Ask Allie!

Ask Allie is our food-related advice column, where you can ask all your fermenting, cooking, baking, and pantry-related questions to get digestible answers! No question about food is off limits!

Most of you will receive an emailed reply prior to your question hitting the blog, since I frequently think you need a more immediate answer. You should anticipate 1-2 weeks between submitting your question and its appearance on blog. Although emailed replies normally take between 1-3 days, it can take up to a week.

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I have recieved an order of dehydrated milk kefir grains on september 22nd.
I did not use the grain until now and have seen in the activating manual that they should have been placed in the fridge.I did not place them in the fridge, are they still okay?

— Yair

They should be, since I’ve seen grains get lost in the mail for far longer than that and be fine. Baby them for the first 3 batches by doing ½ cup of milk to a full cup so they have an easier time recovering from their jet lag. Please let me know if you’re not seeing that they’re working by the third batch, and we can see if there’s still a way to save them (typically yes).

Hi! So excited about my first order, but with all the options and my need to get just the right ones for my family, it is taking time and research. So far on my list are sour cream, matsoni, and creme fraiche. On the possibilities list are buttemilk, langfil, filmjolk, and deciding between greek options and french improved. I'm going to do the six selection option. So, my question is, Which one is closest to FAGE greek yougurt, American Greek, Traditional greek, Australian Greek, etc. And if I get the French improved would that satisfy the greek yogurt need. haha! Sorry, I am needing to narrow that down. Another question is about the buttermilk. Would filmjolk satsify that flavor well? Any insight would be helpful, thanks.

— Hilary

Traditional Greek will be closest to Fage. The Improved French is more tart than the regular French, but these are not the same as Greek-style yogurts and won’t have the same textures that the Greek-styles do. Flavors for buttermilk and filmjolk are different, but in terms of baking they do the exact same job!

How critical is it to keep different cultures separated in the refrigerator?  I keep them in mason jars with plastic lids and sealing rings.  Right now, I have four different kinds going.  I am trying to keep them on different shelves at least, but they are still fairly close.  I wanted to get a couple of batches of each before making backups.  They are all going pretty strong, so I am starting to freeze a couple of each.  

I want to dry at least one of each as sort of backups for my backups.  I started a crème fraiche to dry in the refrigerator, but it seemed like It was taking a long time.  I suspect that it did not dry like I thought it should because of the high fat content, so I ended up mixing in a little milk powder to dry it up a little more and froze it.  I started a couple others to dry in the refrigerator so hopefully those will go better.  I have a dehydrator, but the lowest temperature is 95°F, so I’m not sure I should use that (maybe for the thermophilic or sourdough?).  Any suggestions?

I am on about the third batch of crème fraiche.  It has been working great and even the activation batch was nice and thick after refrigeration.  I think I put this last one in the refrigerator too soon as it did not thicken up quite as well.  Can I put it back on the counter for several hours and see if that changes it?  Or do you basically get one shot to get it right and I should just start a new batch?

I made a pint of quark with whole milk and rennet (I use powdered, so only a tiny amount).  I drained it for a few hours until it was fairly thick.  It thickened more in the refrigerator (like a soft cream cheese texture).  I ended up with a scant ¾ cup.  I saved a little bit back before draining to try in the next batch and had no issues with that.  It was good on a baked potato and I like that it is lower in fat.

So far the cultures have been wonderful and I am so pleased with them.  I made a batch of Banana Split Quark Ice Cream, which was delicious.  We also had baked potatoes with crème fraiche that were decadent (my husband couldn’t stop raving about it).  I also used the Fjallfil in mashed potatoes, as suggested on your website, which were great.

— Melinda

I have a question: are you wanting to dry them specifically to take up less space in the freezer than a wet sample would, or for another reason? I have become very lazy about this and only freeze fresh samples because then I don’t have to reactivate them like I do when dried. For the mesophils, I don’t even thaw them to reculture – I just break off enough from my sample (or use whole sample if it’s small) and put it in my jar with milk, lid, wait for it to ferment. If you’re drying them, it’s activation batches every time you rehydrate and start them over, since you’re effectively doing the same thing Sabrina does when she’s making the starter cultures for y’all. 

This, however, probably answers your question about returning them to the counter for more fermenting once they’ve been in the fridge: yes you can put it on the counter to finish its cycle, and it’s no different from taking the last of a batch to start the next (other than not starting the next batch). Be aware that these cultures will continue to ferment in the fridge, albeit very slowly. But yeah, any time a culture isn’t in the middle of activating and wasn’t thick enough when I got some out for CT, I just put it right back on the counter to finish up. You may see increased whey with this method, which you can pour off (this will decrease tartness) or stir it back in (increases tartness). I usually just bake with whey or toss it in soups. 

I don’t think it’s really possible to keep them separated in the fridge because there’s just not enough space to do it. That said, a tightly fitted lid will help avoid cross-contamination, but they still may cross. Child Tester’s favorite yogurt is one that hybridized with multiple cultures in the fridge, and she loves it because it has all the thickness of a Greek-style yogurt with the roping and other textural differences you get from viili and milk kefir. 

Be aware that unadulterated sour creams never dry right, and yes it’s because of the high fat content. They get dry-ish, but fat is fat. No to the dehydrator. That’s going to kill your cultures at that temperature. If it’s not supremely humid where you are, you may find it faster to air dry rather than fridge dry. You could do the thermophils (NOT THE SOURDOUGH!) in your dehydrator if you want to, since that 95F isn’t going to kill them. 

It sounds like your quark is coming out perfectly!

Would you be open to doing a guest recipe on the blog for that ice cream? I bet people would really dig that! Yeah, that fjallfil is excellent in potatoes! We’re doing a potato knish recipe in the blog this week, so that may give you something extra fun to do with it!