When I first moved out to Boulder seven years ago, my mom gave me her old Salton yogurt maker and I definitely dabbled in making homemade yogurt for a few weeks. But, it really only lasted a few weeks because the bottom line is it is MUCH easier (read: more convenient) to go to Whole Foods and buy yogurt than to make it at home.
I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries lately in my spare time and saw a couple on plastic and, besides freaking me out, made me think about how I don’t actually use much plastic at home since I generally try to avoid it. Yogurt, however, is always sold in plastic and, being that I have a brand new yogurt maker (I replaced my mom’s old one… though I can’t remember why), I decided from now on my yogurt would be served in little glass jars and I’d be that much less responsible for the ridiculous amount of plastic we toss out (or down-cycle).
It’s so easy… ANYONE could do this. Just takes a little time.
Step 1- Bring milk (I used 2%) to just under a boil.
Step 2- Let it cool to the right temperature- 108-112 degrees Fahrenheit- I have a special yogurt thermometer that lets me know when the milk is in the right temperature range to add the starter.
Step 3- Dissolve 5 grams of yogurt starter in a little of the warm milk. Then add that to all of the milk and mix well.
What’s yogurt starter? Well, it’s freeze-dried skim milk powder, sucrose, ascorbic acid, and lactic bacteria. I bought Yógourmet brand in the dairy section at Whole Foods.
Step 4- Pour the milk mixture into glass yogurt jars (they come with the yogurt maker) and then incubate them for at least 4 hours. I let mine sit there for 7 hours.
I have a Salton brand yogurt maker I bought at Bed Bath & Beyond. It essentially keeps the milk and lactic bacteria mixture at a warm temperature so it thickens into yogurt.
When it is thick enough for you, turn off the yogurt maker and remove the jars. I like to let mine sit until they reach room temperature before stacking them in the fridge. When you’re in the mood for yogurt, you have seven individual servings, all in nice glass jars rather than plastic.
We’ll see how long I keep this up.
Brace yourself, Boulder. We’re about to have the best Whole Foods in the nation right here in Boulder. America’s “foodiest”small town is going to have an enormous new
Whole Foods, and I had the pleasure of touring part of the new building just days before opening.
It’s only appropriate that Whole Foods name the new food stations after Boulder and Colorado places, landmarks, products, etc. For starters, the new juice bar, called 5430, celebrates our elevation above sea level. We’ll be able to enjoy freshly made juices, kombucha, and Allegro coffee at the coffee bar right around the corner from 5430.
The new addition is something like 26,000 square feet larger than the original cozy (or uncomfortably cramped) Pearl Street store. In other words, it is huge! And, with all that size comes more seating areas both inside and outside, more space to move around, and lots of new foodie features, like prepared foods, made-to-order foods, and other specialty items.
Whole Foods is bringing us something new- a Greens, Beans, and Grains station that will be super healthy, maybe deceptively healthy, thanks to a classically french-trained chef-turned low fat, low salt, low sugar, gourmet chef. Whole Foods will be continuing to embrace their “Health Starts Here” campaign and the Greens, Beans, and Grains will be the station to visit for healthy meals on the go. Other Whole Foods throughout the nation will hopefully have a Greens, Beans, and Grains bar soon.
And then, there’s sushi and wok-stir-fried Asian foods…
The Bear Mountain BBQ, which is said to rival even the best southern BBQ available.
A Taqueria which will have lots of different street tacos for $1.99 as well as a nice selection of Mexican foods.
The Lefthand Sandwich Company
A huge new bakery which will feature naan, pita, and flatbreads as well as every other type of baked goods imaginable.
This is really cool- it is the flat top oven that will bake naan, pita, and flatbread in approximately 2 minutes.
There’s going to be an impressive charcuterie station and Whole Foods will be featuring some in-house-roasted meats as well as some of the highest quality salumi you can get in the US.
I’ll probably be hanging out at the Cheese counter where we’ll be able to purchase cut-to-order cheeses. The cheese counter is right next to the fresh dried pasta bar. Yum!
Saturday, December 18 is the day to come out and see this with your own eyes. Hopefully you’ll get to taste a lot, too. The entire store renovation won’t be completed until next spring, but what is about to be unveiled is a foodie’s dream come true.
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