I finally made a decent raw milk yogurt! I had the flavor I wanted, but couldn't get the consistency. I kept getting something that would properly be called a yogurt shake. The problem was that I wasn't heating the milk enough. Heat destroys the enzymes and natural good bacteria in the milk and I wanted to keep those. Otherwise, why not just use pasteurized milk? But it turns out that the milk's bacteria was competing with the starter culture! So, do you lose the benefits of using raw milk if you heat it to 180 degrees (as many yogurt recipes suggest)?

According to Linda Joyce Forristal (care of the Weston Price site):

Whatever temperature the milk will be heated to, in my opinion it is best to begin with raw milk. It is not homogenized so you get a wonderful cream on top. It has not had milk solids added to it, so it won’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Most important, raw milk has not been pasteurized, which is a violent, rapid-heating process that has a very detrimental effect on the proteins in the milk. A slow, gentle heating on your stove top will more effectively preserve the integrity of fragile milk proteins, especially if you remove the milk from the stove as soon as the desired temperature has been reached.

Here's my recipe:
1 quart of raw milk
1/4 cup of good commercial organic yogurt as a starter (I used Seven Stars)

Measure out the starter and allow to come to room temperature while heating the milk. In a saucepan, slowly bring the milk up to 180 degrees, stirring periodically (it took me one hour). Allow the milk to cool back down to 110 degrees, again stirring periodically. Put the milk and starter into jars, twist on a lid, and place in a dehydrator for 8 to 10 hours. (I did 10.) Refrigerate the jars. Since the milk had not been homogenized, there is a lovely cream line.

Raw Milk Yogurt

My biggest barrier to making my own raw milk yogurt was in finding a reliable low-heat source. My electric oven does not have a pilot and the light bulb lights intermittently. With the arrival of my Excalibur Dehydrator, I am ready to go!

I do like the organic local Hawthorne Valley yogurt as well as the organic regional brands from Seven Stars Farm (Phoenixville, PA) and Stonyfield Farm (Londonderry, NH). The problem for me is that these are all made from pasteurized milk because that is the law. Apparently, the few states that allow raw milk sales do not allow for the production and sale of raw milk yogurt. It seems to me that the food laws that are designed to protect us are the strangest of all.

So, I researched several recipes and it comes down to
- how much to heat the milk
- how much starter yogurt to add (for the live cultures)
- the incubation temperature
- the incubation time

The most popular milk-heating temperature is 110°. I did see one recipe that called for heating the milk to 180° and then letting it cool to 110°, but it seems it would defeat the purpose of using raw milk. I thought that the enzymes and beneficial bacteria are killed at 130°.

The recommended amount of starter yogurt to add varies from 1/8 of a cup to 1/4 (if you're using commercial, which by default means pasteurized, yogurt). Most say to use about twice as much if you're using your own previous batch of raw milk yogurt.

The suggested incubation temperature ranges from 90° to 110° and an often-suggested period is eight hours.

I got another recipe that called for heating the milk to 90°, adding 1/2 of a cup of (commercial) starter and incubating it at 90° to 100° for 18-36 hours. I have had this yogurt and it is exceptional, but this being my first time, I wanted something that would be ready sooner!

I went for heating the milk to 110°, and incubating it in the dehydrator at 105° for 8 hours. I did make two jars using 1/2 cup each of starter and two other jars using 1/4 cup each of starter.

My yogurt came out similar in consistency to the Hawthorne Valley, perhaps slightly "looser." There was no noticeable difference between the ones with 1/4 cup of starter vs. those with 1/2. It tastes amazingly like yogurt!

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberries are one of three fruits indigenous to North America. In case you were wondering, the other two are blueberries and concord grapes.

One of my "rules" for defining local is 100 miles. These cranberries come from just under 200 miles away so I'm calling them mezza-local.

This year, something bothered me about the typical fresh whole-berry cranberry sauce recipe: one cup of water, one cup of sugar, a bag of cranberries. Maybe because it was boring, or maybe it was the blatant and singular use of refined white sugar. (Not that I am swearing off refined white sugar--it just doesn't grow near here...other sweetners do.)

So, I thought I'd try a local sweetner: maple syrup. Here's the recipe and I thought it was pretty darn good.

1 - 12 oz bag of cranberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup apple cider
1 cinnamon stick

Bring the syrup and cider to a boil. Add the cranberries and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil again until the cranberries stop popping. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Serve warm or chill.

Some variations could include dried whole hot pepper along with the cinnamon, more syrup and less cider, maybe nuts...whatever strikes your fancy.

The cider and syrup are local. The cranberries are mezza-local. The cinnamon stick is the Marco Polo exception.

Crunchy Granola

Making granola is one of the easiest things to prepare and it may even qualify as baking. Wonderful smells emanate from the kitchen. And it's versatile: you can eat it right out of the bag, you can eat it like cereal, you can sprinkle it on yogurt or anything else that needs a crunch; the possibilites are nearly endless.

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 tsp salt
a sprinkle of cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp Maple syrup
3 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Mix the dry ingredients.
Mix the wet ingredients.
Combine.
Let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Spread the mixture out on a cookie sheet.
Bake for about 45 -55 minutes, turning and stirring a few times in the middle.
It's done when it's golden brown and dry.
Cool completely.
You can add dried fruit at this point if you like.
Store in an airtight container.

I've been using this recipe since before and it needs to be localized. So far, only the water and the maple syrup are local. The water comes from my well, so that's definitely local.

The maple syrup comes from the Sisters (the Community of the Holy Spirit, Bluestone Farm, Brewster, NY --20 driving miles from here). It is made with, as they say, nothing but sap, fire, and love.

Between Terri's sprouts and my granola, I'm feeling a bit anachronistic. Think I'll go to a peace rally!

Pumpkins

The first local pumpkins of the season appeared on the scene. I found mine at Mason's Farm Market. (They don't have a Web site, but they're on Route 25 in Monroe, Ct. at the Bradford Drive intersection. Map here.)

It turns out that pumpkins are quite nutritious; they're rich in beta carotene, potassium, Vitamin C, calcium, and fiber.

I decided to attempt the pumpkin soup recipe (PDF) from Kingsolver's book, which calls for cooking the soup and serving it in its own shell.

I was very careful scraping the inside flesh and I am quite certain that I did not breach the skin/shell, but alas, the pumpkin did collapse and I was unable to use it as a tureen.

As for the taste--delicious, though not exactly what I was expecting; this is pumpkin herb, not pumpkin spice.