depending on the consistency and sourness you like your yogurt at. The long you let it sit the more lactic acid will build up and the sourer your yogurt will be.

This is plain yogurt so you could mix in fresh fruit, sugar, agave nectar, honey, or my favorite: rhubarb strawberry compote.

Rhubarb strawberry compote

Tart and sweet this compote won't last long in your fridge. It can basically be put on anything from a scone to ice cream to just plain out of the jar! It's especially good with homemade yogurt.

5 stalks or 1 pound of rhubarb cute into 1/2" thick pieces
10-15 strawberries cored and roughly chopped
1/4-1/2 cup of sugar (depending on how tart/sweet you like it)
Optional: splash of apple juice, orange juice, and orange zest

Combine all ingredients into a sauce pan over medium heat. Once at a boil lower heat and let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft and beginning to break down. Store in the fridge. I wouldn't keep this over a week unlike jam since it has a relatively low sugar content, but it won't matter because it is too delicious to resist!

Ginger Ale

I recently talked about making ginger beer at home, which led to some confusion. A beer (including ginger beer) is going to be made using yeast to ferment the sugars you give it to produce alcohol (very little) and carbonation. The ginger beer is flavored by minced or juiced ginger that is mixed in at the beginning of the fermentation process. A ginger ale on the other hand is not going to use fermentation to create the carbonation (thus is completely non-alcoholic), but is carbonated by adding soda water or injecting CO2 into the liquid. The ale is typically flavored with a ginger simple syrup, which is mixed with the carbonated water (however you choose to carbonate it).

For this recipe I decided to mix my ginger simply syrup with soda water since I don't have a nifty carbonator. You can vary the amount of ginger depending on your tastes and how sweet you want your ginger ale to be (i.e. if you want a spicy end product and you use a relatively little amount of ginger in the simple syrup your drink will be quite sweet).

1 3-8" stalk of fresh ginger cut into 1/4" thick rounds (more = spicier and more ginger flavor)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Soda water

Combine ginger, sugar, and water in a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Let the simple syrup simmer for 5-10 minutes. You can then combine the ginger simply syrup with the soda water to taste.

Feel free to experiment with flavors and add in other herbs to your ginger simple syrup. Lavender? Rosemary?

Challenge: Reusing fresh herbs

I can't count how many times I've bought a fresh bunch of parsley or cilantro, used a tablespoon, and had to throw out the rest because I couldn't find another use for it. Over the July 4th weekend we had an excess of mint leaves sitting around in a cup of water after using them for a dinner earlier that week. Having 8 culinary minded people at the house allowed for the mint to be quickly used up in a new dishes and cocktails that it was never intended for. Now, I may only cook for myself, but I'd like to think I can use up a bunch of mint in a week for something that it wasn't intended for. Tonight I bought fresh basil and Italian parsley for my dinner and used ~2 tablespoons each leaving me basically what I had started with. That is why I am issuing this challenge to myself: use up at least one of the bunches before it goes bad (and not just for sprinkling on the dinner it was intended for!).

I feel like I waste so much good eats with every dinner that has fresh herbs that I throw out. Hopefully this will teach me some inventiveness (and save some money!).

Ginger Beer

I don't think you can find a more refreshing and soothing drink than ginger beer. Ginger beer is, in fact, different from ginger ale. The beer has alcohol (thus the name...obviously) from yeast fermentation while ginger ale is non-alcoholic. The ale is typically made with a ginger simple syrup that is mixed with soda water, which creates a similar effect and is much quicker. The beer on the other hand relies on yeast to ferment the sugars to create the carbonation while spitting out a wee bit of alcohol (seriously...it's only ~0.5% alcohol by volume). I think ginger beer is often tastier and more ginger-ey, which is why I decided to make it over the ale.

Jessica actually sent me this recipe.

2-4 ounces ginger juice (depends on how spicy you want it).
Alternatively you could use a ~3-4 inch piece of ginger and finely mince it if you don't have access to a juicer
4 ounces fresh lemon juice
6 ounces granulated sugar
.8g or 1/4 teaspoon of baker's yeast (I used active dry)

Makes 2 liters

It is very important that you use plastic and not glass. The yeast are fermenting the sugars and therefore putting of carbon dioxide gas and ethanol...this has the possibility of creating a very unpleasant glass bomb. The plastic can still break (less likely), but it will be a much easier and safer clean up.

Combine all ingredients into either a 2L plastic bottle or two 1L plastic bottles. Fill the bottles the rest of the way up with water leaving ~1" headroom. Cap and shake to combine everything. Stash the bottle(s) in a warm spot that is ~70F for 24-48 hours. You'll know the beer is ready when you push on the plastic and it does not give anymore (another reason to use plastic bottles!). Place the bottles in the fridge for at least 4 hours before opening allowing for the fermentation to be retarded and the carbon dioxide to dissolve into the water. When you uncap the bottle be careful...it could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes to unscrew it without the beer exploding everywhere.

Enjoy either plain over ice or with a good bourbon/rye (I used Rye 1)!

You could also add in other flavors/herbs to the beer when you mix the ingredients together to make a herb scented ginger beer. Or, maybe, one could try using honey...hmmm.

Sweet Dill Quick Pickles

Here is the recipe for the pickles that Jessica posted.

4 cups thinly sliced unpeeled cucumbers
2 cups sugar
1 medium onion, thinly sliced into rings
1½ cups white vinegar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp mustard seed
Sprig or two of washed dill (chopped or left whole)

Combine sugar, vinegar, salt, and mustard seed in a non-reactive pot and bring to a boil to combine. Let the brine cool for a few minutes. Meanwhile pack cucumbers, onions, and dill into a clean jar. Pour brine into the packed jar, cap, and refrigerate. The pickles may be eaten within an hour, but are best left for a day in the fridge. They won't last a week because you'll eat them too fast.

You may also add things like red pepper flakes and whole peppers or tone down the sugar if you'd like it less sweet.

Learning from the best

Please welcome Jessica as a guest contributer!
-Alex


Living in Los Angeles I was exceptionally spoiled to have Alex around. The fridge was constantly stocked with canned goods, including my favorite pickles to date! Since moving to New York, I've had to fend for myself in that category. This weekend I made my first attempt at quick pickles. I wasn't so much worried they wouldn't turn out, rather I hoped that they would be up to standards I had been used to! I used the standard recipe, adding dill at the end with the cucumbers. They are delicious! While I very much doubt I'll venture into canning anytime soon, I would like to attempt some more recipes, like beets!




I also made a blueberry compote. Normally, I would jam, but a compote boasts the advantage of significantly less sugar! Still, quite a bit of sugar, just not the absurd amount present in jams. It's super easy. Take a pint of blueberries, and divide in half. One half in a heat-proof bowl, the other in a saucepan with about a third cup of sugar and the juice of a lemon, bring to a simmer and allow all juice to release (about 8-10 min), then bring to a boil and reduce. Then pour over the other blueberries and fold in! Thats it! The sweet compote with the whole uncooked-blueberries is a great contrast, with a sweetness that isn't as intensely dessert like, and slightly tart. I think I prefer this to jams, though I have to admit jamming has its benefits, and lends itself better to pastry applications, when placed simply on bread I think the compote wins out!