ISO info on homemade yogurt starter

[Chef Munky]

Is it possible to make your own starter from home without buying & using the commercial brand kits. Or a container bought from the store?

We go through quite a bit of yogurt and cottage cheese around here. Like everything else the prices are getting ridiculous. Since I do have the equipment. Dehydrator, canning jars of all kinds sitting in the garage doing nothing. Why not?

Thank you

Munky.

 

[taxlady]

I never buy a commercial kit or starter when I make yogourt. I just buy a plain yogourt from a brand that has live lacto bacillus. Nowadays, they will usually brag about the fact that their bacterial culture is live or "probiotic".

30 years ago, all plain yogourt had live bacteria. Then, for some reason, they started selling yogourt with dead bacteria. Now, the live ones are back in fashion.

The brand I use never quit having live bacteria in their yogourt.

Sour cream and crème fraiche are even easier to make than yoghurt.

 

[Andy M.]

As a kid growing up, I watched my mom make yogurt at home. She made a half gallon every week because my dad did not consider dinner complete until he had a dish of yogurt.

Once you get yogurt going, you just save a couple of spoonfuls of this batch to use the starter for the next.

If mom lost that starter, she'd just run out to the store and buy some yogurt (she always bought Colombo yogurt as it was owned by Armenians back then).

 

[CharlieD]

you could add a spoon of lemon juice to a slightly warmed up milk. I am not sure if the end result would be consider a true yogurt though.

 

[taxlady]

you could add a spoon of lemon juice to a slightly warmed up milk. I am not sure if the end result would be consider a true yogurt though.

That makes cottage cheese.

 

[MostlyWater]

Depends. I found mine was better with a bought yogurt and of course milk, but .... sometimes my homemade yougrt didn't set up right, and then it was garbage. At some point, I just started buying yogurt and cottage cheese again.

 

[taxlady]

I found that if I can keep a yogourt going, that the flavour becomes "softer".

 

[CharlieD]

All this talk about yogurt made hungry for it. I made this special yogurt. It is made from baked milk. Ok I cheat I use the slow cooker to make the milk. And then when milk cooled down to slightly warm temperature I add 2 cups of regular yogurt mixed it well a let it seat the whole day on the counter. I had maybe a ¾ of a gallon of milk. Milk has to be warm otherwise it is not going to set. You will just get bad milk.

Well when I got to that point I got hungry for pancakes and I made pancakes with that yogurt, oh my gosh were they yummy.
Here is couple of pictures.

 

[CharlieD]

Not sure how to add comment to the picktures. The first pick is the yogurt. Then the pancakes, the last one is also the pancake, but I graded couple of apples inside.

 

[Mad Cook]

Is it possible to make your own starter from home without buying & using the commercial brand kits. Or a container bought from the store?

We go through quite a bit of yogurt and cottage cheese around here. Like everything else the prices are getting ridiculous. Since I do have the equipment. Dehydrator, canning jars of all kinds sitting in the garage doing nothing. Why not?

Thank you

Munky.

Yes, you can make yoghourt using yoghourt bought from the supermarket or health food store. Just be sure it's "live" yoghourt (not pasteurised of in any other way heat treated as this kills the useful bacteria). Usually the yoghourts displayed under refrigeration are live but check the label. Also check the sell by/use by date on the label and choose the pot with the longest date.

Once you've started your first batch of home-made yoghourt you can use some of that as a starter for your next batch and a batch of the second batch for your third batch, etc. When we used to make it that way we found we needed to buy a new pot of live yoghourt about every six batches as it began to lose it's potency after that. You'll need to experiment a bit.

Oh yes, I forgot - use "natural" ie unsweetened, unflavoured yoghourt with no additives as your starter. Also remember (probably preaching to the converted her) that you need to keep all your equipment spotlessly clean and to scald everything with boiling water before commencing the yoghourt making.

I have got lazy in my old age and use Easiyo.

You can make soft cheese by straining yoghourt through muslin overnight (you can use the whey that drips out for making scones, etc.). The fat content o the soft cheese varies according to whether you use skimmed, semi-skimmed or full fat milk. It can be used for cheesecakes or anything you'd use Quark or similar soft cheese for.

 

[Mad Cook]

I've watched my mom make thick and delicious yogurt at home in pure clay pot with just some milk and starter/culture from her last batch. I learnt from her and have been regularly making some creamy, thick and delicious homemade yogurt. All that you need is a un-glazed pure clay pot, milk and starter/active culture from your previous batch.

The unglazed clay pot isn't essential (and is probably unwise given the nature of milk) All you need is a non-reactive, non-absorbent container (glass, ceramic, plastic even) that you can scald (to sterilise it) before use.

 

[Mad Cook]

Is it possible to make your own starter from home without buying & using the commercial brand kits. Or a container bought from the store?

We go through quite a bit of yogurt and cottage cheese around here. Like everything else the prices are getting ridiculous. Since I do have the equipment. Dehydrator, canning jars of all kinds sitting in the garage doing nothing. Why not?

Thank you

Munky.

Just noted the header for the thread ("Dehydrator Discussions")

Why would you need a dehydrator to make yoghourt?

 

[Mad Cook]

Yes, you can make yoghourt using yoghourt bought from the supermarket or health food store. Just be sure it's "live" yoghourt (not pasteurised of in any other way heat treated as this kills the useful bacteria). Usually the yoghourts displayed under refrigeration are live but check the label. Also check the sell by/use by date on the label and choose the pot with the longest date.

Once you've started your first batch of home-made yoghourt you can use some of that as a starter for your next batch and a batch of the second batch for your third batch, etc. When we used to make it that way we found we needed to buy a new pot of live yoghourt about every six batches as it began to lose it's potency after that. You'll need to experiment a bit.

Oh yes, I forgot - use "natural" ie unsweetened, unflavoured yoghourt with no additives as your starter. Also remember (probably preaching to the converted her) that you need to keep all your equipment spotlessly clean and to scald everything with boiling water before commencing the yoghourt making.

I have got lazy in my old age and use Easiyo.

You can make soft cheese by straining yoghourt through muslin overnight (you can use the whey that drips out for making scones, etc.). The fat content o the soft cheese varies according to whether you use skimmed, semi-skimmed or full fat milk. It can be used for cheesecakes or anything you'd use Quark or similar soft cheese for.

This is a useful site
How to Make Yogurt: 19 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

 

[taxlady]

The unglazed clay pot isn't essential (and is probably unwise given the nature of milk) All you need is a non-reactive, non-absorbent container (glass, ceramic, plastic even) that you can scald (to sterilise it) before use.

I agree.

 

[Janet H]

I think I posted this link somewhere but it merits doing again. Here's a friend of mine making yogurt - good step by step instruction and NO special gear needed.

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1314423147722

 

[Addie]

As a kid growing up, I watched my mom make yogurt at home. She made a half gallon every week because my dad did not consider dinner complete until he had a dish of yogurt.

Once you get yogurt going, you just save a couple of spoonfuls of this batch to use the starter for the next.

If mom lost that starter, she'd just run out to the store and buy some yogurt (she always bought Colombo yogurt as it was owned by Armenians back then).

I was wondering if that was possible. Like you do when making bread. Save a piece of a starter. I would think any food that needs live bacillus or yeast you should be able to keep it going just by saving a small amount for the next batch.

 

[Chef Munky]

Just noted the header for the thread ("Dehydrator Discussions")

Why would you need a dehydrator to make yoghourt?

I asked the question here because I was going to try making my own.The way the manufacturer of my dehydrator gave a recipe for.
homemade yogurt dehydrate recipe dehydrator

This is an old thread.The Header was an ISO.
I've never made it before.

Munky.