Thursday, September 22, 2011

Viili Rescued!

Well, I got home from a business trip last night and looked at the viili.  It no longer had a watery phase, and had set up to what looked and tasted like a cross between sour cream and viili.  It was still ropey, but thick and more sour.  The master viili I had was still watery, so I tossed the master and took a very small quantity from the thickened batch, spreading it thinly over the inside of a fresh container.  I added my fresh milk and let it set overnight.

This morning, it had begun to thicken and had not separated.  It also tasted right:  tangy, but not as sour as the batch it was made from.  It had the right consistency and was not as thick the batch it came from.  Although it had been out on the counter only 12 hours, it appeared to have matured to the point where it should go into the refrigerator, so that's where I put it.

Tomorrow, I'll take a small portion of my rescued viili and remake my master by adding three tablespoons of milk to one teaspoon of viili.  Let it set overnight and keep it in the refrigerator to use in making future batches.

I have to conclude that I must have used milk that was old and near souring.  By setting it out for 24 hours, the milk soured and separated before the viili cultures grew enough.  However, letting it set for three days undisturbed in the refrigerator, the watery liquid reincorporated as the cultures multiplied to the point of making a sour cream "like" version. 

I did eat the sour batch of viili.  Since there were no signs of contamination, black, yellow or other molds on the surface, I decided it was probably safe.  After all, if cheeses don't show unusual mold growth, but only normal mold growth, they are OK to eat.

No comments:

Post a Comment