Last night was a pretty rough night. My little munchkin had a pretty bad cold. She was literally shooting snot from her nose all day like bazookas ( Sorry for the graphic description) As soon as she laid down, all her snot froze making her unable to breath. I tired holding her upright to release her nose, but to no avail. She was up all night crying and breaking my heart. So finally I gave her a pain killer. At around 5 or 6 in the morning we all passed out.
Since I was still recovering from last night, I decided to make vanilla flavored, homemade, goat milk yogurt!
Why? well two reasons; I didn't feel like house work, I can't go out with a snotty baby , and I had a box of goat milk that was about to go bad. ( Ok three reasons)
Apparently Goat milk acquires some sophisticated taste buds, that I still didn't develop, I'm working on it though. . So I figured hide the taste in flavored yogurt. The result hopefully would be not wasting the milk, and a nutritious delicious yogurt for baby, me, and maybe hubby if he fancies some( I never saw him eat yogurt, so we'll see).
BTW Goat milk is easier on the stomach, and better digested than regular cows milk plus its sunna( Prophet Mohammad peace and blessings be on him used to drink goat milk).
Here's a short list of benefits for making your own yogurt:
Its cheaper.
Has no packaging ( Hence no trash produced).
Fresher, more nutritious, you know exactly what's in it.
Its praised in Islam to make things yourself, and not rely on others.
And its a good excuse whenever you don't feel like house work, After all you're making yogurt!!
Oh wait a minute maybe this is considered as house work too, oh well:$
How to make homemade flavored yogurt
What you'll need:
A quart of milk
A store bought yogurt can with live cultures( For a starter)
Vanilla extract and sugar( For flavor)
A food thermometer, a pot, an old well washed glass mayo jar or any big glass jar, a nursing cloth pad( or any small towel), an incubating warm place( A conventional oven, or a warm water half filled water cooler ), and last but not least a long boring day.
For all of you Chicago residents. Tomorrow would be the perfect day, the temperature is supposed to be I dunno negative 1000 or something ridiculous like that. Brrrrrr.
Pour milk in the glass jar, put the jar in the pot and fill the pot with water until it reaches half of the jar. Now place your nursing cloth pad( or towel) under the jar. It helps avoid noisy clinking when the water boils and the jar starts dancing around. If you're one of those people who fancy a jar dance, dance along as you wait for your milk to warm up, why not!
Ok had fun dancing the jar dance, good:) now stick the thermometer in the milk( not the water) it should read 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the jar out and let it cool in the fridge for about 40 minutes or less depending on how "cool" your fridge is.. ha ha ha( get it? Yea not my best joke!) then stir in the starter.
Meanwhile start warming up your oven, it shouldn't be hotter than 110 degrees, if its hotter it'll kill your yogurt, and you don't want milk on your hands do you?( No, still not funny? C'mon gimme a break!)
5 hours later check the milk. It should have firmed up by now, if not, leave it longer. Make sure your incubating place stays warm to let the culture work faster.
Place your yogurt in the fridge. Before serving stir in vanilla and maple syrup, or honey, or sugar to taste. For those of you who'll try this out, let me know how it turns out. I'll update you on my goat milk version tomorrow inshaAllah.
Don't worry if your first batch dies. Mine did:( you can always make chocolate milk with the dead yogurt. Name it dead chocolate milk. Appealing huh!
Two days later:
I had some of my goat milk yogurt today for breakfast. It wasn't as firm as I like it to be. I guess the yogurt I used for starter wasn't fresh enough so the cultures weren't very strong. The yogurt was still delicious though. I added maple syrup, vanilla and fresh blueberries,YUMMM...
No trace of the goat milk after taste.
6 comments:
My Crazy Muslim Hippie Best Friend!
I just wanted to let you know that you are really something! Besides the fact that you are a wonderful friend and a GREAT listener (to all the crazy things i always have to tell you!) But you are also just an amazing person! Girl, if i had a baby crying all night due to a bad cold and i didnt sleep until 5 am I WOULD NOT be making homemade yoghurt the next day!!!!!! looool
And so hence, the hippie!
I love you, lovely!
And going onto your blog was the first thing i did when i went on line :)
Dora
Hey dorz, why thanx for the good words. So did I convince yout o try and make homemade yogurt?
Salaam. Goat-milk yogurt is repugnant. Next time you're eating it, think of the smell of barn animals. That's what it tastes like. It's like they took goat hair, pulverized it into a powder, and then sprinkled it in the yogurt hoping that people wouldn't realize that they're eating barn animal hair (oh, did I mention that they never bothered to wash the hair in the first place!). I bet you'll never finish eating a repellent cup of goat-milk yogurt again after reading this. Mission accomplished. Down with the fat-cat goat farmers. Salaam.
Obviously, anyone who does not appreciate the subtle barnyard flavors of goat-milk yogurt can only be described as having the boorish manners of a Yaley.
salaam, I've never tried goat milk yogurt, but I mak my own homemade cows milk yogurt every week. The method I use is similar, but a bit less complicated maybe. Heat whole milk ( you can add some evaporated milk for richness) in a pot until simmerring (bubbles around the side), let cool down to a temp where u can test it on ur wrist and its still warm, but not enough to burn you. For one gallon of milk use 4 heaping tablespoons of plain full cream Stoneyfield or Mountain High yogurt - I've been making yogurt for about 3 years now and Stoneyfield is absolutely the best starter, with Mountain High coming a close second, and a bit cheaper. Brown Cow yogurt is also good if u can get it. Stir some milk into yogurt, then add mix back to pot and stir. Put in oven for atleast 6 hours or overnight depending on how warm your oven is. When it looks set and firm take it out. At this point you can put it in the fridge, or strain it using a cheese cloth or big baby cloth of similar texture to get to thicker consistency if you want. Yogurt is done, put in fridge or even whip to give it a thick but light and airy texture. Enjoy!
Wa salam
By the way, very cool blog maasha'Allah
Cool Makeda, I'll try your recipe and let you know how it turns out. It does sound way easier than mine. You can pretty much make yogurt from any kind of milk the same way, even soy milk works. Thanx for sharing.
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