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'm thinking of purchasing a yogurt starter bundle from your store on Amazon, but I wanted to know - on your regular site, you have a listing for Icelandic Skyr Mesophilic Heirloom with the note that it's NOT ropey - which selection is this on the Amazon page? Under Mesophilic, I see 'Long Skyr' and 'Short Skyr'. Thanks!
— Jill
You’ll want the short skyr. Long skyr is ropey, which is not what you’re looking for if you want a traditionally-textured skyr.
I’ve attempted to reactivate some grains That I had previously separated out and frozen when my kefir was fermenting too fast. I started by adding the frozen grains to 1 cup of milk for 24hrs. The grains were still in a lump floating in the middle of the jar. After straining I fermented one more night with the same result. The milk does not appear to be fermented at all yet. How many cycles should I expect to wake up the grains from frozen? Should I manually break up the grain ball?
— Jim
I’ve never heard of this happening before, so yes break them up. I always put my frozen grains straight into milk without thawing, and while they DO sometimes just float in a lump, they still kefir the milk on the first try. So I would say to drop your milk down to half a cup and yes break those grains up some.
I have bought cultures from you on Etsy, amazon etc. I am kind of tired of it to be honest, I know it helps you out but still....lol I love your cultures but would like to make sure I have a safe backup set myself. Please take no offense as you sell the best! How do I dry and store a back up set for myself? I guess how do I dry them and store them in case the ones I am using end up killed? Please help.
— Karen
Hey Karen! No offence taken! It upsets us a lot more than you would think if we have to sell the same culture to a person more than once. That should never be happening. What I’m thinking is that you probably don’t read our blog, so I’m linking the post we have up there on saving backups! If you’re just dealing w/ dairy cultures, water kefir, or sourdough, I’d freeze fresh cultures instead of drying and freezing. But read through the post, and it’ll help you decide what the best options for you and your babies are.
