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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What would you recommend as sour yogurt? I already have a Bulgarian one. What would you recommend to be an yogurt to have? Like the one the is most appreciated?

— Tiago

Our most sour yogurts are: Malai, Armenian (this is one of Child Tester’s favorites), Lebanese (ditto), Skyr, Mediterranean (ditto), Egyptian, and Brazilian. If you go to the main page of the website, there’s a “what’s your flavor” button you can click to get lists of what fits with various levels of tart/sour. I hope that helps! But to start, I’d go with Armenian and Levanese.

UPDATED: some community members who adore the sourest of the sour say that Egyptian is our very most sour. I didn’t remember that, but I understand that Child Tester was so far from a fan that I must’ve forgotten all about the Egyptian!

I would like to ask about your Icelandic Skyr Thermophilic Heirloom Yogurt Starter Culture. For this one, it says rennet is optional. Does it mean if I make this Icelandic Skyr, no rennet is needed? Can I use all types of milk for this like whole milk?

— Annlyn

No rennet is needed unless you want to make it the traditional way. I personally never use rennet because I like to save that for regular cheese. You can use any kind of cow’s milk, but skim milk is what’s traditional for this yogurt (I use whole, not skim).

Recently, I had a very bad problem. My kefir grain will set in about 12 hours, but it's not sour at all. I don't like the taste, but if I continue to ferment, it will start to separate, and its taste will become very bad and a little smelly

— Yixuan

I don’t recommend over-fermenting it (though that’s fine if you want to make cheese). How long have you had the grains, and did you order a specific strain, or the combo grains?

Then:

I bought five milk Kefir grains with a diameter of about 3cm from a buyer in my country. I used them for about 2 weeks. I used a 600 ml weck jar and poured 500 ml milk each time. I would cover the glass lid on it. They fermented very quickly.In less than 12 hours, they curdle and taste completely acid free. The filtered Kefir grains are covered with solidified yogurt, but almost no sticky kefir polysaccharides.

It sounds like you’ve got too many grains in there for the amount of milk you’re using. This can cause exactly the issues you’re having. Use one piece that is about a teaspoon (5mL) in volume for up to 1L of milk.