Green Choices Wednesday - More Homemade Stuff!

We're making homemade yogurt! 

Any food product made at home from fresh ingredients is more enviromentally friendly than it's factory-made counterpart.  Just think of the resources required to operate and maintain a huge factory!  Homemade yogurt requires a very small amount of energy to produce.  It goes into our own reusable containers and doesn't generate plastic waste.  Yes, plastic is recyclable, but in many areas it's difficult or impossible to recycle anything except #1 and #2 plastic.  Manufactured yogurt packaging is typically #5.

In additon to being "greener," there are other advantages.  We have total control of all ingredients, and know there are no additives or chemicals added.  All that's required is fresh milk and yogurt culture, a thermometer, and heating equipment.  We can make a low-fat or no-fat variety just by using 2% or skim milk.  We used skim.  Yogurt culture is available as a dry powder, or any good yogurt with active culture can be used to get the first batch going.  I find the homemade product to be a higher quality, better tasting product, and it is also much less expensive!  Milk is converted to yogurt at a 1:1 ratio.  Think how much cheaper a pint of milk is than a pint of yogurt!

There are lots of yogurt recipes available on the internet.  The process involves heating milk to about 185 °F, letting it cool to 110 °F, adding the culture, and keeping the mixture warm for a few hours while the culture reproduces, thickening the yogurt.  Then it is ready to put into reusable containers and refrigerate.  We like to  flavor it by stirring in fresh fruit or a little homemade jelly or jam just before serving!

It's a common practice to use a double boiler, or a smaller pot inside a larger pot, to heat the milk.  We just carefully heated it in a single small pot, using a low heat setting.  After adding the culture, the mixture may be kept warm by covering with a heating pad.  Some people use a very minimal "low" setting on a crock pot.  One can find special equipment for yogurt making, or just use these common items.  We make small batches and have a small electric yogurt warmer that the yogurt cups fit into.

So, it's really easy, less expensive, better-tasting, healthier, and environmentally friendlier!  What's not to like?

Green Choices Wednesday

Updates on previous Green Choices posts:












On the second attempt, I think we perfected the process of making homemade peanut butter (August 4 post).  The first batch was delicious, but thickened after refrigeration, and was not easy to spread when cold.  We added a couple extra teaspoons of peanut oil to the second batch, and it stayed smooth and spreadable even when cold.  We also like it with a small amount of honey added.  So, we find we can make the equivalent of three jars of peanut butter for about the price of two jars,  the product tastes better, is made from 100% natural ingredients, and is stored in our own reusable container.  What's not to like?  Also, I'm sure we can bring our cost down even further by buying bulk peanuts.

My transition to Green shaving is complete.  On June 30, I posted on the intention to replace canned shaving foam with shaving brush and mug soap, and to replace disposable razors with a reusable razor, either a safety razor or a straight razor.  My July 21 post updated my shaving brush trial, but I had not found a razor yet.  There was no hurry on the transition, because I intended to use the disposable razors I had already purchased.  This week, a friend found me a vintage safety razor at a second-hand sale.  I cleaned and sterilized it and it looks like new!  I picked up some double-edge blades, and it shaves well!  from a Green perspective, I also like the idea of reusing an existing product, like this second-hand razor, for three reasons: it recycles an existing item, it doesn't create demand for the resources and energy required to manufacture a new product, and it cost me $3 instead of $30!

Green Choices Wednesday - Homemade Stuff!

Homemade Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter-- delicious, great nutrition,  and a great source of protein!

Since going vegetarian last year, peanut butter, one of my old favorites, has become one of my nutritional staples.  Wife and I have also been eliminating as many processed foods from our diet as possible.  Initially, we started buying all-natural peanut butter.  No chemicals or preservatives, no trans-fats or added sugars, typically just peanuts and salt.  Additionaly, we have been eliminating most disposable products and identifying/eliminating many sources of unnecessary containers.

So, this was a natural evolution.  We are now making our own peanut butter.  All we need are peanuts and a food processor.  A small amount of salt and/or added oil are optional.  We're using a little bit of peanut oil.  It helps make the peanuts process a little easier, and makes the peanut butter a little smoother.  For crunchy peanut butter, my favorite, just grind a few nuts separately, and stir them in at the end.  Add a little honey for a sweeter variation.

It's just as tasty as the commercial product, is cheaper, and we have total control of the ingredients!  Like commercial all-natural peanut butter, the oil separates a little in storage, so we stir it before use.

And we can store it in our own reuseable containers instead of adding more plastic jars to our recyling.  Recyling plastic is great, and we will continue to recycle everything we can.  But a practice even better than recyling is to avoid generation of recylables where possible.  This avoids the consumption of resources that the container is made from, and saves the resources consumed in the container production process.

Green choices-- they are everywhere, if we just look for them!  Many of them are so simple!

Think Green and Live Green!