Fermented Foods: Yogurt

Did you know you can make yogurt on your counter-top without heating anything?  That’s right, they culture at room temperature!  There are certain yogurt starter strains that do not require you to heat the milk at all.  Simply add the milk and starter culture to a jar, cover with a cloth, secure with a rubber band and let it sit out on your counter for 24 hours.

 

You may think it sounds easier to just go to the grocery to buy your ingredients, but believe me it’s not.  I’ve made homemade yogurt in the past with just a container of yogurt and a gallon of milk, but it always required me to use either the stove-top, a crock pot or a specialty yogurt maker and it was a long, drawn out procedure.

This time I purchased the Villi Yogurt Starter culture from Cultures for Health.  This is not the only room temperature starter, but it’s the one that most people seem to prefer.  It has a mild, tangy taste.  If you’re not so used to eating plain yogurt, this is definitely a good one to start with.

The best part about this is ~ you only need to purchase a starter once.  After your first batch you simply use one (1) Tbs of starter per cup of milk to equal the amount you want to make in total.  Mix them and do the whole process all over again.  You really can’t screw this up, I promise!

So click on the pic above to check them out!!

Fermented Foods: Hummus

Hummus.  Wonderful, creamy garlicy hummus.  At least that’s how I like to eat it.  The more garlic the better.  This happens to be one of my favorite snack foods.

I used to be a big fan of a particular brand in the stores in a red container.  Well, I DO still like it.  But I’ve been looking for a recipe to make it at home.  That’s got to be healthier in every way, right?

My past experiences with recipes left much to be desired.  They were bland, not the right consistency or just didn’t taste right.  So I gave up for quite a number of years and just settled for my favorite store brand.  But,  few weeks ago I started my hunt back up for the perfect recipe.  It just made sense with all the changes we’ve been doing in our kitchen lately.  What I found was, before I was missing out on the tahini.  How could this happen?  Recipes without tahini?  Even my fav store brand has it.  So out of all the recipes I was finding recently I combined some and came up with, what I think, is the best hummus I’ve ever had.  AND with the addition of whey it’s become a new addition to our list of fermented foods we are regularly consuming now. 

mmmmm…..all those wonderful beneficial bacteria that thrive in fermented foods.  As you can see in the pic below, we gobbled it up!

Ingredients:

2 cups chickpeas
1/3 cup Tahini
Juice from 2 lemons
4-5 garlic cloves, minced (depending on the size or your taste)
1 tsp. Sea Salt
3-4 Tbs. Olive Oil
6 Tbs. Whey

Directions:

1.  Puree Tahini and lemon juice in food processor first.  This helps to get a creamier texture for some reason.

2. With the food processor still going, add all the other ingredients slowly, in the order listed in the ingredient list.  You can add more or less of any of the liquids to reach a consistency or taste you prefer.

3.  Put in jar and seal with lid or an airlock (I use a Pickl-It).  Leave out at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.  If your house is quite warm it might not take this long.  Will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.

You can substitute any flavoring you with for the garlic.  I just happen to be a garlic fiend and feel like it belongs in everything.  Well……except chili.  I had a bad experience with it in a chili recipe and now I don’t want it anywhere near my chili.  LOL!