Ask Allie!
Ask Allie is our advice column, where you can ask all your food-related questions to get digestible answers! No question is off limits!
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I need your expertise! Although it has nothing to do with fermenting, sorry, but indoor gardening. I'm trying to figure out indoor growing of lettuce but those countertop LED "salad in a container" kits are overpriced and way too tiny, they don't produce nearly enough for a salad, but I'm not sure I want to invest in an actual hydroponic system costing several hundred dollars, at least not yet. So I was thinking "who do I know who does container/indoor gardening of edible plants?" and I remembered you do a lot of stuff in containers. Have you ever tried to keep a 200lb dog in salad greens and other fixings? It ain't easy. Summer time it's easy because lettuce grows so well in our planters, but we could use some advice on an indoor set up if you have any resources.
— Catherine
TBH, I wish more people sent me non-fermenting questions!
I would do window planters inside with a bit of light over them to ensure they’re getting enough warmth. They want cooler environments, so depending on the temps there you could be good w/o the lights, but to be on the safe side I’d snag a grow light or two for them. That is a LOT of lettuce you need!!! Unfortunately, although I think this is completely viable as a hydroponic project, I don’t know enough about that style of gardening to give feedback on how to DIY it more cheaply than a kit would cost.
I also knew someone from a plant trading group that used those over the door shoe thingies, where I think you put 1 shoe per divot? Whatever they’re called, she grew a lot of food in that, and just had Walmart lights installed above them. I mainly remember this because she grew green beans in them, and I was shocked that could be possible. That method might really be able to produce enough lettuce for your salad-loving baby!
Can you make another batch of yogurt from the whey of the previous batch? Or do you have to use a portion of the actual yogurt? With other words, is the culture also contained in the whey?
— Stefan
You can, Stefan, but over time it may weaken the culture to do so. The whey is cultured and has cultures in it, but less potent quantities.
My furnace stopped working for a couple hours last night while we were sleeping. We had some filmjolk yogurt culturing will it be okay? Prior to this it had been culturing 4 cups in 12 hours. It been 14 hours and while its close its just not there. Its cold here so the house got to 62 degrees before we realized the problem. I hope its okay.
— Sara
It’s totally fine; just needs a bit longer to ferment when it’s chilly.
