Playing with Probiota: More Adventures in Yogurt

[lwood]

So far, I have made two batches of Labneh, aka "yogurt cheese". This is made by relieving the yogurt of its liquid whey, either by making a cheesecloth bag and allowing the cheese to compress itself (as is traditional), or by pressing yogurt through a cheesecloth and strainer, possibly with the aid of a weight (Alton Brown favors this).

The first batch wound up split into four portions and served up at Greyhaven's Sunday Tea (which was also Easter Ostara Dinner and Birthday of Twins). The overall taste and texture reminds one of cream cheese, but with a slight tang--my base commercial yogurt is fairly mild-flavored, which carries through in subsequent inocluations.

Anyway, that batch split up like this:

1. One was left plain.


2. One was combined with three heads' worth of roasted garlic.


3. One was combined with minced basil.


4. The last was combined with diced sun-dried tomatoes.

They all went over well, with the plain being most versatile: it was spread with good cheer on multi-grained sandwich bread, rye crackers, whole wheat pita, and pumpkin bread (a sweet spice bread).

The garlic and basil lent themselves better to the more savory applications, obviously. bearmum and dpaxson both liked these, and between us and the rest of the table, they all well disappeared.

The sun-dried tomato was not, alas, nearly as popular, failing first for its looks, and then for its unexpected flavor and texture; I will not be repeating this, and the remains still haunt Greyhaven's refrigerator.

The second batch was served at the Seidhjallr meeting the next night. Eight ounces (by weight) was removed and used as a replacement for the cream cheese in my carrot cake frosting, to be served at Hrafnar on Wednesday. hilarypoet, dpaxson, and wolfs_daugher all seemed to enjoy it; nelwyn had already eaten (but I think she had some) and I don't know if nithogg had any or not.

I had my doubts as to whether or not replacing all the cream cheese in the carrot cake frosting would work, but I tried it anyway. My doubts were, alas, proven; it didn't set. Alton did explain this, so I'm not surprised. However, it turned into a "vanilla/yogurt sauce" which was poured on top of the cake and served alongside as a dip, both of which were roundly approved of by Hrafnar attendees.

The rest of the second batch, after the Seidhjallr meeting, went home with wolfs_daugher, who then ate it as part of all of her next meals for several days--well, heck, hon, anything that makes you that happy for so little work deserves a repeat; you'll get more on Sunday.

The yogurt for that batch has been made; I'll press it when I get home.

hyndla has also expressed great interest, so she's also getting her very own batch, to be cultured and pressed over the weekend. 8-)

Now, if I really want to get into this...I happen to be in the way of knowing that Berkeley Bowl sells raw milk...now just to find time to get over there!

-- Lorrie

Comments

[dasubergeek.livejournal.com]

Next time, use goat's milk instead of cow's milk, press it like you would for any labneh, and you'll have what Salim (the guy who runs my favouritest ever Lebanese place, like, EVER) called anbarez... tangy doesn't begin to describe it. It practically BEGS to be spread on pita and makes the Best! Pound Cake! Ever!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Good to know--thanks!

-- Lorrie

Yay for Yogurt!

[wolfs-daugher.livejournal.com]

hilarypoet, dpaxson, and wolfs_daugher all seemed to enjoy it; nelwyn had already eaten (but I think she had some) and I don't know if nithogg had any or not.

Nelwyn's comments were as positive as anyone's can be who doesn't acually like yogurt! *giggles* The chef in her made her taste it, and she was favorably impresses. Nithogg has no inner chef to push him to taste things that he historically doesn't like, and he hadn't been feeling terribly chipper before the meeting.

anything that makes you that happy for so little work deserves a repeat; you'll get more on Sunday.

Squeee!!!

:-)
Sparrow

Re: Yay for Yogurt!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

My heart, when so much joy can be given so cheaply, it would be wrong of me not to do so...

-- Lorrie

[bergtagen.livejournal.com]

"hyndla has also expressed great interest, so she's also getting her very own batch, to be cultured and pressed over the weekend. 8-)"

Yay! *happydance* I'm so looking forward to this. I can pick it up at Collegium, yes yes?

[lwood.livejournal.com]

yesyes!

[bellacrow.livejournal.com]

very fascinating!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

-- Lorrie

[thorolf.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmm... This sounds very interesting indeed. My spouse and I have been mulling over the possibilities of re-creating German quark, which we enjoy greatly every time we visit, and then try to figure out why we like it so much better than cream cheese... The 'not quite setting' would be about right.

Off to play with Google!

[lwood.livejournal.com]

I've had quark--and looking at the recipes, it looks like pretty much the same deal: culture milk with desired bacteria, then press the result.

You can add rennet to either one to make it set better, and thicker.

-- Lorrie

[illuviel.livejournal.com]

Labneh = yum. (I hadn't known what to call it beside yogurt cheese until now.) I muchly prefer it to commercial cream and boursin cheeses.

The whey is very useful in the cultivation of sauerkraut and other lacto-fermented veggiestuffs, as well as being high in protein and generally Good For You, as well.

In fact, the last batch of labneh I made was specifically in order to collect the whey for 'kraut and kimchi.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

Labneh = yum. (I hadn't known what to call it beside yogurt cheese until now.) I muchly prefer it to commercial cream and boursin cheeses.

That's the Lebanese name, anyway--there's a whole family of soft cheese knocked out this way, as culturing yogurt to preserve milk is a fairly widespread phenomenon.

The whey is very useful in the cultivation of sauerkraut and other lacto-fermented veggiestuffs, as well as being high in protein and generally Good For You, as well.

...and probably kombucha and so on. I do want to tackle sauerkraut, but I don't know how many in my local community will then sit up and bounce about it. Still, cabbage is cheap and the whey already exists as a byproduct...the mandoline, however, is a large expense and not to be entertained just now; while my knife-fu is mighty and all, shredding cabbage by hand would be Too Much Work on top of the yogurt ranching, chili growing, and so on.

In fact, the last batch of labneh I made was specifically in order to collect the whey for 'kraut and kimchi.

OMG kimchi!

Share your methods once you have hammered them out a bit?

-- Lorrie