Eating at Crossroads is hard. Eating vegan at Crossroads is hard. Let’s be real — being vegan in general is pretty hard.

It doesn’t take long before you get sick of the options Crossroads has to offer — there are only so many days you can eat salad with hummus and guacamole. But fortunately, Crossroads does have one item that can help us diversify our vegan palate each week: its vegan burger. Who knew that one patty could make for five days of different lunches?

Here are our suggestions:

1. The classic vegan burger

Make sure to get out of your ketchup comfort zone and try adding hummus, guacamole and different sorts of veggies.

2. Modern croutons

Chop up the patty and add it onto your salad as a crouton replacement.

3. New soup crackers

Try topping off that vegan soup with some chopped-up burger and pumpkin seeds from the salad section.

4. Stuffed pita bread sandwiches

Substitute a chopped vegan burger for falafel and stuff it into pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers.

5. Open-face vegan patty

(Excuse the bacon)

Slather the burger with loads of hummus, and top it off with some lettuce and veggies of your choice.

Disclaimer: Your food will probably not look similar to the pictures, but we’re sure it’ll be pretty close.

Image Sources: ccharmon,  SweetOnVeg, Ted Drake,  Enobytes Wine Online,  franksteiner, and HannahWebb under Creative Commons

Contact Sparsha Saxena at ssaxena@dailycal.org.

The post 5 ways to vamp up that vegan burger at Crossroads appeared first on The Daily Californian.

When putting off homework, we tend to look for justifiable distractions or means of procrastination, and when in search for those, some of us turn to the kitchen. This year was no exception, with the discovery of the ultimate study break: the almond. Almonds are relatively cheap and healthy for you, and they are primarily grown in California. They are a rich source of vitamin E, protein and fiber. It is fascinating how many ways this single ingredient can be transformed, and it surely can take up lifetimes, but these few preparations are a great place to start.

1. Toasted almonds

Beyond eating them raw, toasting almonds is likely the most straightforward preparation of almonds. All you really need is a dry heat source — a stove, a toaster oven or a convection oven.

• Turn the chosen heat source to whatever temperature you like, but remember, the higher the heat, the more likely the almonds will burn without careful attention. (About 350°F should be safe.)
• Toss some raw almonds into the chosen heating receptacle (pan, skillet, roasting tray, etc.) and agitate the almonds every once in a while to ensure that they won’t burn.
• Toast them to your pleasure and take them out of the oven. Salt to taste.

There you go — delicious toasted almonds. When toasted, the almond acquires a wonderfully subtle creamy meatiness that you might not expect when thinking of almonds.

2. Candied almonds

Though less healthy than toasted almonds, these are just as delicious. You can put them in salads, cookies or cakes and even just eat them by themselves. They can be lightly candied, turned into almond brittle or made into praline almonds. This may sound intimidating, but luckily, all of these options require very similar, simple steps that are centered around melting sugar to caramel. So let’s grab our saucepan, some sugar and some almonds and get to work making some almond brittle.

• For maximum flavor, toast your almonds.
• Chop up about 3 cups of raw almonds. See the previous section for toasting instructions.
• Put 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Once it starts to melt, add 1 more cup of sugar
• Stir to prevent the sugar from burning.
• Let the sugar cook until it turns a rich, golden brown color.
• Whisk in one stick (4 oz.) of chopped-­up butter.
• Continue whisking the mixture until it is fully smooth.
• Add toasted almonds and stir to completely coat.
• Pour the molten brittle mixture onto some wax or parchment paper. Spread it out into an even layer and let it cool.
• Eat.

3. Almond milk

This method is surprisingly simple.

• Soak 1 cup of raw almonds in water for up to 48 hours (at a minimum of 6 hours if you are in a pinch).
• After soaking, strain the almonds and discard the soaking liquid.
• At this stage, the almond skin can be pinched off, but it’s not necessary.
• Add soaked almonds into a blender with 3 to 4 of cups of water, depending on how you want the finished product to taste.
• Blend thoroughly and add whatever seasonings you wish: salt, vanilla, maple syrup, honey, cloves or cinnamon (you can really be inventive here, so don’t be scared).
• After adding your flavorings, blend one last time for good measure.
• Strain through muslin or a cheesecloth‐lined strainer.

There you have it: fresh, delicious almond milk.

So now that we have successfully distracted ourselves from our studies, let’s get back to work, but don’t forget to bring the delicious snacks you have made. Perhaps as you reopen your book to resume the odyssey of a student, you can think back to how you can do magic with only a few simple steps and some ingredients from your kitchen — or you can go back and make almond butter with the leftover almonds. For this dauntingly complex task, put your almonds in a food processor and process it for 20 to 30 minutes — or, really, however long it takes to get the almond butter to a consistency you enjoy. Then you have almond butter, which is great on apples or other fruits. You could also start melting chocolate and make almond butter cups instead of peanut butter cups, but then you might run out of time for your assignment.

Happy studying, and happy cooking!

Contact Aaron Kitchin at akitchin@dailycal.org.

The post The almond: toasted, candied, milked and a great study break appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Annie Chang/Staff

Ever since I first tried black sesame buns in high school, I fell in love with black sesame desserts. I fantasized about black sesame cake, butter, cookies, macarons and bread. Two months ago, after talking to my mother about the vast possibilities for black sesame and joking around about opening up a black sesame dessert shop, we looked up black sesame cake recipes. We found one on a random Chinese website video that looked relatively easy to make. Cooking and baking have always been challenging for me, so when I say the recipe is easy, I mean it.

When you make the batter, you will be amazed by the nutty, sweet, bitter, earthy and roasted smell of the black sesame powder. The aroma filled up the entire kitchen, and I could not stop leaning into the bowl to smell it. The black-and-gray mixture might not look very appetizing, but it is the true color of black sesame that promises delicious cakes.

Don’t expect the cake to rise much — ours was only 1.5 to 2 inches thick. Wait for it to cool, and when you take a bite, you will see that it is delicious, rich and dense like a brownie — but also slightly crumbly like a cake. It will not be too rich or overly sweet, though, and I can eat multiple pieces. The baking process removed the slight bitter taste of black sesame and left its nuttiness for our enjoyment. It was like eating peanut butter mixed with sesame seeds.

The recipe was a success for us. After the first try, we baked it two or three more times within the next two months because it was so easy, and tasty and could not be found in Utah. We continue to make black sesame cake on a regular basis, and it just never gets old. It has become such a staple for me that I also make it in my apartment. Despite the difficulties and my laziness and clumsiness when it comes to cooking, I love making black sesame cake. This delicious recipe marked the beginning of my experiences with baking.

Recipe: Black sesame cake

Ingredients:

• 3 jumbo sized eggs
• 75 milliliters of milk
• 38 milliliters of oil
• ⅓ cup black sesame powder
• ⅓ cup all purpose flour
• 0.2 teaspoon baking powder
• 0.2 teaspoon tartar powder
• ⅓ cup brown sugar

Instructions:

• Separate egg yolk and egg whites.
• Mix egg yolk, milk, oil and black sesame powder in a bowl.
• Mix all-purpose flour and baking powder in a second bowl.
• Mix egg whites, tartar powder and brown sugar in another bowl until the mixture is fluffy and whipped.
• Combine the first two bowls of ingredients.
• Fold half the egg white mixture from the third bowl into combined ingredients of the first two bowls.
• Fold the other half of the third bowl mixture into the combined first and second bowls.
• Pour mixture into greased baking pan.
• Preheat the oven to 347 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Let cool.

How to fold egg whites

• Use spatula and pour half of the egg white mixture into the batter.
• Use spatula to draw a line down middle of batter.
• Fold one side of the batter over the other.
• Repeat until mixed.

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What goes well with hearty breakfasts? Bacon.
What is essential in BLT sandwiches? Bacon.
What’s not the epitome of healthy but shamelessly and insanely good that a huge part of America’s population is simply infatuated with it? BACON.
Are you salivating yet?

And above all – what is better than bacon? Homemade bacon. No more of the store-bought and generic-brand kinds, which end up being expensive and rather unimpressive in the long run. No more meat commercially injected with needles as a poor attempt to imitate the smoky, sweet taste of artisan bacon. No more thin, wimpy slices that barely give the desired crunch after throwing onto the stovetop. We’re talking about the thick, juicy slices that in themselves are a delight to sensuously peel from the other thick, juicy slices, slap onto a sizzling pan, and watch as they go from pink to crispy brown under the skills of us bacon lovers. Not many stores can boast of selling bacon that delicious. However, your own kitchen (and grill) can now do so.

To make basic but top-notch bacon, you need only four ingredients (five if you count water): pink curing salt, kosher salt, pepper, and pork belly. One can make many different kinds of bacon – Canadian, Buckboard, American – and this recipe, which was modified from the recipes on AmazingRibs.com and Cool Material, is for the classic American bacon.

While we must admit that as college students, investing the time into creating bacon shouldn’t rank above midterms and nightly homework in priority, it’s a skill worth knowing, with a rewarding result that exceeds expectations.

AMERICAN BACON
Ingredients:

• 1 lb. pork belly
• 1 ½ tsp. of kosher salt
• ½ tsp. of pink curing salt
• 1 ½ tsp. of ground black pepper
• ¼ cup water

Directions:

1. Purchase one pound of good-quality, fatty pork belly. To get good bacon, you obviously need good pork belly, just like if you want great steak, you need great beef. While lean pork belly might be healthier, we’re talking about honoring bacon and its characteristic fatty goodness. Make sure you talk to the butcher at the grocery store and explain that you want raw, fresh pork belly with the skin intact.
2. Combine all of the ingredients except for the pork belly in a large Ziploc bag. Shake/squish the ingredients around until everything is thoroughly mixed.
3. Place the pork belly into the Ziploc bag; remove as much air out of the bag as you can and lock. Start rubbing the cure mixture into the pork belly. Massage the meat and make sure to firmly coat all sides of the pork belly.
4. Place the Ziplock-bagged pork belly into a pan to catch any liquid that might leak out, and store the meat in the freezer for seven days. Every day of the week, check on your pork belly and massage the liquid/cure again into the meat. Then, flip onto the other side and leave it until the next day to repeat.
5. After 7 days of curing have passed, remove the meat from the freezer and throw away both the Ziploc bag and the leftover liquid. Rinse the meat under cold water to remove the cure on the surface. No worries – the cure that flavors the bacon should have already been absorbed and evenly distributed through the meat. If you do not rinse, the cure will continue to work and make the bacon much too salty. After rinsing, dry the belly with a paper towel.
6. Prepare to smoke the bacon for the next 1.5 to 2 hours! Place the cured pork belly over a grill with hickory or other favorite woods and smoke over indirect heat at 225 degrees Fahrenheit until the bacon’s internal temperature reaches 150 degrees F (we advise you to use a food thermometer to ensure that you smoke it perfectly).
7. After smoking, place the bacon onto a plate to cool before slicing the belly into thick, juicy slices.
8. Wrap the bacon rashes in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 2-3 months (two to three) or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Throw onto the stove pan or oven when desired and ta-da! You have homemade bacon!

National Bacon Day recently passed by (August 31), but this recipe could be useful for the 2014 holiday as your true testament of dedication and love for bacon. The results will be amazing. We know that life is hard enough without a week-long process to make bacon, but life generously gives back to those who put the time and energy into it – and this definitely applies to bacon. Well, we’ll stop with the philosophical talk, and end it with crossed fingers that someday, you will attempt this and be blown away. You’ll definitely be Facebooking, Tweeting, and Instagramming – if all three are still relevant by then – your masterpiece for days on end.

The post DIY project: Homemade bacon! appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Andrew Steinsapir/Staff

Today is National Grilled Cheese Day, and in its honor, let’s take a closer look at that favorite comfort food. The epitome of the college diet — cheap, easy to prepare, tasty and nostalgic — grilled cheese has a special place in all of our hearts.

Grilled cheese might be simple, but there are some very exciting variations on the theme. Depending on how well equipped your kitchen is, your grilled cheese experience can take you down one of the following three paths.

Any bread and any cheese will do. Just make sure you have enough to feed yourself and any jealous roommates.

Stove top: Just like mom used to make it. A pan, a little bit of nonstick cooking spray and maybe a little butter, and you are in business.

Panini press: It might be an expensive piece for your kitchen, but you will thank yourself time and again for the investment. Panini presses produce restaurant-quality grilled cheese faster than the old-fashioned way, and you get the cool grill lines!

Blowtorch: It isn’t efficient, but it sure is fun. Making a grilled cheese sandwich with a creme brulee torch is an experience that you won’t soon forget.

The grilled cheese sandwich is really just the jumping-off point for making many gourmet sandwiches. A personal favorite is the bacon-fried grilled cheese. Start by cooking bacon in a pan, leaving the extra grease in the pan instead of nonstick cooking spray, and be sure to put your cooked bacon back into the sandwich afterward for extra flavor.

Fry up some bacon first, add it to your sandwich, then grill the sandwich in the bacon fat for extra flavor.

Oh, and if you’re lactose-intolerant like me, don’t forget your lactaid pill.

Happy National Grilled Cheese Day!

The post Make the perfect sandwich for National Grilled Cheese Day appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Impress your friends at brunch or wow your sleepover guests with your cooking skills. Creating the perfect omelet takes nothing more than eggs and a little confidence. Omelets allow for some of the most exquisite combinations of flavors — both savory and sweet — making them a wonderful addition to any aspiring student chef’s repertoire.

Crafting the perfect omelet starts with mastering the flip, so get to it. Grab a dozen eggs, and get cracking.

Contact Andrew Steinsapir at asteinsapir@dailycal.org.

The post How to: Make (and flip) an omelet appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Christina Lubarsky/Staff

Going camping, backpacking or day-tripping this spring break? If you’re thinking of packing chips and mountains of cereal to satiate you on the road, think again. With a bit of cooking and planning ahead of time, you can feast healthfully and affordably wherever you adventure.

If you’re going on a long trip, make sure to think about preserving some perishable foods like vegetables, fruits and meat. Bring a cooler that you can fill with ice along the way, especially if you’re camping in an arid environment like the desert.

Make sure to incorporate essential nutrients into your diet — protein-rich food like nuts and beans, as well as fruits like oranges and apples to provide vitamins and minerals.

Whole grains cooked ahead of time, like brown rice and quinoa, help as a foundation for any meal during the trip. Throw some cheese and veggies on top for dinner, or mix in honey and dried fruit for a sweeter, heartier breakfast.

Remember to bring the forgettables — cooking oil, salt, pepper, brown sugar, honey and spices (seal in jars or bottles and label) are essential to bring if you plan to cook during your trip. Aluminum foil is also extremely helpful for packing lunches and roasting veggies in the fire. And don’t forget utensils, knives, plates, cups, spatulas, napkins and small pots and pans.

Play it smart. Plan meals that utilize the freshest, most perishable ingredients — like salads, vegetable wraps and eggs — at the beginning of your trip. Save meals like soup, beans and oats for the latter end of the adventure, as these stay good longer.

Here are some easy ideas for camping meals and snacks:

Oatmeal: If you have a camp stove, boil water and mix in oats for a simple breakfast staple. Top with raisins, dried cranberries, nuts, granola, ground flax or milk to liven up your rustic meal.
Quick cooking grains: Couscous, minute rice, quinoa and polenta are all easy to boil and pair well with other ingredients.
Beans: Pre-cook beans like black beans, chickpeas, or kidney beans for a hearty chili or as a side. Or bring a can.
Cheese: Hard cheeses like parmesan, Swiss and cheddar stay good longer than softer cheeses and taste great in wraps, burritos, sandwiches and chili.
Pita bread and tortillas: Make a quick veggie wrap with hummus and raw veggies, or add some cheese to make a quesadilla.
Dried pasta and sauce: This makes for an easy yet delicious meal in your home or in the mountains. You could also make a pasta salad beforehand dressed with olive oil and veggies.
Eggs: If you have a safe place in which to transport eggs, bring them for a tasty breakfast scramble or add them to breakfast burritos.
Jerky: Beef, turkey, bison or tofu will stay good and provide much-needed protein.
Sturdy vegetables: Carrots, cabbage, bell peppers and cucumbers all travel well. Bring potatoes or sweet potatoes to roast in a campfire. Just poke the potato with a fork, wrap in foil and place in the fire, rotating until soft in the middle.
Sturdy fruits: Apples, oranges and grapefruits hold up just as well. Good for take-along snacks.
Nuts: Almonds, cashews, walnuts and peanuts are among your many choices. Eat them alone or add them into a trail mix.
Dried fruit: Raisins, cranberries, cherries, mango and figs are all delicious and packed with energy.
Granola and cereal: Hearty and filling cereals that are low in sugar keep you satisfied and energetic for long treks. Make some homemade granola to snack on or eat for breakfast.
Granola bars: Pack some energy-dense bars that are low in sugar and high in protein, like Clif Bars, Larabars or homemade granola bars.
Pancake mix: Bring some “just add water” mix or make your own to bring along.
Chocolate-covered anything: Coated nuts, espresso beans and dried fruit serve as instant desserts or snacks.
Condiments: Bring sauces like mustard and ketchup in small containers or single-serving packets.
Tea and hot chocolate packets: Just add hot water and enjoy by the fire.
Coffee: If you need your morning coffee, even in the woods, bring instant coffee or make some rustic campfire coffee.
S’mores: Obviously. Graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. Bring wire hangers to fashion into campfire sticks.
Trail mix: There are plenty of store-bought mixes, but try making your own with this recipe.

Ultimate Trek Mix Recipe
1 cup almonds or slivered almonds
¾ cup walnuts or walnut pieces
¾ cup shelled pistachios
½ cup coconut flakes
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup dried cherries or raisins
½ cup shelled pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
¾ cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips
Mix everything together and munch.

Contact Christina Lubarsky at clubarsky@dailycal.org.

The post Treats for spring break campers appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Aaron Kitchin/Staff

Every once in a while, I come home between classes and feel an intense craving for chocolate cake. But what am I to do when I only have half an hour to satisfy this craving? I could have planned for this craving ahead of time and made a chocolate cake the night before, but who has the time for that? What I do have is about a minute, which brings us to the approximately one-minute microwave chocolate mug cake.

My favorite mug cake recipe comes from made from scratch. This recipe works well because it doesn’t include eggs. Many mug cake recipes will call for an egg, but that’s a bit excessive, considering one would normally use about two eggs to make a whole batch of cupcakes. Eggs, when microwaved, also have a tendency to overcook, which would give the cake an undesirable spongelike texture.

The mise en place, or setup, for this cake is, well, a piece of cake. All you need is a microwavable coffee mug, some measuring spoons and a few ingredients:

All of the dry ingredients go right into your mug. No muss, no fuss.

Dry Ingredients
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
A pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients
2 tbsp. milk (regular, almond, soy, etc.)
1 tbsp. oil (a neutral-flavor oil such as canola or vegetable)

First, mix the dry ingredients in your mug. Then add the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.

This is where you can get creative — you can add chocolate chips, nuts, really anything you want, but what is truly delicious is a dollop of peanut butter, caramel or Nutella in the middle so that you have a gooey, molten center to dig into.

Now you’re ready to bake. Pop the mug into the microwave on high for one minute. If it looks like it needs a bit more time, do so in five-second increments. When it’s done, let it cool and enjoy.

Contact Aaron Kitchin at akitchin@dailycal.org.

The post Fixing the rainy day blues: One-minute chocolate cake appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Savory and sweet caramelized onions are a welcome addition to almost every dish graced with their presence. While caramelized onions may transform a haphazard meal into something more gourmet, they suffer from the most evil of sins — preparation time.

Classically caramelizing onions can take somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes, something that, as dorm-dwellers and apartment autochthons, we do not have time for. However, with a few little tweaks and a little bit of chemistry, you can cut that time in half in three simple steps.

1. Portioning: It’s easy to go overboard, so make sure you use a pan large enough that your onions only form one layer instead of having pieces piled on top of one another. This will mean that your onions will need less stirring.

2. Surface area: Cutting your onions into smaller pieces will increase the rate at which they caramelize. This means that you can spend less time sweating over that hot stove.

3. Chemistry: Caramelizing onions makes use of two different groups of chemical reactions. Don’t worry, you don’t need to put on a lab coat and goggles to make this work. Just add some vinegar (balsamic is a good choice) to your onions after they have become clear, and enjoy better living through chemistry.

The post How to: Caramelize onions appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Editor’s Note: This is the first article in a series on making dairy products at home.

If you’re not a vegan or strictly lactose intolerant, then dairy could be a big part of your everyday life. Think about all of the permutations of milk that you enjoy: yogurt, sour cream, butter, soft cheese, hard cheese, white cheese, bleu cheese, buttermilk, heavy cream, whipping cream, cream cheese, yogurt cheese, kefir, cottage cheese, goat’s cheese and sheep’s cheese — all from milk, one ingredient in one color of soft ivory whiteness.

Thankfully for me and other lactose intolerant dairy-lovers, many of these dairy products, like cheese and yogurt, are significantly more easily digested, as much of the lactose drains into the whey as the fatty curds separate to make cheese. In addition, bacterial cultures found in yogurt and cheese help out by feasting on belly-aching lactose sugars, while promoting healthy bacterial activity in the colon.

In my recent quest for learning traditional and artisan food crafts, cheesemaking rose to the top of the list. Making cheese is quite foreign to the everyday consumer, but it can be extremely accessible with some time and the proper ingredients. To learn how to make my own artisan dairy products, I found the Institute of Urban Homesteading, a school for learning traditional food crafts and self-sufficiency skills, including all kinds of gardening, bee keeping, buterching, animal husbandry, mushroom cultivation, fermenting, aquaponics, pickling and brewing galore. This school is conveniently located in various residencies and community gardens scattered around Oakland and the East Bay and provides affordable classes in a small, comfortable setting.

At the intensive two-day cheesemaking course, I found myself sitting in a semicircle in a small living room, with a colorful mixture of old and young cheese enthusiasts waiting with their packets of recipes in hand. Ruby Bloom, the founder of the school, sat beside me in a floral apron, hair tousled up into a wise bun. We moved into her quaint yet spacious kitchen, circling around her central cutting board island, the center of our cheesemaking exploration. We began the day with yogurt, then moved to ricotta, queso fresco, mozzarella, and prepped for yogurt cheese and yogurt cream for the next day. The next day, we finished with fresh butter and began a brie-like cheese, learning about molds and how to approach then in a home environment.

We ended our weekend with a feast. A colorful spread of marinated vegetables, polenta pizza with fresh made mozzarella, toasted nuts, ginger beer, and of course, a spread of our very own cheese creations. I was amazed with my own ability to make these dairy products, and soon felt empowered to make my own food crafts at home. Its easy, delicious and extremely rewarding.

Yogurt is as good as any place to start this series because it is an extremely easy dairy product to make. The process only involves heating up milk, adding cultures and then incubating for a few hours. Yogurt, with its live and active cultures, works as a vehicle for essential bacteria necessary for cheesemaking, and can be used for further recipes, including cheese, butter and yogurt cheese.

You can use any type of milk for the yogurt. However, whole milk worked best for a creamy, delectable yogurt. Try to use good quality milk and starter yogurt, preferably organic, like Straus or St. Benoit yogurt (found at the Berkeley Farmers Market, Berkeley Bowl and the Berkeley Student Food Collective). In addition to high-quality milk, you also might want to buy or find a frothing thermometer to precisely measure the milk, as temperatures are very important for bacterial activity.

When I make this yogurt, I place it in my oven, turned off. It needs to be in a warm place (90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit) to incubate for at least three hours, so it is essential to find a good spot for the yogurt to set. Bloom suggests using a cooler, and filling it with hot water to create a warm water bath that stays a good constant temperature for a while. Try out some of the flavor variations to find the ones that work for you.

Homemade Yogurt
From Ruby Bloom, Institute of Urban Homesteading

Equipment
2 large pots
Thermometer (up to 220 degrees F)
Mason jars
Measuring cup
Spoon or Whisk
Small Plastic Cooler or gas oven with pilot light or electric blanket or foam cooler incubator

Ingredients
1 gallon milk
1 cup fresh plain cultured yogurt (like St. Benoit or Straus)

Thoroughly wash all equipment with soap and hot water before you begin. In one pot, heat milk on low to medium heat between 185 degrees and 195 degrees Fahrenheit. Be careful not to let it burn.

While the milk is heating, boil water and sterilize your mason jars (four 1 quart jars plus a 1 pint jar or nine 1 pint jars) by setting them in the boiling water for one to two minutes each. Pull the jars out with tongs and set them upright on a clean towel. Sterilize lids and rings as well.

Cool the milk to between 122 and 130 degrees. Gently mix one cup of the yogurt with a cup of the cooled milk. Add this mixture to the rest of the milk and stir to mix. Pour into mason jars and seal.

Incubate for three to four hours until gels. This can be done several ways. If you have a gas oven with a pilot light, it may work to set them there. You can also pour the water you sterilized the jars with into a camping or styrofoam cooler until the temperature is 130 degrees. Place the jars into the cooler and close.

Another method is to take a foam cooler or cardboard box, cut a hole in it, fit a 25 watt light bulb through and turn it upside down over your yogurt. For all methods monitor the temperature with a thermometer.

After the yogurt is incubated, remove it and place it in the refrigerator. After it cools, save one pint to start your next batch. You can do this for three or four times before the culture becomes contaminated or too weak to reuse. Once that happens, buy fresh yogurt from the store again. Yogurt will keep four to six weeks in sealed jars refrigerated.

Variations

• Vanilla yogurt — Add 2 to 3 tbsp. vanilla extract to the milk while it’s around 130 degrees F. Or add a vanilla bean, halved, into the milk while you heat it.
• Lemon yogurt — Add fresh lemon juice (1/3 to 1/2 cup) to the finished yogurt after cooled.
• Berry yogurt — Boil fresh berries, like raspberries or blackberries, in water over medium heat until reduced. Add honey and/or lemon juice to the berry mixture. Mix in with finished yogurt.
• Almond yogurt — Add 2 to 3 tbsp. almond extract to the milk while it’s around 130 degrees F.
• Maple or honey yogurt — Add 1/2 to 1 cup real maple syrup or honey to finished yogurt, depending on desired sweetness.

Contact Christina Lubarsky at clubarsky@dailycal.org.

The post Discovering dairy at home: Homemade yogurt appeared first on The Daily Californian.