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A couple of weeks ago I picked up some filmjölk online. I had heard about it before and wanted to give it a try. I have made lots of yogurt in the past but the cultures I had always used required the milk to be heated to a certain point then cooled to a given temperature while the culture did its thing. The type of cultures that requires higher temperatures like that are called thermophilic cultures. By contrast, mesophilic cultures tend to work at room temperatures and do not require the higher temps. Filmjölk is a mesophilic culture which means it can be produced at room temperature.
The taste is about like yogurt, maybe not quite as tart and it isn’t as thick as the yogurt you will buy in the store. I’ve used it anywhere I would use yogurt, buttermilk or sour cream. Since the culture works on the lactose, it doesn’t bother lactose intolerant individuals like plain milk does. Its great in pancakes, cake and with fruit. You can make a cream cheese substitute called yogurt cheese by draining off the whey. I like it with berries and a little bit of sweetener.
The photo shows some gooseberries I picked earlier in the morning. It takes about 12-18hours to incubate a batch. The ratio is 1Tbs of the starter to 1 cup of milk. I use whole milk but you can use 2% or even light cream. I generally start the process when I get home from work. The culture goes into the milk in a 1 pint jar and is placed on the kitchen counter out of the direct sun. By the following morning it is ready to be put in the fridge. It does continue to thicken in the fridge and that evening the process is started again. I can take a break if I don’t want to make it every day though it may take a little longer to get a finished product if the culture has been in the fridge more than a few days.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Sarah // Jul 21, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Wow, where did you get your culture??
2 kerry // Jul 21, 2008 at 9:49 pm
There are several suppliers that I have found. I ended up getting mine from Nick’s Natural Nook. They sell on ebay. I’ve also seen it at GEM Cultures. Each one of these sellers also sell many other cultures if you are interested. I was very pleased with Nicks and would buy from them again. If you are close to Cincinnati I can give you some starter culture if you are interested.
3 kerry // Jul 25, 2008 at 8:58 am
I haven’t had a lot luck finding information on filmjölk in English. I was curious as to how long the culture would remain viable in the fridge. I decided to do a little experiment.
I have a container of the yogurt set aside in the fridge and every week I took out a little to see if it will still be able to make a new batch. The results are…
After 1 week – using 2Tbs starter for each cup of milk (2x the normal amt) it takes almost 24 hrs for a batch to finish.
After 2 weeks – using 2x the amt of starter the milk has still not solidified after 3 days.
Based on this experience I would say that the yogurt needs to be replenished once a week to keep the culture alive.
4 Rich // Sep 2, 2008 at 9:09 am
I recently purchased some probiotic acidophilous to proactively prepare us for a trip in the islands. After my first taste (tablespoon) I was instantly brought back to my time in Sweden and all those wonderful breakfasts with filmjölk! For years I had tried to describe it to folks with just strange looks from them. So I am writing to find out where you purchased it online. I would love to order some and again make it a part of my breakfast. Now if I could just get a lingonberry bush!
5 kerry // Sep 2, 2008 at 11:01 am
http://stores.ebay.com/Nicks-Natural-Nook for the culture and http://www.indianaberry.com/searli.html for the lingonberry bush. The berries sound interesting. I may have to add that to my collection next spring.
6 Pamela Pickup // Sep 30, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Kerry,
Have you tried making quark with your filmjolk? Quark is like cottage cheese and I understand it makes great cheesecake.
7 kerry // Oct 1, 2008 at 2:51 pm
No I haven’t. How do you make quark? If I let the filmjolk stay out it will curdle and separate from the whey. Is this what you mean? Do you have a recipe?
8 Roy Byman // Oct 4, 2009 at 7:44 pm
How can I get a starter kit for real Swedish thick milk. It would be quite thick and when you brought your spoon to your mouth it would tend to follow the spoon much like melted cheese would. Translating the Swedish words would be thick milk.
9 Roy Byman // Oct 4, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Is Swedish Filjolk the same as what my family called Swedish thick milk?
10 kerry // Oct 4, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Roy,
Not sure if it is the same but it makes sense. Yes it quite thick when made with half and half, a little less thick with whole milk and fairly thin when made with 2% milk. I picked mine up on ebay. I believe it was sold by someone selling under the name Nick’s Natural Nook or something like that. They have kefir, filjolk, kombucha etc.
11 Ninni // Mar 3, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Filmjolk is our buttermilk. I don’t know why everyone keeps saying yogurt. We do not usually mix lingonberries and filmjolk either. haha. But if anyone knows how to buy the real thing here, that would be great, because the buttermilk (without salt) here, is good, but not great. Tack och hej!
12 kerry // Mar 3, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Ninni, I’ve picked up a live culture via Nick’s Nature Nook on ebay. Never seen it in the stores. When I make it with regular milk it does resemble buttermilk but when I make it with half and half it has the texture of yogurt, very thick. Perhaps that is why people here call it yogurt? In either case I think it is awesome and I don’t care for buttermilk to drink but like to cook with it.
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