Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Yogurt -- ecmmbm/Michelle?

Warning to newbies and everyone -- Dairy Yogurt is generally considered an IBS trigger because it contains casein and whey. It does not contain lactose, and is therefore somewhat more tolerable for very stable people. Here is my family recipe:

Gallon of Milk (whole or 2%, not skim)
1 cup store-bought plain yogurt, or yogurt you saved from the last time you made it. This is your "starter"
teeny bit of butter to rub on the bottom of the pan
2 beach towels

Put the starter in a bowl on the counter so it can get to room temp. Butter the bottom of a big dutch oven or other big pot. This keeps the milk from burning. Pour in all the milk. Say a prayer so the milk doesn't boil over and create a gross mess on your stove. Turn the fire on medium-high and don't go anywhere. Just as the milk begins to boil, foam, and rise, turn off the fire. Thank God that it didn't boil over. Wait a long while for the milk to cool off considerably. You know it's ready when you can hold your pinky finger in there for 7-10 seconds. This is a very scientific measurement. Ladle some of the warm milk, a spoonful at a time, into the bowl of starter, and mix it around. This is called tempering, and it warms the starter up gradually so it doesn't kill the cultures. Now, add the starter into the big pot, stir it around a couple times, and put the lid on it. Now, take the pot off the stove and place it on a spread out beach towel on the counter. Wrap the ends and sides of the beach towel up around the pot. Lay the second beach towel over the top and tuck it all around. This is to help the milk cool as gradually as possible. If it cools too fast or too slowly, you get a lot of water on top of your yogurt. Say another prayer that it turns out, or else you get a big pot of milk. Leave it overnight, at least 24 hours to break down all the lactose. Now, you have yogurt. If you want to get even more creative, you can spoon all of the yogurt into a very fine white pillowcase or a sac made out of cheesecloth. Add a little salt. Hang it from the cabinet over your sink and let all the water drain out. When it's cream cheese consistency, you're done, and you've made a very yummy spread. The longer you let it sit out in the pot, and then the longer you let it hang over the sink, the more of a tart taste you will get. If you don't have a pillowcase or a cheesecloth bag to use, you can do it another way. Get a big bowl and some good, strong paper towels. I like Viva. Lay the paper towels over the top of the bowl and secure them with a giant rubberband or one of those stretchy headbands. Spoon the (salted) yogurt onto this towel hammock and leave it on the counter until all the water has dripped through and into the bowl. Then, very gently scrape the yogurt off the towels and into a bowl. Do not attempt to unhook the towels while the strained yogurt is still on top -- it will fall into the bowl of water.

We eat the spread for breakfast on bagels or on syrian (pita) bread. Drizzle it with a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil too. Olives on top are great.

We eat the plain yogurt at breakfast with honey, or at dinner, mixed with garlic, salt,dried mint, and chopped cucumbers, to accompany a lot of meat dishes.

I hope that made sense!

Panda

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Amanda

I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin

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