Check out my previous newsletters below. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter!
Which starter is best for making yogurt--store-bought yogurt or a traditional freeze-dried starter?
These are the two most common types of starter used by homemade yogurt makers. I like to compare them to colorful hydrangeas with the humongous blooms--both the kind you buy in full bloom at the grocery store and the scraggly starter plant your neighbor gives you from his yard.
A Parable:
Grocery store hydrangeas are raised in a hot house, like store-bought yogurt. They are beautiful when you buy them, but they don't last long. If you try to plant that hydrangea in your garden, it won't withstand the forces of nature because of its sheltered upbringing.
However, the hydrangea plants your neighbor shares from his yard are already proven to withstand heat, irregular watering, and even disease. If they survive the transplant experience, they will only get better with age, like a traditional freeze-dried yogurt starter.
Note: When I refer to "generations," I'm talking about using the yogurt you made to start another batch.
1. Supermarket Yogurt:
Pros:
Cons:
2. Freeze-dried Starter--Traditional:
Pros:
Cons:
No matter which starter you choose, remember this:
No yogurt makes a good starter after 10-12 days from the day it was made. (We've all done it, but it's not dependable.)
Yes, yogurt is OK to eat for at least two weeks. But just like humans, when it comes to reproducing, the younger the yogurt, the easier it happens. At a certain point, the yogurt bodies begin to die off, and there aren't enough of them to produce good yogurt.
This is important if you don't make yogurt very often. When your starter ages, the next generation can go sideways in a hurry.
My Recommendation:
If you are a sporadic yogurt maker, I recommend you buy fresh grocery store yogurt to use as a starter. If you are a regular and frequent yogurt maker, try freeze-dried traditional starter.
Looking for a new way to eat yogurt? Try this popular PB2 Recipe for Peanut Butter Greek Yogurt: A Satisfying Snack. It's delicious way to eat more protein.
Get the recipe |
Have a good week,
Paula
p.s. If someone forwarded this email to you, click here to sign up for more emails like this in your inbox.
Homemade Food Worth Sharing
Check out my previous newsletters below. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter!
Hi Friends, I recently made a recipe and a half of my Tangzhong dinner rolls. Multiplying the recipe was easy with the new recipe modifier in the upper right-hand corner of all the recipes on my website. If you need to do the same thing, I have some tips based on reader questions I received this week. Scaling a Recipe from My Website: Note: Nearly all the yeast bread recipes on my website produce a 1½-pound loaf, which equals 2¾ to 3½ cups of flour. For a 2-pound loaf, choose the 1.5 X...
Hello friends, I hope you had a good Easter. Where I live in Texas, we are excited about the eclipse on Monday. Reportedly, my backyard is "in the path." I wish you could join me. I recently received a good question from a reader about how to check yogurt without messing it up. It reminded me that it can be difficult for beginners to figure out when their yogurt is done or set. It's also easy to sabotage the incubation process while checking if it's not done carefully. Click here to read more...
Hi Friends, I hope you are well and experiencing success in the kitchen these days. I've been thinking about our Easter celebration and making Hot Cross Buns (with the link I messed up in my last email, sorry) on Good Friday. Easter dinner and the egg hunt are planned for my house. When I get home from church, I want to have bread dough ready to shape into dinner rolls. One option is to make brown and serve rolls or refrigerate the dough the day before, but there's another way to have hot,...