Edible

It was a good weekend to garden. Mmm, sunshine and real warmth. Some of the perennials I've been moving around found their places and are now in-ground. I even felt daring (and warm) enough to put in tomatoes and some other vegetables. Details are at myFolia for those truly desirous of them.

Tonight I really need to scatter a packet of marigold seeds over the vegetable bed. If I'm really good I'll fix the flat on my wheelbarrow, too.

The big edible crop experiment this year is watercress. If I can grow waterlilies and goldfish successfully, it is possible that I can grow watercress successfully. I like watercress and if I can make it happen in my front yard, so much the better.

Also in the category of things I like, and would be happy if I could make happen at home, is yogurt. So I tried that, too. The nice thing about making yogurt is that once you've got the culture added to the milk, it requires no supervision.



Due credit: Everything I know about making yogurt I learned from Harold McGee.

I tweaked his method slightly to make use of my oven, which does not have a light that I can switch on at will. I pre-heated it to 350 F, starting at the time I put the milk in the pot to heat it, and turned it off when I removed the milk from the heat. After I added the starter (just like pitching yeast in brewing), I put the lid on my pot and slid it into the still-warm oven.

This worked brilliantly. The proto-yogurt was warm and snug, and I could go out and dig holes in the ground. 4 hours later, yogurt.

Being a fan of Greek-style yogurts, I followed McGee's directions to drain the whey out of my finished yogurt. I was surprised by and unprepared for the amount of whey that drained out. I think I'll be making bread or rolls with it soon.