Yogurt and Caramel

Sorry, I got sidetracked and the Caramel post is here.
We get three gallons of milk per week. Vince has been making kefir twice a week and that uses a gallon. I make at least one half gallon of buttermilk per week, sometimes a whole gallon. That leaves one gallon for us to drink or use in oatmeal or cream of wheat or using in cooking. Vince has decided to stop making kefir so I can go back to making yogurt. The milk man came Friday and as soon as he left, I got a half gallon of milk into the Instant Pot to make yogurt. This morning it was strained and ready to go into containers.

Maybe we’re lazy but just having a big container of yogurt, we rarely eat it but having in ready to serve small containers, we go through those in a few days.

I added a little oatmeal and maple syrup. I added a little milk because the oatmeal will take up some liquid. I also added chia seeds and they will make it all thicker.

I put strawberries in some and apples in some. To the apple group, I added a bit of cinnamon and vanilla. I didn’t know if Vince wanted chia seeds in his so I saved those out and was going to add them to half the jars but he did want chia seeds. Next time I’ll add the seeds to the bowl and mix them all in.

I will sometimes add dried cherries or cranberries, chopped dates, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries – whatever we have on hand.

I went ahead and started another batch of yogurt. I’ll save out more of the plain this time. We use it in place of sour cream on baked potatoes and in salad dressings.

Can you see the cream line in that half gallon of milk? I pour off some of that and will save it. In fact, I already used what I poured off to add to the gravy for our lunch today. I leave about half the cream in for the yogurt.

We are really lucky to be able to buy raw milk in Missouri. It’s even better that the dairy farmer delivers once a week to our door. Each time I talk about raw milk, some write that they cannot buy it in their area. This site lists the places that sell raw milk. From their list, it looks like the only state that has more folks selling raw milk is Virginia.

I will not drink storebought milk so even in the years when we weren’t getting raw milk, I just didn’t drink milk. I will drink raw milk but I absolutely love buttermilk made from the full cream raw milk. I try to only make a half gallon per week because I will drink it all – even if I make a full gallon. For both the buttermilk and the yogurt, the milk is pasteurized before making it so really, it’s only what we’re actually drinking that’s still “raw”.