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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Uh, is this supposed to happen?

— Lisa

Sort of, yes. This is overfermented, so you’ll want to either increase milk or decrease fermentation time. You’ve got some excited grains in there! 

Hi. I didn't realize I was supposed to freeze my yogurt starter and I have had it in the fridge instead. It has been there for approx 3 months, will it not work? Thanks.

— Erin

It should be fine. If it’d been room temperature, I’d expect it to have degraded, but 3 months in fridge SHOULD still activate. Please let me know how it goes, and be aware that in winter activating cultures can be fussy so don’t freak out if it takes a few batches to get it going properly.

I am looking for the sweetest thermophilic yogurt culture. I think the skyr would be one of them but not sure about which others would be good. I also like it thick and creamy. I am looking for something to take the place of dessert after supper! Closest to ice cream??

— Jo

Skyr yes, and I also would consider quark and Bulgarian. Bulgarian isn’t a particularly sweet yogurt, but it IS served in many parts of Europe with dessert or as part of it. If you’re shooting for a texture closer to ice cream, I would go also w/ the mesophilic Swedish sweet cream. That’s actually a sour cream, but you should have no problem using milk instead.