Ask Allie!
What is 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.
To have your question answered in Ask Allie posts, please use the form on our website. If you prefer to be anonymous, just say so in the form and we’ll leave your name out when we answer it in the blog! Note that some submissions may be edited for clarity.
For troubleshooting active issues with a culture you’re working with, please check the FAQs or write us at support@positivelyprobiotic.com - you’ll get your answer faster that way! Please also take advantage of our Facebook group for troubleshooting, conversation, and getting to know more members of our community!
I've been making yogurt for awhile now and it's fantastic. At first my wife was making fun of me but not now, I got the last laugh. Anyway we're moving and there was somewhere I read how to dry my yogurt until we get into our new house and then I can start making yogurt again. Did I read write or am I just imagining things? Thank You.
— Ron
No, you definitely read it right! All you do is spread it thinly on parchment or wax paper, or on a plastic tray/bowl/similar and let it dry. I usually do this in the fridge, but not always. It’s fine for room temp drying or for fridge. Once dry, package, store, and it’s ready to go!
I was making my yogurts using whole milk and my doctor does not like it because of cholesterol level... Can I make Cali style Greek and Armenian using low fat and activate with low fat milk??
— Sayaka
You can, but you need to know the texture will be much more watery, and it may take longer for the yogurt culture to activate to “fully awake.” Normally we expect a culture to be normalized to its environment within 3 batches, but I would give it 4-5 before you decide if you’re having trouble. Make sure you read through our activation instructions and FAQ, because those documents will give you advice on any number of things that might happen that don’t seem right. If you use whole milk to activate and then switch to lower-far milk, that definitely will fully activate it better and faster. Still expect a more watery yogurt once you switch, though. You can still strain it, if you want it thicker.
I just got a yogurt maker and your Australian culture. To clarify, should I activate the culture in 1 cup of milk and make only that small amount of yogurt for my first batch? Or can I activate the starter in 1 cup of milk, add it to the remaining 2 quarts and make a big batch? I'm a rookie! Thank you!
— Kathy
Kathy, you’re going to do max 1C for probably the first 3 batches. I remember that yogurt being runny the first 1-2 times. In general, while a culture is undergoing “jet lag,” your final product can be really weird. Runny, weird smell, all sorts of things that will freak you out. If it doesn’t smell RANCID (and it should not), use whatever weird thing happened to make the next batch per the directions. After the first batch with the right texture, save some in the freezer as backups.
