Works in Process: Jam and Yogurt

Early in my Singapore adventure, a cab driver described the country this way: “Singapore - no natural resources, no natural disasters.” He’s not wrong.

Because there is very, very little domestic agriculture, almost everything is imported, which brings us to these tiny and battered but delicious apricots from Turkey. When you can’t get your hands on fresh and local, you make do.

I’ve been making mesophilic yogurt, which is easier than falling off a log. Vilii (from Finland) and Caspian Sea yogurt are strains of good bacteria which turn milk into yogurt at room temperature - no fuss, no muss, no yogurt maker required. My tiny people are not yet totally sold on the natural sourness of the yogurt, so I made a batch of apricot freezer jam to use as a topping.

Spoiler alert: failure! The Turkish apricots are apparently less juicy than their North American cousins. There wasn’t enough liquid to dissolve the sugar, the jam did not set, and it was full of undissolved sugar crystals. I dumped all the jars back into a bowl, added four cups of peach mash, and re-jarred it. Not perfect, but it works for yogurt.