Home made yogurt

[ChefRuby]

In store-bought yogurt, some additives such as starch, sugar and flavor do make yogurt taste thick, creamy, sweet and attractive. However, they increase the calorie and in my eyes, not as healthy as I expected.
I make yogurt with skim milk, with yogurt capsule as starter, no addition of sugar, just as natural as possible. It comes out very thick, like silky tofu. And it doesn't take too long, six-hour-term is pretty acceptable, isn't it?
Take a look at my yogurt, I strongly recommend folks to make yogurt at home LOL

I give the link here: Ruby@Cuisine: Homemade plain yogurt for those who feel interested.

 

[smag]

We consume a lot of yogurt, so it is just lot cheaper to make at home. I just heat milk in the MW, add little milk powder(optional) and let it cool a bit before adding my culture.
I use my oven as my incubator.
The current culture I use is from a friend, so it sets much faster and with very little culture. I've found the Brown Cow brand yogurt works well as culture too.

 

[CharlieD]

Where can one buy the culture for yougurt making?

 

[smag]

Amazon.com: yogurt culture

I've not used any of these.

 

[CharlieD]

That simple, huh, what was I thinking. Thank you very much.

 

[bethzaring]

charlie, I get my yogurt culture from two different places; Caprine Supply
Caprine Supply I get the one you can reculture, NOT the direct set,
and Lehmans Hardware
Lehman's - Products for Simple, Self-sufficient Living

same culture at both places

this brand makes a very nice yogurt

 

[Finmar001]

Yes I have recipe for homemade yogurt

 

[plingy]

I recently got a yogurt maker (second hand) and use it about twice a week.
My recipe is very simple: 4 1/2 cups of 1% milk heated to 200 degrees; cool it to 110 degrees, mix well with 1/3 cup plain yogurt (1%) and 1/2 cup of dry fat-free instant milk. I pour it into my machine's little glass jars and process for 4 hours then refrigerate when it seems set. I find that when starting it late afternoon, I can refrigerate it before going to bed.
A longer processing time seems to make a much more sour yogurt. Also, I use store bought plain yogurt containing 2 ingredients only: milk ingredients and bacterial culture as a starter. The yogurt is firm and not sour, low fat and unsweetened.
We add fruit, jam, honey or maple syrup to have it as dessert. We also use it as a sour creme substitute in dips or with potatoes. Wish I'd done this when the kids were still at home and we went through gallons of yogurt per week! It's never too late to try !
It's a little bit cheaper than buying ready-made yogurt but to me, the most important is the use of natural ingredients. Have you read the list of ingredients on some of those tubs? OOOOh! By the way, if you want to keep the milk from sticking and burning to the bottom of the pot when heating it, run some cold water in the pot first. Don't know why it works but it does.

 

[lyndalou]

I have never made it, but my Lebanese friend's mother made it all the time. She called it Lebun (sp?) Anyway, as I recall, temperature was key or it would not thicken properly.

 

[sparrowgrass]

I think you guys mean evaporated milk, not condensed milk. Condensed milk has sugar in it.

I use the mason jar in a cooler of warm water method.

 

[Finmar001]

I do not use a yogurt machine when making homemade yogurt

 

[Weaver]

Yogurt Making with Diaper Bag Question

I used to make two quart of yogurt a day when my kids were home. Of course this was the 60's and 70's, but the best recipe I ever used was one in the old Adelle Davis nutrition books. She would use a can of condensed milk as part of the 2 quarts of milk. I found back then that the best incubator was a diaper bag into which I would put a heating pad set on low, and then the towel wrapped jars of innoculated milk. I usually make it in 2 single quart jars. I just buy it by the quart now from the store as I can't even eat a quart in less than a week.

Would you please confirm my assumption that you left everything in the diaper bag for 24 hours and then refrigerated?

I used to used my gas oven with just the pilot light on but now adays with the electronic ignition it's impossible. Your method sounds perfect... wondering if one of those silver lined hot/cold bags would work the same. Hmmm, might get too warm... maybe with just a towel for cover and not zipped shut.

Thanks for any help!

Weaver

 

[bethzaring]

Would you please confirm my assumption that you left everything in the diaper bag for 24 hours and then refrigerated?

I Thanks for any help!

Weaver

I have never seen instructions for setting yogurt to be 24 hours. Usually incubation lasts from 4 to 10 hours.

 

[StripyPixieSocks]

Hi

I make yoghurt in a heated garden propagator (a new one of course not one from the garden)

2 pints Skimmed UHT Milk,
6tbsp Milk Powder and
5tbsp Full Fat Yeo-Valley Yoghurt.
(18 hours in a heated propagator then chilled)

It had turned into a set yoghurt which tasted really creamy and when it was stirred thinned slightly but still remained quite thick (not quite as thick as the Yeo-Valley but thick enough).

We stirred in 2tsp Salt, 1tsp Garlic Powder and 2tbsp Chives and it is now draining over the sink in the kitchen slowly turning into Roule style cheese for tomorrow!

The price also equates to Yeo-Valley £1.27 / Home Made 63p. You can use your home made to make more so you only have to buy the Live from the supermarket once every 3 months or so!