I Killed It!!!

Like many of you we have been making our own yogurt for years.

Our former CSA farmer on the eastern side of the state, Steve Keune, had shared a starter culture of mjölk or as it is more commonly known filmjölk about fifteen years ago. This creamy, slightly tangy yogurt-like dairy product is about the easiest way to make yogurt in the universe.

It cultures right on the counter! Add milk to a few tablespoons of the last batch, place it in a corner of the counter, unrefrigerated, and 24 hours later, you have a new batch. No heat, no timing, just yogurt. To keep it going it needs to be cultured weekly. We learned to make a pint of fresh mjolk weekly - enough to make a smoothie and use some for topping soups, stews and etc. We easily handled that amount and kept it fresh.

I shared my batches with plenty of friends and relatives over the years and, up until two weeks ago, only lost it once before in 2008. Steve provided me with another starter but I knew I better be ready in the future just in case it happened again. I couldn't keep depending on Steve now that I'm across state.

Around March, I noticed my culture getting weaker - a little more watery and a little less firm. I used whole milk and every couple of months half and half to boost its fat content to see if that would work. It was hanging in. I had some heavy cream for a recipe and thought, "I'm going to make a batch with that!" and see if I can add some muscle to the mjölk. The next morning, I found a completely broken yogurt. One sniff told me the tale. I killed it! A sniff of the cream told me why. It had turned and I hadn't noticed.

Filmjölk culturing on our old family highchair

Luckily, I had done my homework and checked the internet. There are a number of sites that sell starter cultures. I ordered two. When it arrived, we mixed the culture in a pint of fresh milk and put our baby by the specified 70-77F spot (a little tough during WI fall-towards-winter) near the pilot light on our gas fireplace. The instructions said it would culture within 12-48 hours.

We waited anxiously.

12 hours - still milk!

24 hours - still milk! (gulp)

36 hours - mjölk!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're back in business again. Today we had a delicious smoothie and started our weekly culturing again. Tomorrow morning, our fresh baby will be waiting  again!