Near disaster with the yogurt

I was making this week's yogurt when I almost lost the whole batch.  I was using the oven for incubation.  Turned it on until it got to 100 and then turned it off and shut the door.  It works because even after I turn it off the heat builds a little bit more, but not too much.  My oven won't go below 200 as a setting, but it does have a thermometer that lets me know how hot it is.  But last night it just went haywire.  Even though everything was turned off the broil came on - heating my yogurt up a LOT.  I caught it before it was too bad, maybe 150 or so, but that will kill the yogurt.  Turned the oven off at the breaker (no desire to have a house fire) and put the yogurt in the fridge while I figured out what to do.  It was pretty runny.

After it cooled down enough I decided to add more starter - also known as more yogurt.  Then I incubated it in a cooler and this morning I have a pretty good batch.  Not as firm as I would have liked, but not milk either.  It's not pretty but it's roughly as thick as say, Dannon.  I like super thick yogurt, but I'm happy to have saved it the batch - that was a gallon of yogurt after all!

I didn't wipe the dish down, but I wasn't feeling terribly motivated.

Blender butter

I made butter!!

I have some fresh cream I picked up when I got my raw milk.  I guess I should say I HAD some fresh cream.  I've known how to make butter for awhile.  Put it in a jar and shake shake shake.  Probably better exercise than the not so vaguely obscene shake weight.  I don't have time for that.  Saw on line that you can just do it in a blender.  I have a blender.  Now I have butter.

Step 1

Obtain heavy cream

Step 2 

Dump it in the blender

Step 3

blend blend blend.  At some point it will quite dramatically go from whipped cream to butter.  It's very sudden and pretty cool

Step 4

using some muslin drain the excess milk from the butter.  Rinse it with cool water to get the excess milk out so it won't go bad too quickly.  If you're going to use it quickly you probably don't have to do this.

Step 5

chill and enjoy

Next time I'm going to add some herbs to it.  This was plain, unsalted butter and it is YUMMY

Surprise Scoby Velma - Almost there!

It's Cinco de mayo and Velma is celebrating by continuing to grow.  :-)  She's gone from a tiny clear jellyfish that was only about 2 inches across to a full fledged scoby about 6 inches across.  Getting thicker every day.  Right now parts are still only 1/8 of an inch thick or so, but some areas are over 1/4 inch thick. As she grows she get a much creamier color with the tea stains becoming less. I'm going to let this tea go to vinegar too and give her one more jar before I try making kombucha tea.  I know I probably could already, but I do need some more kombucha vinegar.  I'm out and it's what I use for conditioner on my hair.

Seasoned Beet Greens

I eat or juice a lot of beets.  I've not always been sure what to do with the tops.  Found a recipe that I really enjoy, so I'll be eating more of them.  For these I started with 2 bunches each organic golden and red beets.  There were 3-4 beets per bunch.

Tops from 12-16 beets

wash, wash and then wash again.  Beet greens can really hold onto the dirt.

I didn't tear them much, leaving them large bits, like large whole leaf spinach.

In a pot add the beet greens, two cups water, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons lemon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Cook covered over medium until greens are tender.

I eat them with either a dash of lemon juice or hot sauce.

Surprise Scoby Velma - Day 7

Velma is really growing!  I changed out the tea and now she's eating the new batch up.  Notice all the fizz!  I am going to reduce the temperature a bit so that the yeast doesn't outgrow the bacteria.  She's getting bigger and thicker all the time.  There is a lot of brown from the black tea.  For most of yesterday she was submerged.  Then she rose and a nice white film formed.  That part didn't really photograph well, but I can't wait to see what she looks like a in a few days!

Surprise Scoby Velma - Day 3

Little Velma has been growing over the past few days.  Lots of wonderful fizz and she's getting bigger.  The kitchen has been very cold, so I put a heating pad under the jar (on low) for a little while every day to keep it at at least 70.  For the tea I used a heavy black Russian tea that my husband picked up for me somewhere.  I don't care to drink it and since this batch will go all the way to vinegar it seemed like a good use.

There is a nice film forming on the top of the tea and it's getting thicker in areas.  Looking forward to what the next few days will bring.

Velma - Day 1

I started my Scoby for kombacha tea from a bottle of raw tea purchased at a grocery store.  Put the lid back on the bottle (fairly loosly) and set aside.  It was behind the coffee maker so I hadn't noticed it and it never ended up in the recycling.  I found it today while cleaning the counter.  It had what looked like a tiny jellyfish covering the bottom.  Since I saw no evidence of mold I've decided to grow this little jellyfish and see if I can end up with another scoby.  I shall name her Velma

While the tea is brewing I put her in an espresso cup with a bit of liquid from my last scoby start.

This is her first picture.

The little specks are sediment from the liquid I added.