The MOMA Birthday Edition follow-up
November 8, 2008
All in the name of science, I sampled all eight jars of yogurt from last nights batch in various combinations. You may wish to refer back to the table at the end of the previous post to see the difference between each jar.
Q: Is there a difference between Nancy’s Organic Yogurt culture and Voskos Greet Style Yogurt culture?
A: Not a strong difference. Voskos may make a slightly tangier result — in a B vs D tasting, D was slightly tangier.
Q: What happens when you use almost sour milk as your base?
A: It’s not good! The sour milk gets sour-er. Jars A and E were so unpleasant that I set them aside and didn’t use them for more tasting. I could maybe use them in a cake recipe, but Maria’s birthday isn’t for several months.
Q: Does heating the base first make a difference?
A: There’s no evidence that heating the milk first makes a difference. B and F were indistinguishable, as were C and G. Note, however, that the milk was only heated up to 120F, whereas some recipes will call for heating to 180F. But since the point of pre-heating the milk is to kill bacteria that would prevent making a good batch, and since the batches seem fine without pre-heating, I think this step can be safely skipped in the future. (Do any readers have evidence to the contrary?)
Q: Does it make a difference whether the jar is tightly sealed or open during incubation?
A: YES! The answer is: don’t do it. The jars that were sealed during incubation ended up much runnier than those that were left open: the yogurt in jars C and G (which has been sealed) was runnier than yogurt in jars that were left open during incubation: B, D, F, H.
Other: Since I ran out of milk, I made the last jar (H) with my last remaining bit of liquid milk (200 ml) and with powdered milk, mixed with 4 tbsp of powder per cup of water (500 ml). It’s texture was fine, but once again, it had a peculiar taste — this time with a somewhat “chlorine-y” overtone. As I write this, I realize that’s the problem: I forgot to use filtered water and used plain tap water instead. Moral: if you’re going to use powdered milk, be sure to use good-tasting water.
