Maple syrup season in New York!

As part of my job with Agricultural Stewardship Association, I produced a slide show to capture Sights and Sounds during the maple and milk tour at Cannon Cattle Ranch March 10, 2013. Thank you Peggy and Matt Cannon for hosting the tour. It was a great day and we brought home their delicious maple syrup.

My husband has taken on the ice cream making in our family. I make Greek yogurt and he makes delicious frozen yogurt sweetened with maple syrup.

Mix 4 cups of Greek yogurt with 3/4 cup of maple syrup. Mix well.

Chill yogurt mixture and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Ellie’s Homemade Greek Yogurt Using a cooler box

1 gallon of milk (unhomogenized milk if available, we use Battenkill)

8 oz of plain Greek yogurt with live cultures (to use as your starter the first time) at room temperature

sterilize cooking utensils and containers (boiled in water for five minutes)

1) Take a large stainless steel pot, add milk and bring to a temperature of 180-185F (little boiling bubbles are about to start) then turn it off

2) Let the milk cool to 105- 110F

3) Add 8 oz of plain Greek yogurt, to the milk mixing with a clean metal whisk. Mixing well. Cover with a tight lid.

4) Wrap your pot with a warm blanket and place in a cooler box for 12 hours. (I add another jar with hot water inside the cooler to keep it nice and warm)

5) Strain out whey with a cheese cloth to desired consistency. Transfer to clean jars and refrigerate. It makes 8 cups of Greek Yogurt.

-save 1 cup as a starter for the next batch

-the whey is excellent liquid to make bread

edit: more information on yogurt making: http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/factsheets/yogurt.html