We love yogurt around here, and after finding a recipe that made yogurt in a Crockpot I was sold. I bought organic whole milk, organic yogurt, and got the recipe here. I followed the recipe, put the Crockpot in the fridge over night for it to thicken, and in the morning I got:
That's right. Yogurt flavored milky mess. Sooooo disappointing. Not one to give up on frugal experiments easily, I scoured the internet for a solution. I found a MUCH BETTER tutorial here, and felt confident that I could make something out of this horrific mess.
Like a woman possessed I decided to add MORE organic milk, some powdered milk, and reheated the milky mess, praying that it would thicken. I stood at the stove, measuring the temperature, making sure the milk didn't burn, whisking continuously, only to wind up with NASTY curdled grossness, which could only mean one thing...
FREAKIN' Ricotta cheese. DANG IT! I KNEW from the second tutorial that I read that you could turn your unthickened yogurt into ricotta, but somehow I assumed that I was exempt from the laws of chemistry. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
After wasting 8 cups of organic milk and, fortunately, only 2 tbsp of organic yogurt, & separating the curds and whey (while reciting Little Miss Muffet) I have:
This much Ricotta
and a bowl full of whey.
And we just finished eating lasagna last week. Ugh. I saved the whey, because I read online that it is supposed to have tremendous health benefits, but it makes me feel rather vomitous, so I think I may pitch it.
World's most expensive ricotta, anyone?
My first yogurt experiment was a fail, too - and I was using a yogurt-making machine! I've recently tried The Frugal Girl's method, and although it's certainly not as easy as using a Crock Pot, it's worked every time. I hope you try it again, because the homemade stuff really is great, and it means no more containers that can't be recycled - yay!
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