I finally succeeded at yogurt! & a ? about the whey

pfal6

I posted a few times aobut yogurt machine recommendations. I forget who posted about using a crockpot, but I tried it and I actually made decent consistency yogurt! I am so happy to not have to spend money on another kitchen machine. So now my question is I drained some of it to make it thicker and I have a good amount of the whey left over. What do you do with it? I know you can cook with it, but what do you recommend.

 

Thanks! And thanks to whomever (I believe it was a lurker if I remember correctly) suggested the crock pot method!

tokenhoser

I know you can use it to make bread or pizza crust (just use in place of whatever liquid is in the recipe). That's all I've ever used it for. Usually, I reluctantly end up tossing it, as the only time I have whey is when I make mozza, and then I have a LOT of whey all at once.

SuperGreen

We save it in a jar in the fridge to make fermented foods.  Fermented pickles, sauerkraut, beets, etc.... all require whey to get started.  The book Wild Fermentation is an awesome resource for fermented foods.

cme25

I'm so glad the crockpot worked for you! (I've recommended it on this board but don't remember to whom.) I love using it and not having to have another kitchen gadget, too.

Some quick googling tells me that you might be able to get a very small amount of ricotta from the excess whey? I've used they whey from making cheddar to turn into ricotta, but never the whey from yogurt. It does take quite a decent amount of whey to get a substantial amount of ricotta, so it depends on how much whey you're left with, I suppose.

Otherwise, I stick it in a jar in the fridge and use it in pizza crust or bread within a day or two. I've never frozen it, but it seems like that might be a good idea if you want to save up a bunch of whey to try the ricotta thing!