Curds and Whey

Well, I successfully made whey! It wasn't hard :o) Whenever I think of whey I always think of Little Miss Muffet on her tuffet. And I never knew what whey was for...I knew it was the runny stuff in my yogurt. I knew it was probably good for me.

Whey is great...it has tons of minerals in it. Good enzymes to help your digestion. It's good for your muscles and joints. So I wanted to make some...so I could have it and use it more in our regular diet. The easiest way I came across was to strain/drip yogurt. I put about two cups of plain yogurt in a kitchen towel lined strainer inside a bowl and let it drip for a few hours. I felt weird having yogurt on the counter...didn't seem sanitary and all. But I trudged on! :o) Then you tie up the yogurt so it can drip some more (I put it in a big pickle jar).

Once it stops dripping, you're done. (Here you have the original dripping container and the pickle jar)

And here you have whey, which you can toss into smoothies, soups, oatmeal, etc. (But not while the soup/oatmeal are too hot or you'll kill the enzymes you want to help your gut). And you have "cream cheese" as a by-product. I ate some on my toast this morning with honey...I would not be able to convince my husband that it is a good regular substitute for store-bought cream cheese (although he'd believe me that it's healthier!) but I'm sure I'll find uses for it. It's a bit tart, like yogurt. I'd prefer to call it "yogurt cheese" :o) Anyways, you pop these suckers in the fridge and the cheese is good for a month, whey for SIX! Oh, and my next experiment will be to use way to make a lacto-fermented condiment (probably gingered carrots) but more on that later.

And here you have Lillian. Because I know most of you (i.e. grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles) are more interested in her than in my most recent kitchen experiments :o)