Oh, Yes, Yogurt Cultures Rule! No Fancy Kits Needed!

Oh, Yes, Yogurt Cultures Rule!  No Fancy Kits Needed!

(c) Dorine Houston 2008, all rights reserved 

Hot Saturday afternoon.  A good book out on the deck.  You're both thirsty and peckish; could anything be better than a cold glass of lassi? 

Deborah McEnery thinks yogurt cultures are plants; I think they're more closely related to animals.  But who cares!  They taste good.  We need them, too, giving us a reason to enjoy plenty of yogurt in our diets.  Most people buy yogurt, but do not understand the problems with commercial yogurt. 

There is yogurt bereft of its live culture content.  It is important to read the label to ascertain the actual presence of the live yogurt cultures that are what make yogurt so important to our health.  Those custardized and puddingized yogurts are not only completely useless, they are downright anti-healthful, and should be avoided.  Sweetened dessert yogurts frequently contain something even more dangerous than sugar, high fructose corn syrup.  HFCS has been found to turn off the brain mechanism that tells people when they have had enough to eat, contributing to obesity.  Even yogurts with live cultures and fruit contain sugar and may contain the dangerous HFCS.  If you want your yogurt sweet, try mixing your own from plain yogurt, using unpasteurized wild honey or pure maple syrup.  Stir in chopped fresh fruit. 

Or enjoy your yogurt in a savory context.  Stir it into split pea, lentil and other legume soups.  Try it as a side dish in the Albanian way.  A few years ago a student recently arrived from Albania invited me to have dinner with her family.  One of the side dishes was

Mimosa's Albanian Yogurt

Prepare a small bowl of plain, whole milk yogurt for each person.  Top each with a small clove of garlic, crushed, and a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.  Each diner stirs the mixture together while eating it. 

You can also enjoy a beverage beloved from the Middle East to India, lassi. 

Lassi

Fill a glass half full of plain yogurt.  Whisk it with a fork to smooth it out.  Skipping this step results in lumps in the lassi.  Stir in salt to taste, preferably kosher or sea salt, and garam masala or curry powder to taste.  Whisk thoroughly with the fork.  Still using the fork, whisk in chilled plain seltzer water if you like the touch of effervescence, or cold tap water, until the mixture is smooth to fill the glass.  Add ice cubes if desired.  If you want to dress it up, top with the finely shredded fresh herbs of your choice.  Coarsely (hand) ground cumin sees are nice, too. 

This is the perfect accompaniment to a good book out on the deck on a hot summer afternoon! 


Making Your Own Yogurt

Long ago in Madrid, one of my roommates was a Lebanese/Argentine woman who had been living in Lebanon before going to Spain.  Sara's parents had been born in a Lebanese village and emigrated to Argentina as newlyweds.  Sara had spent time with her cousins in the village shortly before she went to Spain, traveling the world to run away from the grief of being widowed in her 20s, after only five years of happy marriage.  She had been making yogurt in the Lebanese manner all her life and shared her method with me.  A few years later, when I was a newlywed back in Philadelphia, an elderly woman who had emigrated from Armenia in early adulthood taught me the same method for making yogurt.  For thousands of years, women in both Lebanon and Armenia have been making good yogurt without the expensive, counter space-wasting machines too many Americans think they need. 

You need live yogurt cultures for your starter.  Some people buy the cultures from specialty places, but that really isn't necessary.  Use a small carton (about 5 oz./140ml) of plain yogurt with live cultures.  Using common supermarket brands, Dannon is acceptable, but Stonyfield Farms is better because it is organic.  If you live near Lancaster County, PA, try Pequea Valley, which is also organic, or get an organic product available near you. 

To make yogurt at home, start with a litre/quart of fresh milk, raw if you can get it (in PA and other states it is legal when sold from inspected organic farms).  If the milk is raw, boil it for a few minutes; if pasteurized, simply warm it.  Either way, bring it to baby bath temperature (comfortably warm and not too hot on the inside of your wrist, or about 90-95 F/60 C). 

Whisk the yogurt into the hot milk until smooth.  Cover the pan tightly and wrap it in an old woolen sweater and then a thick towel.  (Polyester and acrylic sweaters won't hold the heat as well.)  Leave it out at room temperature overnight and through the next day, a full 24 hours.  When it is as thick as you want it, separate out a portion of about 5 oz./140ml and refrigerate separately, saving it to use as your next starter.  Refrigerate the remainder to use as you would any yogurt. 

Enjoy in other savory recipes besides the Albanian side dish and the lassi. 


Raita

1 kirby, grated 
1 slice red onion, diced  OR
Small handful fresh mint leaves, finely chopped  OR 
Small handful fresh dill, finely chopped 
Salt to taste 
Plain yogurt 

Toss ingredients together with as much yogurt s you like.  Serve as a sauce or salad or with Indian or other spicy foods. 


Yogurt Salad

1 English cucumber, thinly sliced (or 4 Armenian cucumbers) 
8-10 red radishes, thinly sliced 
Small handful fresh basil or dill, chopped 
1/4 tsp./1ml freshly ground cumin seeds (optional) 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 
1 cup/240ml plain yogurt 

Toss together everything except the yogurt and let rest 10 minutes.  Add yogurt and toss well.  Chill at least an hour before serving.