Whey to go...? (what to do with whey)

[nereo]

I've been making more greek yogurt and riccotta lately.  It's awesome, but we're left with a ton of whey which I've mostly been dumping down the sink. I tried drinking it (yuk) and putting it into smoothies (meh). Tried using it in place of buttermilk in pancakes but it seems too 'thin' - not enough milk proteins, i guess.

Other uses? I'm generating ~1-2 quarts/week.

[mrl]

I use it in the garden - its good for salad greens, arugula, etc. I think its the calcium in it...

[Jenny Wren]

Some ideas:
-Use it for part or all of the liquid in any baked good.
-Add it to soups (particularly cream soups)
-Cook oatmeal in it instead of water.
-Boil pasta in it (enriches the pasta)
-Cook rice/grains in it.
-Mix 1:1 with whole milk for recipes calling for milk.
-Use as a base for sauces/gravies. Mix 1:1 with the liquid you normally use for the base (milk/water/broth)

[NoraLenderbee]

We used it in lentil and bean stews, but the flavor was unpleasantly sour. So now we dump it on the compost heap. I wish there were an easy way to dehydrate it at home.
ETA: On second thought, no I don't. The whey from yogurt is acid whey, low in protein. Whey protein powder is made from sweet whey.
https://modernfarmer.com/2013/05/whey-too-much-greek-yogurts-dark-side/

[katscratch]

I use it to soak oats. If you bake, some recipes work really well with whey.

[nereo]

We used it in lentil and bean stews, but the flavor was unpleasantly sour. So now we dump it on the compost heap. I wish there were an easy way to dehydrate it at home.

yeah, this is my problem - it's sour whey so most of the recipies I've tried it in makes things unpleasantly sour.  Tried substituting for buttermilk but the result was thinner batter than I cared for.

I'll continue using it for our houseplants. Next year we might have a proper garden and compost heap, so that will help.
thanks for everyone's suggestions.

[GuitarStv]

You can add it to bread recipes in place of water to make dough that sort of tastes like sourdough.  That's about the only culinary use I've found for the stuff.

[ChrisHa]

We soak old bread and rolls that we get free as food bank rejects in the whey and feed it to the chickens. They love it. Of course in summer the pigs get all of it. Mmmm...pork.

[CutTheFat]

The majority of my whey is used to marinate chicken.  It comes out so good.  I use all different types of seasonings for different out comes.  I also use it in muffins and naan.  My dog also loves it!