Food Storage Series- Dairy Products from Powdered Milk- Sour Cream and Cream Cheese

Next up in the Food Storage Series is Yogurt Cream Cheese and Greek Style Yogurt.

This time I made the milk from powdered milk. I used 2 quarts of water and 4 cups instant milk. I used my blender to mix the milk but you could also just mix by hand until all the lumps are out.

I followed the directions for making basic yogurt as outlined in this post from the book Making the Best of Basics Family Preparedness Handbook

Now you begin making the Yogurt Cream Cheese and Greek Style Yogurt.

Ingredients needed

•Prepared Plain yogurt

•Salt (optional)

Preparation:

1. Line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth, and place over a bowl.

2. Pour the plain yogurt into the strainer.

3. I left the yogurt to drain for 8 hours. I collected the whey that had drained off.

4. The yogurt left was the consistency of Sour Cream and that is what I intend to use it as.

This is also what is known as Greek Style Yogurt.

Attempting to show consistency.

I think you can see it better

in the shot below.

5. I reserved some of  the Greek style yogurt and wrapped it tight in the cheese cloth. I then filled a bag with some water and placed it on top of the cheese cloth. This will act as added weight and drain off more of the whey.

6. I let it drain for an additional 4 hours.

The yogurt left was the consistency of cream cheese

and that is what I intend to use it as.

Again, attempting to show consistency.

I think you can see it better in the shot below.

It is pretty amazing that you can get 3 different dairy products from 1 thing.
The yogurt tastes like yogurt, the Greek style yogurt tastes just like sour cream and the yogurt cheese tastes just like cream cheese. I added no seasonings or anything. The flavor changes just by the amount of drain time.
All this takes a little time commitment but the overall process in not hard at all.

Tips:
1. Use your yogurt cheese as a substitute for cream cheese, sour cream or mayonnaise. You can use it in recipes for dips, spread, sauces and dressings.

2. If you don't have cheesecloth, you can use a coffee filter or an old (but clean) pillowcase instead.

3. Save the whey that drains from your cheese, and use it in place of the liquids in baked goods recipes for some extra protein.

Yogurt and Augason Farms

The yogurt turned out great! It was a little thinner than store bought yogurts but that didn't bother me and I found that after being in the refrigerator it did thicken up. From what I read on the internet you can thicken the yogurt by using powdered milk or gelatin.

I decided to use 8 oz jelly jars to store the yogurt. From the half gallon of milk I got 11 jelly jars of yogurt. So for less that $5.00 I got 11 jars on yogurt!

The process was really easy. The time commitment was the only "bad thing". Just be mindful of your time and plan ahead to do heating and cooling of the milk during the day and the culturing overnight.

~~~~~~~~~

I also found a new company to get Food Storage items from. It is Augason Farms.

 
 
 

 
 
 

The prices are cheaper than other Food Storage Companies. I was also pleased to find that

Sam's Club offers their products also.

 

Augason Farms offers interesting combo packs. This time I ordered the "Starter Pack".

It has a nice variety of food storage items.

 

The Starter Pack included

Whole Eggs

Instant Milk

Beef Flavored Vegetarian Meat Substitute

Instant Potatoes

Freeze Dried Strawberries

Freeze Dried Sweet Corn

 

I was excited about the variety in the Starter Pack.

I have been wanting to try the meat substitute and the freeze dried veggies and fruits.

And then the idea struck me that I can use the Strawberries in the yogurt I made!!

 

 

This is what the Strawberries look like in the can.



 

Re Hydrating the Strawberries in warm water

 

Cut up Re Hydrated Strawberries

Add the Strawberries to Yogurt and Stir

Yum!

 

 

**I also cut up the freeze dried Strawberries as is and mixed them into another container of yogurt.

I want to see if the step of re hydrating the Strawberries could be skipped.

I will let you know how the experiment turns out.

Yogurt in your Crock- Pot

I had 3 failed attempts with the EasiYo Yogurt making. Tried 3 different variations of the recipe and all failed. Then I looked at the best if used by day on the packet and found it was out of date. So the failures can be blamed on out of date starter cultures.

In searching the Internet for yogurt making I came across how to's for making yogurt in a crock pot. Sounds interesting.......sounds easy. So I am gonna give it a shot!



Crock Pot Yogurt



•Turn your crock pot to low and pour in 1/2 gallon of milk. Can use whole milk or down to 1% .
(I did find variations where they used half real milk and half powdered milk with water. I will try that on the next attempt. It sounds like you can customize the recipe once you have got the basics down.)

•Heat on low for 2 hours and 30 minutes.


•Once 2 hours and 30 minutes have elapsed turn your crock pot off and unplug it. Let the milk cool in the crock with the lid on for 3 hours.


•After 3 hours remove 1-2 cups of the warmed milk and place in a bowl. To that add 1/2 cup of yogurt with live active cultures and mix very well.


•Pour the yogurt-milk mixture back into the milk and whisk thoroughly.


•Place the cover back on the crock and wrap the entire crock pot in a thick bath towel or two.


•Let it culture overnight, 8-12 hours.


•In the morning stir yogurt (if desired) and store in glass quart jars or a container of your choice.


•For optimum texture, refrigerate for at least 8 hours before using.

EasiYo Follow Up

                                                                

I have been using my EasiYo Yogurt maker for close to a week now. I have been experimenting with how long to leave it to "brew" for lack of a better term. I realized that buying the their yogurt blends in the sachet it could get a little expensive when you eat yogurt like I do. So I have been researching out how to do my yogurt without the sachets.

I found a recipe that will help the supplies of sachets that I do have last longer. Instead of using the whole thing just use 2 Tablespoons of the mix and 1 1/3 cup of dry milk and mix per instructions. I kind of like this blend a little better. It seems to firm faster and a little bit more solid than the sachet mixes. I am still looking for a good recipe for a yogurt starter to use so I don't have to use the sachets. I have come across a couple articles that say you can just use a couple tablespoons of store bought yogurt as your starter. I am looking for a little bit more information on this right now.

Overall...... I love making my own yogurt. I love the EasiYo too. It is really easy to use and yogurt making fun!



Easiyo 252102 Greek Style Yogurt Base and Culture, 6-Ounce
Easiyo Low Fat Greek Yogurt Base and Culture, 6-Ounce
Easiyo Natural Yogurt Base and Culture, 5-Ounce
Easiyo Sweet Mango Yogurt Base and Culture, 8-Ounce
Easiyo Low Fat Vanilla Yogurt Base and Culture, 5-Ounce
Easiyo Bio-Life Organic Yogurt Base and Culture, 5-Ounce
Easiyo Sweet Raspberry Yogurt Base and Culture, 8-Ounce
Easiyo Sweet Raspberry Yogurt Base and Culture, 8-Ounce
Easiyo Custard Style Vanilla Yogurt Base and Culture, 7-1/2-Ounce

My new Kitchen Toy

 EasiYo Yogurt Maker

Healthy, delicious, and easy to make at home, yogurt is a nutritious snack for every member of the family. Create your very own nutritious yogurt--high in levels of live and active cultures that help benefit your immune and digestive systems--with this non-electric yogurt maker. It takes less than one minute to mix the ingredients and start creating your very own yogurt.

I am doing my first batch now. I will let you know how it turns out!