Yoghurt

On Saturdays J and I generally have brunch, then a mid-afternoon dessert. Cake is best of course, but I try to avoid making (and eating) cakes too often... so today it was yoghurt, with extras.

I've been making yoghurt since the 1980s. I started with a large, wide-necked food flask, and bought a small carton of natural yoghurt from the supermarket as a starter. P and I were keen to limit our energy use and liked the idea of managing without an electrical device. The method usually worked reasonably well, so long as I first heated the milk, then cooled it to roughly the correct temperature, though the temperature in our small, unheated, single-skin kitchen, an early extension of the two up two down former pit cottage, will not have been consistent. However, one morning as P and I prepared to eat breakfast before leaving for our respective occupations, I struggled to unscrew the top of the flask. Then, in a sudden release of pressure, it shot off in an explosion of yoghurt, a litre of it, spattering us, the kitchen and even the ceiling. 

After that, we decided a yoghurt maker might be more reliable. I bought a "bulk" model from Lakeland, which made a litre in a large tub rather than the six individual small pots which most models provided. I used the yoghurt maker regularly for about thirty years. I kept my starters going until the quality of the yoghurt deteriorated, then replaced them. When my trusty machine finally failed, I replaced it with the nearest equivalent Lakeland model.

Over the past few years, though, I started to have more problems, more failures, thinner yoghurt. I tried a few different brands as starters, tried adjusting the temperature a bit, but eventually concluded that the starter pots were perhaps not as live as they used to be. Then in summer 2022, after J's surgery and illness, as we tried to rebuild her strength and counter lingering infections, we decided it might help if we could increase her (and our) probiotic intake. I ordered a yoghurt starter online from a small specialist company which offered a wide range of starters for various kinds of cultured and fermented food.  I chose Bulgarian yoghurt - similar to Greek, thick and creamy, with a mild flavour. I thought J would like it. She does, and so do I. It's been going strong for over a year now, with a new batch usually made twice a week. P's vegan yoghurt culture has not worked quite as well, but ginger beer production has been excellent, and we want to add sourdough and keffir to the range.

J's yoghurt dessert is pink from the addition of a spoonful of apple and blackberry jelly. Mine is topped with dried apricots and walnuts.  The bowls are much loved: J's is her Japanese bowl, with the inside filled by a perfect curled lucky cat, while mine is part of a wedding gift from a friend, made by her uncle. Our crockery is like our Christmas tree decorations, an eclectic mix, mostly old, with many items connected with special people, places and memories. 

And to finish, there were Lindor balls, the last box of Christmas chocolates :  )