Make Skyr Yourself: A Simple Recipe for the Protein Bomb

The protein bomb skyr is relatively easy to make yourself. The only thing you really need when making the coveted dairy dish is a little patience. But you save a lot of money because, like all other products that are currently very trendy, skyr is comparatively expensive in stores.

Make your own skyr – you need these ingredients for the Icelandic milk dish

If you want to make a delicious skyr yourself, you only need three comparatively inexpensive ingredients: lean fresh milk, sour cream and rennet. Lab is available in tablet form from specialist retailers and pharmacies.

• It is well known that rennet is obtained from the stomachs of calves, but don’t worry, vegetarians can also make their own skyr. There has also been a vegan version of rennet for a long time.
• Producing your own skyr is therefore particularly useful for vegetarians, because this is the only way you can be absolutely sure that the milk dish is really purely vegetarian.
• The utensils you need are a suitably large pot, a so-called cheese linen or a nut milk bag and a whisk or a spoon. If you don’t have cheesecloth handy, a thin cotton tea towel will do.

This is how you go about the production

Of course, the amount produced depends entirely on how much you will use. For the sake of simplicity, we will now assume one liter of milk, so that you can easily convert the amount. For one liter of low-fat fresh milk, add 200 grams of sour cream and half a rennet tablet. If you have all the utensils together, you can start:

1. First, put the milk on the stove and let it boil. Then wait until the temperature has dropped to 40 degrees.
2. While the milk is cooling, whip the sour cream until creamy and dissolve the rennet tablet in warm water. Then add both to the milk, which has cooled to 40 degrees.
3. Mix everything together well and then cover the pot. Now you have a 24-hour break, because that’s how long your skyr has to rest.
4. When the wait is over, grab a bowl and use the nut milk bag to squeeze the almost-ready skyr over it. Alternatively, hang a thin-mesh sieve over the bowl and place the cheesecloth or tea towel in it.
5. Then pour your almost finished skyr into the sieve. Depending on how much of the milk dish you have prepared, it can take two to three hours for the liquid to separate. But then your homemade skyr is finally ready.
6. You can keep the milk dish in the refrigerator for about four to five days.

Make skyr yourself – that’s why it’s worth it

The hype surrounding skyr can easily be explained by the fact that the food has not really been known to us for long. Icelanders, on the other hand, have had skyr on their menu for centuries. For a long time, the healthy and tasty milk dish was one of the staple foods of the poorer sections of the population.

• To this day, skyr is one of the traditional dairy dishes and is deeply rooted in Icelandic history. Even one of the thirteen Christmas journeymen from Icelandic mythology is named after the milk dish: according to legend, Skyrgámur visits Icelandic houses every year on December 19 in search of his favorite dish, skyr. And even the old Vikings are said to have been crazy about the little protein bomb.
• But whether it’s truth or legend, the fact is that skyr is actually a healthy food. The traditional Icelandic milk dish scores with lots of protein, calcium, magnesium and potassium. In addition, the food contains a lot of proteins. Skyr thus qualifies as a perfect sports snack .
• In addition, skyr contains a not inconsiderable number of valuable bacterial cultures. These are particularly valuable for intestinal health, which in turn is essential for the health of the entire organism.
• As far as bacterial cultures are concerned, skyr can be compared to the natural yoghurt that we are familiar with. In terms of taste, the milk dish can also be classified between natural yoghurt and cream cheese.
• And last but not least, the milk dish is characterized by a low proportion of carbohydrates and fat and is therefore very low in calories. In short, skyr is the perfect snack between meals.
• The milk dish can also be used in a variety of ways when it is served: the sweet version of skyr, for example with fruit, is just as good as the savory version.