Stocking Up (and Yogurt, Too)

I don't like buying prefabricated foodstuffs if I can easily make them myself - especially if they're more expensive premade. Take... oh, say, yogurt. Or vegetable stock. No wait, take both, because that's what I made this week.

(Like you had a choice.)


Making vegetable stock, for instance, is pretty simple. And it's handy to have around, because what if I want to make stew? Or risotto? Or something else that takes stock?

Why make your own vegetable stock?
- it's cheaper than buying stock
- you actually get to use vegetable scraps you'd otherwise throw away
- minimize waste from a) commercial production of stock, including packaging, and b) usable scraps
- it's very easy
- sodium control
- ingredient control
- quality control
- the stock is only subject to your whims, and not irradiation, complete sterilization, and contamination from horrid things

Every day, from whatever vegetables I use in my cooking or eating - carrots, celery, onions, kale, garlic, herbs - scraps go into a 1-2 gallon bag in the freezer. I call it my "stock bag." Onion skins go in... carrot peelings... kale stalks... thyme stems... that kind of thing. I don't put carrot greens or really inedible things in there, though, or things with no real flavor of their own (like lettuce, or potatoes). And if I have a vegetable that kind of wilts in the fridge but doesn't go bad, and I don't want to eat it because it's too floppy, I'll put it in the stock bag, too.

And then when the bag's full, I take everything out and dump it in my stockpot and cover with good water. Filtered, or bottled, or whatever. You're making a stock, so the water is kind of a feature. You don't want it to taste like Phoenix tap water.



I also chop up a few fresh carrots and half an onion and smash a few garlic cloves and toss them in. You don't even have to peel them. (By the way, don't put in the insane amount of parsley that I did here. It kind of makes it bitter.) I think the most important flavors in a stock come from carrots, celery, and the members of the Allium genus (onions, leeks, garlic, chives, etc). Make sure you have plenty of those in there.

Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, cover partially and let it go for an hour or two. Stir it every 20 minutes or so, to make sure everything's getting overcooked the same amount. When it's done, you should be able to mash a previously-fresh chunk of carrot with a fork.



It should also smell pretty good. Put a nice big strainer over a nice big bowl and carefully pour in the vegetables and their cooking liquid.



Let that drain in there for a few minutes (prop it up if the bottom is sitting in the stock) and then set the strainer aside to cool before you dispose of the veggies. They are great in a compost pile, or eaten by a pig. If you have access to neither of those things, you can always just throw them out. They've lost all value at this point (but really, pigs love to eat anything).

Salt your liquid to taste. It's probably two teaspoons per 6 cups. I don't know. Just keep tasting.



You can use it right away, or pour it in a nice sealing jar and freeze it - whatever you need. You could freeze it in an ice cube tray, and then put all the cubes in a bag in the freezer, so when you need just a little stock you can take out the right amount. I used a bunch to make cassoulet, and stored the rest.

Tada! Vegetable stock. Kind of simple. Very cheap.



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And now for yogurt. I use the method (approximately) used in the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz. It's not scary. You don't need a yogurt maker. It's not difficult. As long as you are capable of pouring and stirring.

You should have a few tools on hand, though. Have a watertight quart-size jar. I love the ones with the little orange rubber seal. Also have a small hard picnic cooler that will fit said jar and still be able to close. And last, but not least, have a candy thermometer that you can clip to the side of a saucepan.

Why make your own yogurt?
- it can be cheaper than buying processed yogurt
- it's easy
- it's pure - keep powdered milk, gelatin, and other thickeners and stabilizers out
- you can choose the source and type of your milk
- it will only undergo what you put it through, and not the rigors and dangers of commercial preparation

This yogurt is not quite as firm as yogurt you'll find in little plastic cups. The reason is that it contains no thickeners, other than the culture Lactobacillus delbrueckii bulgaricus (which also breaks down lactose so you can digest it). It is creamy and thick, and a great probiotic.

Start with a quart of the freshest whole milk you can get, and pour it into a saucepan (preferably one with a heavy bottom, not super-thin). It should fit with a little room. Clip your thermometer to the side so it's as far into the milk as you can get it without touching the bottom of the pan.



The first step is to re-pasteurize the milk. Yogurt is made with beneficial bacteria, but they can't work very efficiently when there's other bacteria in the way. So pasteurizing will give your milk a fresh new start. Put it over medium heat or so. Not too high, or it will scorch on the bottom and your yogurt will taste like burnt milk. Are you really that impatient?

Stir it every couple of minutes (from the bottom) so it doesn't scorch. You want to get it to 180°F - not higher, because it will lose just about anything nice that it has in it, and taste much like cooked milk, which is weird. Not lower if you want to minimize your risk of unsavory competition for your good bacteria. But if you're trying to keep it near-raw, and have raw milk fresh from the cow, maybe you could skip the pasteurization step.

When it reaches 180, take it right off the heat and put it on a cooling rack. Keep stirring it every few minutes (not as often as you did when it was on the stove). You are now cooling it to the proper temperature for yogurt cultures to thrive - between 110°F and 115°F.



The milk takes a little while to cool, so you can also prep your cooler and jar by filling them with scalding hot tap water.



Close up the cooler to retain the heat and warm everything up faster.

Your milk is still not cool, so you can get your culture ready. Take 1 tablespoon - no more, no less - of active culture yogurt and keep it handy. If it's your first time making yogurt, get a small container of plain, whole milk yogurt from a brand that advertises live cultures (the more, the better, usually), and take it from there. Nancy's Springfield Creamery in Oregon makes lovely cultured dairy products, and their yogurt makes a great starter. Get one with an expiration date as far in the future as possible. Bacteria do die off after awhile, and if you get a dud culture, you'll get dud yogurt. I had a batch from two weeks ago that I made, so I used a tablespoon of my own yogurt.



When your milk finally enters the 110-115 range, plop in the tablespoon of yogurt and whisk it up. Immediately dump the water out of the jar and cooler, dry the inside of the jar with the cleanest towel you have, and pour in the milk. With confidence. If you are afraid, you might spill it everywhere and lose everything you've ever worked for. Don't cry, though; I hear there's no use.



Seal up your jar and put it back in the cooler. Fill the cooler (so it just covers the jar of yogurt-to-be) with very hot tap water.



Close the cooler and put it in an undisturbable location (no moving or opening) and leave it alone for 8-12 hours. The longer it sits, the firmer and sourer it gets. I like yogurt sour (more good bacteria!), so I usually leave it at least 10 hours.

After your allotted time, take out the jar and put it in the refrigerator to chill. When it's chilled, it will be all yoged up. And really neat!



If you're not used to plain yogurt, or don't like the sourness, I recommend sweetening it with brown sugar, rapadura sugar, maple syrup, agave nectar, or honey (although, adding honey to chilled yogurt is difficult, as the honey gets nervous and seizes up and takes quite awhile to blend). Berries are also good, as are chopped nuts, granola, or shaved chocolate. You can use it in any recipe calling for yogurt.


Hope you enjoyed the how-to guide. It's really very satisfying to have an intimate knowledge of your food.

PS: Sorry there's no saguaro pudding. They're a protected species or something. Maybe next time, if I can find some saguaro fruit or seeds on the market.