A thing or two about yogurt and why you should make your own

My husband and I have been making our own yogurt pretty regularly since about 2010 when our sweet neighbor in San Diego introduced this great idea to us. At the time money was tight. I’d cook as often as possible but always bought yogurt at the store. I knew better than to buy the individual 6 to 8 oz small cups of yogurt because the bigger 32 oz tub was clearly a better deal. Little did I know that I could be eating something way better for way cheaper and that’s when I learned about the possibility of making my own. Our neighbor Del showed us which yogurt maker to buy and how to do it. Soon enough we were on our way to eating healthier yogurt that cost at least half of what we were spending. 

It's been a few years and now I’m a bit of a yogurt snob. I haven’t quite gotten to buying my own lactobacillus bulgaricus et al concoctions, so from time to time I still buy some yogurt at the store to use as a starter. I refuse to buy anything with additives or added sugars because I’m a purist at heart when it comes to yogurt. Yogurt is just one of those magical foods rooted in simplicity.  

About yogurt and the home made process

So let’s start with the basics. As far as ingredients go, all yogurt is—and is supposed to be—is milk and bacteria. The process that turns the liquid milk into yogurt is just a heating process: milk has to heat between 180-195 or even 200 degrees Fahrenheit and then brought back down to 110 degrees. At that point, bacteria is added to the milk usually in the form of a starter from another batch of yogurt. About a cup of yogurt is mixed into the warm milk and then the mixture sits in a comfy warm container for about 9 hours— a typical ‘work day’ for the bacteria. Afterward, the container goes in the fridge and once it cools down, voila! you’ve got yourself yogurt. 

Homemade goodness

What’s really cool about this food is that it’s full of protein, calcium and probiotics and even has a bit of sugar, which is naturally there already from the milk. A cup of pure whole milk has about 11 grams of sugar, it’s just the way it is. Yogurt also has fats in it from the milk (mostly saturated fat), and whole milk makes the best kind of yogurt, especially when it comes to consistency. The fats in the milk help give yogurt that smooth creaminess to it, which can be enhanced even more by straining it for an hour or two. Straining removes the whey in the yogurt and leaves you with a bit of a “yogurt concentrate”, aka greek yogurt. All greek yogurt is is strained yogurt, which is why it’s more expensive: you need more yogurt to make the equivalent 8oz container. It also has more of everything (more fat, more sugar, more protein per ounce) so you don’t need to eat as much greek yogurt as you would regular yogurt. 

Putting our homemade yogurt in the "Wave" strainer to make Greek Yogurt -- leave it straining longer and you've got Labneh!

Store bought yogurt

Ok, so back to my snobbery with yogurt. When our homemade yogurt sits in the fridge for more than a week, I don’t like to use it as starter because it doesn’t have as much useful bacteria that I can put to work later. We’re pretty good about making yogurt once a week or so but when we forget, we have to replenish the starter with a fresher batch of store bought yogurt. 

Ideally I’ll make it to a fabulous store like Berkeley Bowl that offers plenty of choices. I usually buy organic yogurt and I devote time to looking at the ingredients. If the yogurt only lists two ingredients—milk and probiotics/bacteria— then I get it. If it starts listing crazy things like pectin, sugar, the evil, evil high fructose corn syrup, gelatin, citric acid, etc. I put it back on the shelf. When I’ve been in a bind and go to stores that don’t have a lot of variety, I’ve had to buy yogurts with things like pectin in them and my homemade yogurt just isn’t as good. A good, pure organic yogurt starter is essential to making great homemade yogurt. 

But that’s only half the battle. Milk is just as important and should not be skimped on. I always opt for organic whole milk and I buy the whole gallon so I can make my 64 oz tub and use the rest of the milk in coffee/tea. If I feel like splurging, I’ll buy the really fancy milk like the Straus whole organic milk from grass fed cows that comes in a glass container but at 9 bucks per container, it’s not something I always do. Still, even then you’re more than breaking even if you compare the cost of a store-bought 32oz fancy organic plain yogurt to the cost of the milk, which will yield more than 64oz of fancy organic plain yogurt anyway.

"Yogurtnomics"

	Cost per ounce	Total cost (excl. taxes)	Savings per 32 oz container
32 oz. Store bought Leading brand yogurt, non-organic, “all natural”	$0.09	$2.78
1 gallon non-organic milk	$0.03	$3.20
32 oz. Homemade non-organic plain yogurt	$0.03	$0.96 (not even a buck!!)	$1.82
32 oz. Store bought Organic plain yogurt (fancy)	$0.15	$4.79
1 gallon fancy organic milk (yields 4 32 oz containers)	$0.06	$7.70
32 oz. Homemade organic plain yogurt	$0.06	$1.92 (omg that's less than store bought non-organic)	$2.87

Return on your $40 yogurt maker investment (comes with a 64 oz tub):
Total cost of buying two 32 oz tubs of fancy store-bought organic plain yogurts: $9.58
Total cost of making two 32 oz tubs of fancy organic plain yogurts: $3.84
Difference in cost: $5.74
Pay back period: after making 7 homemade yogurts

Low-fat and yogurt marketing nonsense

When it comes to store bought, I also don’t even bother with the non-fat or low-fat yogurts. Almost every single one of them has added sugars to compensate for the lack of fats and to enhance the taste so now you’re eating something that is less healthy even though you think you’re eating a health food. I’d rather eat naturally occurring fats, aka whole plain yogurt, than added processed sugars, aka low or non-fat yogurt. I refuse to buy those branded flavored yogurt single-serving cups that pretend to be healthy; you might as well just eat a couple of spoonfuls of sugar and call it a day. If you want to eat yogurt because it’s healthy, I would avoid anything that isn’t plain. You can add fruit or honey to it at home and keep it healthy that way.  I’m also weary of "extra-creamy/smooth" claims because there are usually additives that make that happen. For example, I was really excited when I saw a new yogurt at the store claiming to use a secret Australian recipe. When I was in Australia I ate yogurt like it was my job and I’ve missed it dearly. I could barely contain my excitement at the dairy section when I saw that we were finally getting Aussie yogurt in the States. To my surprise, however, this yogurt wasn’t pure goodness but instead had the pectins and gelatins I like to stay away from. So the lesson with plain yogurts is to always look at the ingredients and to just walk away if the list has anything other than milk and bacteria. 

Why get pre-flavored ones when you can just DIY?

Anyway, if you want to save a couple of bucks on your grocery bill, eat a truly healthy product and stay away from additives, make your own yogurt at home. If it seems like too much of a hassle, at least do yourself a favor and get the good ol’ stuff with just milk and bacteria in it. Your gut will appreciate the friendly bacteria and your organs will appreciate taking a break from processing any extra sugars! 

The World's Healthiest "Carb"? A Close Look at Injera, the national food of Ethiopia.

"Injera for breakfast, injera for lunch, injera for dinner. All the time, injera. Always." -- Our Ethiopian home stay host's description of his diet. 

Locals enjoying injera and doro wot

Lentils, potatoes, beets and injera for lunch

How to describe injera? it's a spongey, crepe-like pancake that tasks like sourdough and is served in rolls and almost as a serving platter. Different kinds of stews/curries are then served on top of the injera. Except for chicken (which is usually served on the bone), most of these stews/curries are all bite sized and are scooped up with a piece of injera. Everything is eaten with your hand, there are no utensils. 

Teff

Injera is made from a very unique grain called teff. Teff originates from Ethiopia and most Ethiopians with whom I spoke said teff only grows in Ethiopia. According to some locals, teff is also extremely healthy and has a high iron content (being prone to anemia, I ate a lot more injera after discovering this useful fact).

Based on basic research, teff is indeed a very healthy grain and as a huge plus, it is gluten-free. It also has plenty of Lysine, an essential amino acid that increases calcium absorption and helps lower bad cholesterol levels. Its fiber, calcium, potassium and protein contents are excellent. Apparently, one cup of cooked teff has 40% of the recommended daily intake of calcium!

This tiny little grain is ground into a flour which is then used to make injera.  

Making injera

Making injera is easy!

I was so curious about Ethiopian cuisine so, I just had to take a cooking class. Injera was by far the easiest thing to make. First, you need the batter. The batter is simply water, yeast and teff flour mixed together and left to sit for three days (which is probably what gives injera its sourdough taste). Once the batter is done, lightly grease the largest pan you have, heat it up and then pour some of the batter so it covers the entire surface of the pan on a medium-high heat. The batter will immediately bubble, giving the injera its spongey texture. Cook the injera, covered, for two minutes. Only one side is cooked, so once the two minutes are up, it's done. Peel it off the pan and it's ready to eat. Ethiopians have humongous and specialized injera makers, but for the non-Ethiopian, this 'pan method' works just fine. 

Injera 24/7

Ethiopians are devout fans of injera and they will eat it every day. Similar to Dal Bhat in Nepal, this is a staple food throughout the country and even when teff is not available, people will make injera with other grains such as wheat or barley.

For example, our typical Ethiopian diet consisted of injera in the morning with tibbs (small pieces of meet in a spicy garlic stew) and plain egg omelets. Coffee beans would be roasting as we ate and we would wash down breakfast with a nice simi (cup) of fresh, delicious, border-line orgasmic home-made Ethiopian bunna (coffee). If it wasn't a wednesday or a friday, lunch would consist of injera once again with either more tibbs or meat wot, which is a special dish made with bean flour. Again, we'd wash down our lunch with another freshdeliciousborderlineorgasmichomemadeEthiopian bunna! And what's for dinner? You guessed it! Injera of course with some more stews. This time, however, we'd wash down dinner with a nice glass full of dtala or tejj -- Ethiopian home-made beer or honey wine. 

Country-style injera

As far as carbs go, injera does seem to be a very healthy alternative - especially when it is made with teff flour. But, could I mirror our host's diet?

Although injera is very tasty, healthy and goes well with everything, it was hard to eat it every single day. As a foodie, I really appreciate diversity in food. Unlike our host (and my friends in Nepal with their Dal Bhat obsession), I could not eat the same thing every day, three times a day for the rest of my life. The good thing is, I didn't have to. Ethiopia had three other amazing culinary gems to offer, and it was like a 'love at first sight' experience... 

Surprise! Unexpected food items while trekking in Nepal

Top 10 Awesome Food-finds during our Nepal Trek

Although the food is not too shabby in Nepal, there is a severe lack of variety and it gets old very quickly when you are trekking. The staple items on a trekking guesthouse menu are variations of: potatoes, pasta, rice and bread. 

For example, you can get noodles (pasta) with egg, noodles with veg and egg, noodles plain or noodles with chicken (if you're lucky). Same goes for the other carbs. 

Since we were on a 33-day trek, these options got boring rather quickly so we'd get really excited about new items. 

Here are the top 10 awesome finds:

1. Mustard! 

We only found it ONCE at a restaurant so we ordered burgers to go with the mustard. 

Most condiments are basically constrained to ketchup, salt perhaps some pepper and that was really it, unless honey counts. 

I normally would not have yellow mustard- opting instead for a more proper stone ground or at least a dijon. But, haveing seen no mustard in more than a month, it was a great find! 

This one was from Florida, USA out of all places.

2. Salad [that doesn't give you diarrhea]. 

Fresh vegetables are almost unheard of so finding a salad is like hitting the jackpot. Once you find it, it won't be that amazing though, as it will be mostly cabbage, onions, some carrots and tomatoes. 

Israeli salad: the best during the trek

The best salad I ever had was an 'israeli' salad that had actual oil and vinegar; this was in Muktinath. 

It's best not to eat raw vegetables though. I found out the hard way when I ordered my third salad during the trek and had severe food poisoning. 

The reason? 

Fresh vegetables should be washed with iodine water and it's not always done. 

The result, of course, is ingesting various sorts of contaminants that will get you sick in no time. 

3. Fresh Fruit! 

Even canned fruit was extremely difficult to find. Coming across fresh fruit only happened once to us in the town of Tatopani (tato is hot and pani is water in Nepali; Tatopani has natural hot springs, quite naturally!). 

Sometimes they would store apples and serve the with our breakfast porridge or fry them up as apple fritters (or in the unfortunate apple salad which consisted of chopped up apples completely smothered in mayonnaise [note: I hate mayo]). 

We were so excited about the fresh fruit that we had it for dinner and we also bought 10 bananas to bring along with us for the next few days. 

4. Yoghurt.

Most of the yoghurt is home made and was very hard to find. We found it once in the eastern region of Upper Mustang and it was delicious! 

We had it for dessert after dinner and then pre-ordered it for breakfast with muesli the following morning. 

We make out own yoghurt at home and we were really missing it so this was a real treat!

Homemade with honey, delicious!

... and topping it off w/muesli, yes!

5. Dark Chocolate Swirl Croissant.

What? Hells yes! We found this delicious pastry at a quirky cool place called Yac Donald's in Kagbeni.  

Every bite was ... heaven

They have an extensive menu and offer all kinds of fresh yak meat. Fresh yak meat is not always available. Even though there are a lot of free range, grass eating yak, many areas (such as Manang) do not kill yak for consumption, they only eat the meat if the yak has died (e.g. old, dead meat). 

Anyway, back to the croissant: it was actually a legit croissant and I savored every single bite. The dark chocolate in lieu of crappy milk chocolate was a complete but welcoming surprise. 

6. Organic fresh brewed coffee.

NOT instant coffee. That's a great start. Organic, freshly ground and brewed coffee was proudly brought to us by Yac Donald's in Kagbeni which was a nice break of the tea routine even though tea in Nepal was absolutely delicious. 

Major score! Thanks again, Yac Donald's!

We also had fresh seabuck thorn juice, yak cheese and organic toast to go along w/the coffee!

7. Ice-cold Coca-Cola. Everywhere.  

I never drink soda because I have a really hard time stomaching the insanely unhealthy amount of sugar in it. 

However, Nepal was a huge exception (I think we were burning plenty of calories each day to justify it). 

My stomach was unhappy for at least 30% of the trek and those ice cold bubbles and the rush of caffeine and the slight sugar high was just an amazing feeling when I was feeling so crappy. 

Coca-Cola has Pepsi beat in Nepal!

8. Apple cider.

Marpha is a cute little town full of apple orchards and there are tons of home-made apple cider. Marpha was the first town we walked to after we finished our Upper Mustang portion of the trek -- and it marked the beginning of our ABC portion. Apparently, a group of Germans helped to teach the locals how to make cider from apples. 

We bought a few bottles that we carried with us in our Nalgene to our next stop.  

Thanks, Germans!

9. Wild orange raspberries!

I had never seen these before! We picked them off a bush and they tasted delicious! 

The taste was actually more like a raspberry/blackberry hybrid - not too sweet or tart, just right. Whatever it was, it was so refreshing to just have something raw and fresh. 

[ps: please let me know if you know the actual name of this great berry if you happen to know it]

10. Apple pie dumpling.

We didn't technically find it, we suggested the chef at our guesthouse in Lower Pisang make it. And she did! 

Although she refused to try our strange concoction, the chef agreed to make it. She stuffed a dumpling with minced apple and spices. She steamed the dumplings and then we ate them with honey - what a delicious treat! 

Honorable Mention: Marijuana.

No, we didn't smoke it or eat it but we were actually surprised to find so much marijuana growing everywhere. 

After all, it's a weed!

Carboloading

Carbs Galore in the Himalyas

 

There is absolutely no shortage of carbs in Nepal, especially while trekking and rafting. My body had to get used to the absurd amounts of carbs I was eating and it was not a pleasant experience in the beginning. However, since we were doing so much exercise, it wasn't too bad after the 10 days. Our bodies took in all the carbs, quickly converted them to sugars and gave us plenty of energy to trek anywhere between 4 to 9 hours in a day at an average altitude of basically 4,000 meters (13,000 feet).

 

Food does not really grow very well around the Himalayas during winter. Temperatures get freezing cold and the soil also freezes up. Most people rely on more 'durable' or 'root' vegetables such as potatoes, carrots or cabbage that are brought in by mules in some of the more remote areas and other items such as spinach is often dried so that it can last through the tough winter months. Given the unavailability of fresh vegetables or fruit while we trekked (yes, March is still considered winter), there was not a single day during our 33-day trek that we did not eat carbs: between eating one more carb and starving and feeling weak, we definitely opted for carbs. Carbs are a curcial and essential component of the Himal (mountain) diet, without them, it would be very tough to get through the day.

 

Here is a list of all the different carbs we ate, we had unimaginable loads of potatoes, yards and yards of noodles, piles of chapatti (essentially a flour tortilla) and heaps and heaps of rice among other interesting ones:





Champa porridge made out of buckwheat (carb), a good breakfast item



Buckwheat (carb) pancake for either breakfast or with curry for lunch



Yak Cheese sandwich on a white bread roll (carb) and french fries (carb)

Potatoes (carb) with a little egg and shredded vegetables - the dark picture reflects the lack of electricity during most dinners!



"Chowmein" basic noodles (carb) with egg - I'm pretty sure the 'noodles' were just dried pasta that was cooked and then labeled as noodle

 

Samar bread (flour (carb), baking powder and water) with cheese, a special item in Samar, Upper Mustang

"Spaghetti" (carbs), momos (carbs) and curry with rice (carbs)

Noodle (carbs) soup, with chapatti (carbs)

Banana pancake (carbs) with honey - it was very exciting to find banana!



Apple pancake (carbs) with honey

Plain chapatti (carbs) with plain omelette in between for lunch outside of Lomanthang, Upper Mustang (only 7 kms away from the Tibet/China border with Nepal)

Plain chapatti (carbs) with fake red jam as a snack in Yara, eastern Upper Mustang

Fried prawn cracker (probably carbs) and fried pieces of dough (definitely carbs) - the appetizer we ate at a wedding we attended in Samar

Somme of the better carbs we had! Homemade toast with yak cheese, jam, butter, seabuckthorn juice, organic coffee and a chocolatey croissant (at YacDonald's in Kagbeni, Nepal)

Finally, although there was a carb overkill during our stay in Nepal, I definitely learned to appreciate where all these grains come from. A lot of different kinds of wheat is grown throughout some of the regions we trekked and it looked like really tough work. From tilling the soil with oxen to harvesting the grain by hand, I am simply amazed at how cheap grains are. A lot of the hillsides are terraces where grains grow and are later harvested. Some of the trails go right through the rows and rows of colorful grain everywhere, adding a really unique element of beauty to the Himalaya landscape.