Whiteley Creek Homestead

This week is the 5th lesson in my 16-week Cultured Dairy and Cheesemaking e-Course that I am taking. I learned how to make clabbered milk and clabbered cheese. What is "clabber" you say? Well, let me tell you, since I am now enlightened. Clabber is soured milk. It is allowed to sour under its own power without the aid of vinegar that we sometimes use in a pinch when a recipe calls for sour milk.

To elevate sour milk's less-than-popular reputation to a level that it deserves nutritionally, I created a special jar label to identify its contents. To make it, I scanned a vintage milk bottle cap into my computer, "erased" the dairy's name, and added the word clabbered in its place. After printing it, a quick spin of the wrist with my circle cutter and a short length of twine… done! Since I'm finding that I have several jars of various dairy products simultaneously culturing in the fridge and on my kitchen counter, I'm going to make these labels for each of the different processes, get them laminated at an office supply center, maybe insert each in a circular metal rimmed tag, and they'll be ready for instant identification.  I will use the clabbered milk… don't ya love the name… as a recipe substitution for buttermilk or yogurt.

To make clabbered cheese, I first serged the edges of a double-layer square of cheesecloth to keep it from fraying when I wash it.

 
 
After draping a square of cheesecloth over a colander (actually I used my steamer basket because my colander was being used to make yogurt cheese), I poured half of the clabbered milk into the cheesecloth and tied the ends. When the whey is allowed to drain off, the end-product is clabbered cheese.  

I make room temperature cultured yogurt two ways… 1)direct-set which requires a starter for each batch and 2)propagating a mother culture which can be used for subsequent batches.

Here's the direct-set method. Add 1/16th-1/8 tsp Danisco Mesophilic Feta Culture from Homesteader Supply to 1 quart milk straight from the fridge. I prefer to use raw milk or low-temperature pasteurized milk that has only been heated to 145°, but you can use pasteurized milk… just not ultra-pasteurized. Cover the jar with a paper towel or cloth napkin secured with a rubber band. I use a lightweight, open-weave dishcloth that I cut into fourths and serged the edges. Leave on kitchen counter for 12-24 hours until it is the consistency of yogurt. The room's temperature affects the culture time, so check it sporatically throughout the culturing process for several batches. You want to catch it when the yogurt is thick but not sour, then cover with a canning lid and store in fridge. The direct-set method produces a thinner consistency than store-bought yogurt, but I don't consider it a negative attribute. If a thicker consistency is preferred, chill then strain for a couple hours in a cheesecloth-lined strainer to separate some of the whey (liquid byproduct), then whisk it briefly. (Note: I am presently researching a comparison between the live active cultures in feta starter vs. yogurt starter. Do they provide similar probiotic benefits? When I find an answer, I will post it here.)  

Here's how to propagate a mother culture. Unlike the direct-set method that requires more starter powder for each batch of yogurt, once a mother culture is propagated it can be used to make subsequent batches. Making a mother culture requires that milk be sterilized (heated), but then it is added to unheated milk, so it produces room-temperature yogurt. In a pint canning jar or a similar size recycled jar, stir 1/2 tsp Cultures for Health Villi Yogurt Starter into 1/2 cup milk that has been heated to 170° then cooled to room temp. Cover the jar with a paper towel or cloth napkin secured with a rubber band. Leave on kitchen counter for 24-48 hours until it is the consistency of yogurt. Cover with a lid, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours to halt the culturing process. Now, you're ready to make a batch of yogurt. In a canning jar or recycled jar, stir 6 tbsp mother culture into 6 cups raw or pasteurized milk. In another jar, stir 2 tbsp mother culture into 2 cups sterilized milk that has been heated to 170° then cooled to room temp to make a starter for your next batch of yogurt. Cover each jar with a paper towel or cloth napkin secured with a rubber band. Leave on kitchen counter for 12-24 hours until it is the consistency of yogurt. Cover each jar with a lid, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours to halt the culturing process. (Note: To maintain the mother culture's viability and strength, it must be worked with once a week.)

I had just a little raw milk that I hadn't used before it turned sour. It's not so tasty on hot cereal, but for muffins… a perfect substitute for buttermilk or yogurt. These bran muffins, a recipe from Jane Kinderlehrer's Smart Muffins Cookbook, are super moist yet contain only 1 tbsp oil for 12 muffins. Unlike traditional bran muffin recipes that contain 1/3 – 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 – 2/3 cup brown sugar, the sweetness in the Buttermilk Bran Muffins comes from molasses and fruit.

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

2 egg whites, slightly beaten

1/3 cup molasses

1 tbsp olive oil

¾ cup buttermilk or yogurt (I used sour milk because it’s what I had.)

1 cup sifted whole wheat pastry flour

½ cup oat bran (I had none, so I subbed ¼ c ground flaxseed + ¼ c raw wheat germ.)

3 tbsp lecithin granules

2 tbsp wheat germ

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp grated orange rind

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 ½ cups blueberries (or ½ cup raisins)

finely chopped walnuts

In a mixing bowl, blend together the egg whites, molasses, olive oil, and buttermilk or yogurt. In another bowl, mix together the orange rind and dry ingredients. Preheat oven to 400°. Oil 12 regular-size muffin cups or line with paper baking cups. Combine the two mixtures and mix just to moisten the ingredients. Fold in the blueberries or raisins. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Top each with a sprinkling of walnuts. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Yield: 12 muffins.

O.K., so this is the third week in my 16-week Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eCourse taught by Wardeh Harmon. The lesson this week? Cultured Butter. What is the difference between butter and cultured butter? The culturing process introduces probiotics… healthy stuff that is in yogurt and kefir, for example, to improve the balance of beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract. Look, just look how pretty my homemade butter is… and fresh tasting. Oh, yes!