fizzy tangy yuck

Grrr. I've made it twice now, but that magical yoghurt recipe is not working for me. It looks gorgeous- creamy and thick, white and pure. But for all this, I get a mouthful of tangy fizz. Even when I dug down a bit, (thinking the top layer, which wasn't submerged in the thermos may have been tainted), it was wrong. I hate that tongue tingling taste of failure.

To me it makes perfect sense. Milk product kept at a tepid temperature for 12 hours is going to be a disaster. It's a food safety law. But I had been convinced by the home-yoghurt-makers that the magic of yoghurt would win out. Beautiful bacteria would triumph.

Not so. Twice. Of course it's a contamination issue. But I had cleaned and dried all my equipment. Started with fresh yoghurt. It's new skim milk, too. Not much else you can do to get it right, according to the recipe.

Because it's supposed to be sooo simple, I'm never going to quit now. It's got me. I have to be able to do this. People who can't cook can do this! Right. It's only one recipe of many. Making yoghurt is as individual as making homebrew or curing salami in the back shed. Trial and error. Since I'm using cheap powdered milk, I'll tolerate a few errors..I have checked back to the "French Women Don't Get Fat" recipe. Once I've washed and dried my equipment (again), I'll get out that thermometer, and try it (again).

My garden is not a tangy, fizzy failure. Time, water and sun will see us with such lovely produce. Green, cool and quiet, even with MB playing in the cage. A place to contemplate what can happen when one woman interferes with milk....