What I find that I'm loving most about the book No Impact Man is the general phylosophical musings dispersed between the descriptions of his project related actions. The big picture questions that he finds himself facing resonate deeply with me. My own copy of the book is now so completely marked up with underlines and margin notes that I have only to open to a random page and find something that struck me enough to underline it. For example: p. 89 "Back before the days of mechanized transportations and personal telephonic communications and coffee in to-go cups, there would be down time between the times of stress... between those things you'd get a break." "...the mechanized boxes that transport our brains from here to there and the portable electronics that keep us constantly connected have robbed us of the ho-hum." p. 113 "...our culture... keeps telling us... that we should spend our lives trying to get rich or struggling to acquire a really big house." Another one: p. 130 "I sometimes wonder if our lack of social connection and community is at the root of our environmental problems... if that lack has meant that I don't feel responsible or accountable to anything beyond myself. Without real community, where is the visceral sense of connection to something larger..."
Yes, many things in this book resonate with me, but his re-connection with food seems to be inspiring me the most. Not just the cooking-your-own-food-from-scratch aspect of it but also the descriptions of buying and eating local food. How has reading this book impacted my life and my family's life so far? Well, two days ago-for the very first time-I made yogurt! And let me just tell you that it was such an exciting and rewarding adventure... you've GOT to try it! You won't believe how incredibly easy it is and how amazing home made yogurt tastes compared to the stuff you buy in the stores (even the "gourmet" stuff).
What do you need?
Equipment: Two large pots that can nest in each other to create a "double boiler." You don't actually need two pots, but heating milk directly on the stove top is dicey. It's very easy to scald the milk and accidentally curdle it. Take that stress away by using a water bath. A big metal spoon for stirring. Don't use wooden as they're harder to get good and clean. A thermometer that you can dip into the milk and check its temperature. This too isn't strictly necessary, if you heat the milk to the point that it's starting to froth/foam, you've achieved the right upper temp, and if you cool it off enough so that when you stick your finger in it, it feels hot but not HOT it's cool enough. (Wash your hands before doing that, by the way, or you'll risk contaminating the culture.) A good old fashioned plug in heating pad (preferrably without an auto shut-off feature). A clean dish cloth. Sounds like a lot, right? But check out the photo below:
Ingredients: 1/2 gallon of milk (any kind you like). Starter yogurt (plain, with live culture). I chose to use Chobani as a starter because it listed 5 active cultures rather than just one or two and it has no filler ingredients. See picture below:
Ready?
1) Put the smaller pot inside the bigger one. Fill it with your milk. Carefully pour water into the bigger outside pot until the water level is at or slightly above the level of the milk in the smaller pot (you might want to use a cup to do this to control spillage).
2) Heat the water bath to boiling. If you've got a thermometer, heat the milk to 185 fahrenheit. This happens in... oh, maybe five or six minutes so don't walk away. Stir the milk occassionally with your metal spoon to ensure the milk heats evenly. No thermometer? Look for the milk to start getting frothy on the surface. Then, take the inner pot out of the water bath and off the heat.
3) Let the milk cool to 110-115 degrees fahrenheit (if you've got a thermometer) or until you can stick your finger in it and it feels hot but not HOT. Seriously, wash your hands first. You're a bacterial germ factory! It takes about 1 hour for the milk to cool down enough just sitting out on the counter.
4) Once it's cool enough, add three tablespoons of your yogurt and use your metal spoon to mix it in really well.
5) Find an out of the way place on the kitchen counter to plug in the heating pad. Set the pot on the pad and cover it with clean dish cloth. Set the heating pad to medium heat. Leave it over night. See image below:
6) In the morning, marvel at the wonder that is a thick pot of home made yogurt sitting on your counter! You can have a fresh bowl on the spot (as I did) to celebrate, but it will be a bit thinner and more liquidy than you're used to from the store b/c it's warm. If you stick it in the fridge for a few hours it really thickens up. It will also be plain and unsweetened, so flavor it as you like.
FYI: You will notice a thin, greenish liquid pooling on the top of your yogurt. No, you didn't contaminate it and you're not going to die of food poisoning. The liquid is called whey and it's SUPPOSED to be there. You can pour it off or mix it right back into the yogurt.
Try it! What have you got to lose? As Colin said on p. 182 "Do you want to be the type of person whose nature it is to try, or do you not?"
