I am making Greek yogurt today

[jmowreader]

If you eat yogurt you've probably seen the "Greek yogurt" they sell these days. You've probably also noticed the price of it (two to three times the price of regular yogurt), and thought "so what's the big fuckin' deal, bitch?"

Greek yogurt, also called Yogurt Cheese, is simply regular yogurt that has been "Greek strained" until it's the consistency of joint compound. It is very easy to make.

You will need:
a quart of regular yogurt (organic yogurt works well for this)
a wire mesh colander
some cheesecloth (preferable) or a few coffee filters
a bowl to hang the colander over
a rubber scraper
a place that's not in the refrigerator your cats can't get to

Line the colander with either the cheesecloth or the coffee filters. Dump in the yogurt and squish it around a little. If you use cheesecloth you can gather it up and wring it out. You're trying to get all the whey out of the yogurt, and this helps. Now put it somewhere out of the reach of your cats--they will eat it if you don't--and wait a few hours until it stops dripping. When you're done, the volume will be about half what you started with and you'll have a product that looks like sour cream.

I have no idea if this would work with soy yogurt.

[Orrex]

1. Locking. No sex threads.

Oh, wait a minute...

[jmowreader]

2. You have sex with yogurt?

[Orrex]

3. Hey, it's your thread.

[datasuspect]

4. i make what i like to call "Joegurt"

[jmowreader]

5. How?

Let us know and I'll try it.

[tigereye]

6. ah, I wondered what the diff was...

thanks!

[hippywife]

7. But if you only end up with

half the original product, you've technically still paid as much as if you'd just bought the greek yogurt to begin with.

[jmowreader]

9. On a per-ounce basis you are correct...

OTOH, you can't get a pint of Greek yogurt in the stores around here, and I needed a whole pint to make tzatziki sauce. The closest you can get is a "pound" jar of Stonyfield Farms that contains a cup of product costs about five dollars--for some reason, the premade stuff in containers larger than five ounces is REALLY expensive.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. I assume you learned the hard way that cats will eat the yogurt.

[jmowreader]

10. My fucking flying cat will eat anything

This cat has eaten, at some point in her career of being a pain in the ass, more bread than I want to think about, yogurt, green beans, french fries, chili. a pop tart, cantaloupe, the butter, a live Jack Dempsey fish..,

How she got hold of the Dempsey was a thing of beauty: this fish actually liked to be petted. You'd stick your finger into the tank and the fish would swim up to the top of the water column then rub himself on your finger. The cat saw us doing this, and waited until I had one of the hoods off for maintenance. She got on the other hood and stuck her paw into the water. The fish, not knowing a little gray predator is attached to the paw, swam to the top to rub against it. When he did, the cat extended her claws, slapped the fish against the side of the tank to embed claws in fish, then pulled it out and ate it.

[tango-tee]

11. I had a cat like that once.

My neighbor, an avid hunter, brought over some grilled venison steaks. I caught the cat making off with one steak in his mouth, and I tried to snatch it from him. The cat was still attached to the steak, hanging in mid-air. Wouldn't let go for anything. Well, I eventually decided I didn't want the damn steak any longer. Chopped it up for the cat....

[blogslut]

12. Sounds similar to the way I make soft vinegar cheese from milk

Now, I make mine with canned milk but the same can be done using fresh, whole milk:

1) Pour a can of milk in a saucepan, fill the empty can to the top with water and pour that in the saucepan and stir slightly to mix.

2) Heat the milk to the point where it barely begins to bubble

3) Pour in a tablespoon of vinegar (any vinegar will do but I love balsamic for this)

4) Reduce heat while maintaining the slight bubble and stir gently until curds begin to form. Once the curds form, immediately remove the milk/vinegar mixture.

5) Place a mesh strainer over a deep bowl. Line the strainer with cheesecloth. Pour the milk/vinegar mixture into the strainer and place the bowl in the refrigerator.

6) After about an hour, take the cheescloth and twist it up, forcing the whey away from the curd and into the bowl. Keep the cheesecloth ball/strainer/bowl setup in the refrigerator overnight.

7) The next day, you can take this cheese and mix it with almost anything. If you want a sweet spread, try mixing it with a bit of honey and some nuts and/or dried fruit. For something more savory, try your favorite spices and maybe some chopped scallions.

8) Spread on toast, crackers or bagel and yum!