Yogurt Cheese Fiasco

I think perhaps "Fiasco" is too strong a word.

Last night, some friends and I went out for dinner. Across the street was a grocery store, so we went over and a friend and I picked up the ingredients for yogurt cheese. This included such wonderful things as marjoram, oregeno, dill, basil, sage, garlic, and some red pepper. And of course, some plain yogurt.

The idea is to remove the whey, or the liquid, from the yogurt, leaving a cream-cheese like substance behind in the cheese cloth after it's drained for a day or two. Since yogurt is just a flavor carrier, it should take on the flavor of whatever you put with it.

All the spices and yogurt were mixed together and then poured into the cheese-cloth-lined colandar. At about this time, I started washing the containers to reuse and noticed that the first one was plain flavored... and the other was Vanilla flavored. Not exactly what I had in mind.

Today everyone tasted the resulting product, and it's not too bad. It tastes heavily of garlic with some of the other spices poking through as well. Unfortunately, it's the right consistancy near the cheesecloth, but too liquid at the center. Perhaps suspending cheesecloth over a baking pad and pouring the yogurt onto that would work better? Also, I think reducing the amount of garlic and Not using any vanilla could help things a bit...

Anyway, that's the latest adventure.

Huzzah.