Adventures in Fermentation, Level 2: Cultured Dairy Products
Clockwise from upper left: whey, yogurt, cream cheese with strawberry preserves and honey, creme fraiche.
This stuff is so darn fun to make. It's so neat that all this stuff can be made from just milk. Since raw milk is illegal in most states, including our own (unless you own a cow share), I had to cheat and add the yogurt bacteria that I bought from the dairy. A few years ago, my grandma was explaining to me how they used to make yogurt back on their farm in Poland; they would just leave the milk out overnight and it would turn to yogurt by morning. I didn't realize that today's pasteurization kills all those beneficial organisms, so when I tried it, I just had a bowl of rancid milk in the morning. So milk + yogurt culture = yogurt. yogurt left out overnight in a strainer = cream cheese and whey. My cream cheese > factory cream cheese because it's filled with good bacteria, and doesn't have all sorts of cheap weird filler. And it's made from milk from the dairy just down the road, where they have good practices. Can't beat that.
And these guys just keep getting better and better each time I see them. They all had new equipment this time too. Fancy pants. I'm so proud!
