Making Yogurt

Microbiome is a word that is having its moment on our planet. It relates to many things: our digestive and skin health, the biota of soil and sky—basically all the things we cannot see but are necessary for natural wellness inside and outside. This fascinates me because I wonder why it has taken this long for so-called “developed” populations to remember the wisdom of our micro-biotic environment. Ancient and indigenous cultures (pun intended) have been fermenting foods since the first foods naturally fermented.

I play in this fermented, probiotic world when I make yogurt. It is a meditation to warm the milk to just the right temperature, add a starter culture from previous batches, and place the mixture into a device designed to maintain the temperature for eight hours. When I taste each batch for the first time, I am actually excited to see what the little beasties have done. It is always a little different and I have grown to revel in the differences (except for sometimes!).

These differences arise from the type of culture added to the milk and the natural biota of the air each time I make yogurt. This is an interaction of earth and sky; the soil and environment of the cow all the way down to the conditions present the moment I place the container in the yogurt maker. I think we who make fermented food of any kind are like alchemists searching for the Philosopher’s Stone, the mythical magic substance that turns baser elements into gold. Every spoonful offers a taste of this golden miracle.

When Buddha touched the earth in his moment of awakening, maybe he was trying to suggest we remember what the earth teaches down to the microbiome. If we weren’t so inured to what we think we can see, we would realize everything depends on things we cannot see. Perhaps meditation is the art and science of realizing this truth. In this moment, I don’t really care, because this yogurt is sooo good!