Re: Piima milk, goat milk and lacto-fermentation

[Guest guest]

Hi Laurie,

Thanks for sharing you're successes--I too am having fun trying all this new stuff. I haven't gotten the Piima powder yet but have started making yogurt. The first time I made it I followed the directions in Nourishing Traditions--it came out really runny, second time it didn't work at all. It seemed like 150 degrees was kind of hot to culture it at, but that's what it said. Now I'm thinking that must be a typo--I found some different directions and it says it should never be over 118 degrees. I used my proofing box to hold the temperature (the oven won't go lower than 150 degrees) and it worked great--nice and firm. My proofing box is really working great--I put one of those dimmer switches in that scews right into the light socket--the bulb then screws into the dimmer switch. I can then adjust the temperature very finely based on the wattage of the bulb and the amount of dimming--for sour dough I use a 15 watt bulb, for the yogurt a 40 watt dimmed way down held the temp at about 114 degrees. I use my Polder thermometer with the wand poked through the styrofoam ice chest to adjust the temp--and once it's adjusted where I want it the constant heat source from the bulb seems to hold the temp very steady.

I have a couple of questions, should the whey from the yogurt work the same as the other kind?

Also does anyone have a recipes for homemade Ranch dressing? I t's about the only thing my boys will eat on their salad and I'm working really hard to get all the preservative laced food out of the house.

Thanks,

From: laurie@...

Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 9:17 AM

Subject: Piima milk, goat milk and lacto-fermentation

Hi,I've been making piima milk with raw goat's milk I've been getting locally. It's working very well! The goats have a nice pasture and things look clean, the owner sterilizes the milk jars but I haven't seen her setup or seen her work. I'm trusting that she is clean in her work. I'm finding that goat milk gets "goaty" after a couple of days, but if I culture it, it takes longer for this to happen. Cow milk will be better with the kids, but it has reduced the consumption of pasteurized milk here.The cupboard over the fridge works great, and I have a jar of piima culturing up there, and some raspberry syrup and ketchup (from the book). I think today I'll start some sauerkraut. The mayonnaise I made last week (with whey) is lovely - I'm really beginning to think that whey is some kind of marvel! This is really fun :-DLaurie

[Guest guest]

It's so nice to hear that you are successful with Piima. I have a

packet of powder waiting for me to start. I also have access to raw

goats milk to make it with, but I was wondering if you follow Sally's

recipe in the book and use a cream based starter culture? And I'm

still unclear as to what happens when this cream starter runs out?

Do you use more cream and replenish it, or just use the goats milk?

Becky

> Hi,

> I've been making piima milk with raw goat's milk I've been getting

> locally. It's working very well! The goats have a nice pasture

and

> things look clean, the owner sterilizes the milk jars but I haven't

> seen her setup or seen her work. I'm trusting that she is clean in

> her work. I'm finding that goat milk gets " goaty " after a couple

of

> days, but if I culture it, it takes longer for this to happen. Cow

> milk will be better with the kids, but it has reduced the

consumption

> of pasteurized milk here.

>

> The cupboard over the fridge works great, and I have a jar of piima

> culturing up there, and some raspberry syrup and ketchup (from the

> book). I think today I'll start some sauerkraut. The mayonnaise I

> made last week (with whey) is lovely - I'm really beginning to

think

> that whey is some kind of marvel!

>

> This is really fun :-D

>

> Laurie