Yogurt Culture vs clabber

[Guest guest]

in warm weather I make a delightful clabber here, w/ NO added cultures. It has a slightly different taste, and as a cheesemaker i can tell the different way it cuts.

nothing wrong w/ it but it is not yogurt, but more of a "bonnyclabber"

see below article for interesting info.

www.MajestyFarm.comNorth Garden, Virginia

The Irish TableIrish food is best known for the quality of its ingredients and the honestsimplicity of its preparation. "The newest of food and the oldest of drink,"says the old Irish proverb!Books and legend suggest that medieval Irishmen lived well on dairy productsand "corn," what we would call cereal. Herds of sheep, cattle, and goatsyielded milk to be drunk sweet or sour or turned into cheeses. One ancientchronicler rhapsodized about the "great daintie" of sour curds calledbonnyclabber, which is still enjoyed today. The Irish are prodigal aboutusing dairy products in their cookery, butter, for instance, being usedrather than oil. That so many Irish recipes call for buttermilk or sour milkrather than whole milk reminds us that refrigeration was not available toIrish bakers until relatively recent years.Butter played an important role in the household in earlier times; everyhousehold had its churn. Lumps of butter were sometimes thrown into thewater through which cattle were driven in order to ward off evil and to keepthe cows' milk flowing. Bags of butter have been found in bogs, edible aftercenturies of burial. Milk was often thought to superstitions developedaround dairy products and their attraction to the spirits. One called for alive cinder to be put into the churn to guard the butter from thenetherworld's creatures. One prohibited a person from taking live fire outof the house during churning, and another required that if a man rekindledhis pipe at the hearth, he had to take a turn at churning to ensure that thebutter and churn were preserved from all harm.Oddly enough, although the Irish today consume more potatoes and dairyproducts than their fellow Europeans, they consume the least amount ofcheese per capita. The irony of this fact is that the Irish were the firstEuropeans to make cheese. It is said that the Swiss learned to make Appenzelfrom the advice and knowledge of Irish monks. Cheese too was supposed to bethe medium chosen by St. 's would-be assassins to poison him.Agricultural Ireland was also rich in cereals. Oatmeal was the cornerstoneof the Irish diet in pre-potato days. Whether made into bread or, moresimply, boiled up as a "stirabout" or porridge, oatmeal was the food of thepeople. It is said that St. Columcille learned his alphabet by having theletters traced on an oaten cake by his nurse. In medieval times, the mannerin which oatmeal was served signaled class distinctions. Royalty's childrenwere nourished with wheaten stirabout flavored with honey and milk; thechieftains' progeny had their stirabout made with fresh milk and flavoredwith butter; workmen's children were fed oatmeal with buttermilk or water.Oatmeal also served as currency: As late as the 1600's rents were often paidwith oaten meal and cakes.Seafood, lamb, pork, and a variety of vegetables are part of Ireland'sdietary history, but the potato is the food most intimately associated withIrish history. The unfortunate turn of events which forced the Irish intodependence on the potato started around the time of II's defeat at theBattle of the Boyne, June 14, 1690. The two s who followed enacted the Penal Laws which denied Catholics a host of rights. Whenrebellion inevitably followed repression, two of the rebel groups, theWhiteboys and the Defenders, scorched the land during their campaign ofterror against the English. While the above ground crops could not withstandthe burning, the potato, cultivated underground, survived to become thepeasant mainstay. But the dependence on one type of vegetable left thecountry vulnerable to the diseases which wiped out the potato in 1845, 1846and 1847.Although the popular association of the potato with the Irish has amelancholy history, nevertheless, it could be a treat to stop by aneighbor¹s cottage just as she took the boxty out of the oven. This hotloaf, still served today, is a kind of potato bread which, before baking, isalways marked with a cross so it can be divided into sections, or farls:Boxty is traditionally eaten in Ireland on Halloween, as is colcannon,mashed potatoes with cabbage and butter. On Halloween, coins are wrapped infoil and buried in colcannon. Children would eat their way to where thecoins were hidden. Earlier versions of colcannon began with a mixture of rawwhite vegetables- white cabbage, parsnips, onions, potatoes- which wereseasoned with salt and pepper and layered in a giant saucepan. Champ (mashedpotatoes with scallions) is another Irish staple. Leftover mashed potatoes,combined with equal amounts of cabbage and browned butter in a skillet, makea tasty dish called "bubble and squeak."An old Irish verse celebrates fond remembrances of the potato:Did ye ever ate colcannon that's made from thickened cream,With greens and scallions blended like a picture in your dream?Did ye ever take potato-cake or boxty to the school,Tucked underneath your oxter with your book and slate and rule?(written by Lawlor & originally printed in 1990)