making curds and whey

I rigged up a little whey making contraption on the counter. This is my first time trying this and I think it's really very easy. You just need some cheesecloth (but a cotton dishtowel will do), a large bowl and something to keep the bag above it. Then you need real yogurt with no additives. I'm using Seven Stars Farm plain yogurt. It says it has Acidophilus and Bifidus and other living cultures in it. Store brand yogurts have added sugar and preservatives and the probiotics have all but died by the time you buy it off the shelf. The perfect yogurt to use would be homemade from raw milk.

Whey is that drippy liquid that you see on top of yogurt in the container and what I'm collecting to use to make my ferments. The living cultures in it is what helps the fermentation process occur and what will give it all the health benefits to our good gut flora! i.e. helps fight colds, flu, viruses and any infections or inflammation brewing down there! I used to think whey was "gross" and I used to pour it off the yogurt and down the sink, but now I know what it is and I'm ashamed I thought so. Whey keeps in the refrigerator for up to 6 months and can be added to almost anything you make in the kitchen. Heating it will destroy some of the culture but you still reap a lot of the health benefits. Fermentation does not require heat so it's basically eating raw food which is popular right now with the raw food diet people. Fermentation has been around forever though, because our ancestors used it when there was no refrigeration. They didn't know about the probiotic benefits back then, or at least, they didn't know scientifically what was happening but they knew it was good for them!

The exciting part of the product above is not only the whey, but that in the end (after 4-6 hours) I will have homemade cream cheese! YUM! So I must find a recipe to use that up! The cream cheese will only be good for 5-7 days in the refrigerator so it must be used more promptly.

I can't wait until next summer when I will be fermenting all kinds of things from the garden and our local farmers!  I'll let you see my first experiment with fermented vegetables when I figure out what I'm doing next!  I also want to make homemade kombucha (lovelovelove) and kefir (which Caroline loves). It will be so much cheaper than buying it at the grocery and will keep us healthy through the winter.

Little Miss Muffet knew what she was doing, eating her curds with whey! {A great article about curds and whey with lots of wonderful ideas for including it in foods and drink: click here!}