Home made yogurt?

[chairborne commando]

I used to find yogurt disgusting. You know, maybe two rungs above
buttermilk and Tofu. Well...now I like it, with fruit.

There is yogurt and then there is yogurt. My local grocers carry several
brands and varieties. My favorite 'Vin Ordinare' varities are Yoplait and
a regional dairy-produced one called Tillamook. But, they rely primarily
on flavoring and color, to "suggest" Blueberry or Strawberry or whatever.
There's some fruit but it's decreased noticeably.

Safeway has the best prices (around here, anyway). But, I have found that
you have to be careful. I bought a bunch of cool flavors only to discover
that they contained Aspartame.

But, I also discovered a type that had real fruit in the bottom of the cups.
The yogurt appeared to be unsullied and, indeed, the contents label listed
just active cultured low fat milk, sugar, etc. and fruit. Then Safeway apparently discontinued it.

So, after that long-winded preamble, if you're still reading, do you, or do you
know anyone that makes their own yogurt? How difficult is it? Did you buy
the culture(s) or follow a technique to "grow" it/them?

As an aside:

My stepmother's mother has a syrup/fruit compote that resembles marmalade
in consistency; tastes vaguely like Brandy and is just terrific on ice cream or pancakes. Allegedly it's been in the family since the 1900's. You add fruit and sugar at regular intervals and the little bacterium do the rest.

 

[cipher]

Hi Chairborne,
Nice to see you! I suggest any yogurts in the "health food" section..... I like Nancy's and Naja (?) and there was one that had very little sugar, but still tasted great, it was a vanilla one, and fruit could be added and it was great.

Actually when we eat yogurt here, we just get the plain kind and add homemade raspberry freezer jam. Most of the freezer jam is too runny, and so it's really great for adding to yogurt because it mixes really well.

All you have to do is to get the freezer jam and mix it up. Have you also tried maple syrup? It's very good also, as is honey.

 

[ARUBI]

Good topic!

Have you tried yogurt smoothies? They're great!

 

[Homestyle]

I have a Salton yogurt maker and it is so easy to make yogurt. And cheap too. If you eat a lot of yogurt you will pay for a maker in no time. You don't need a maker to have great yogurt though. Just keep the batch warm to incubate. The longer it incubates the sharper the taste. I stir in fruit, jam, flavoring/ sugar or Splenda etc just before eating. Here is the recipe I use.

Basic Yogurt Recipe

4 cups (1 quart) milk - whole, 2 %, 1% or skim
1/4 - 1/2 cup instant non-fat dry milk powder
1/2 cup plain yogurt (with live cultures) or yogurt from a previous batch

In a saucepan, combine milk and dry milk and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently to just below the boiling point. Remove the milk from heat and allow to cool until lukewarm (about 100 degrees). To cool the milk quickly, place the saucepan into the refrigerator or a sink of cold water, stirring occasionally to cool evenly. This takes about 20 minutes.


Pre-warm the yogurt maker's heating base by plugging the cord into an electrical outlet. The signal light will glow when base is plugged in.


Add plain yogurt to the warm milk, stirring gently to blend. Do not beat or whip. Pour the mixture into the yogurt container, secure the lid and place the covered container into the heating base. Cover the Yogurt Maker and process undisturbed and out of drafts for 4-10 hours, depending on tartness desired. Yogurt should be partially set after processing and will thicken further after refrigeration.


After processing, unplug the cord from the outlet. Remove the cover and lift the covered yogurt container out of the heating base. Place the container in the refrigerator and chill at least two hours to thicken. If desired, remove 1/2 cup of the yogurt to use as a starter for future batches, before adding any fruit or flavoring. Keep yogurt refrigerated until use.

 

[Albuburbia]

One of my books at home, I think it's "Joy of Cooking" has directions for making yogurt in a thermos. I tried it many years ago and it was AWESOME!!!

If I don't get around to finding it and posting it later, you can nudge me with a PM. Or, in the meantime, maybe somebody here has the book and can look it up.

If it's not in "Joy" it might be in my Farm Journal cookbook. I know I have it somewhere!

 

[mudwrench]

yogrit (as my son would say when he was little)

my wife makes it all the time she did try the one with the powdered milk its ok but a little gritty she says take your milk ( she uses a gallon at a time) any kind will do bring to a boil then let it cool till you can put your little finger in it and count to 10 ad a spoon ful of live culture yogurt from the store put into smaller containers and put in oven out of draft should set up in 4 to 8 hours we go through lots of it and sometimes it doesnt set just right i drink it its good stuff and if you want it fruity just add some jelly and stir i like it plain save some of this new batch in the fridge for the next batch i think the starter keep for quite a while and i think you could use lesser amounts of milk also hope this helps

 

[Albuburbia]

Well, arubi had to nudge me on this, because I did space out. This is from "Joy of Cooking" which happens to have lots of cool recipes like this.

I thought it was a recipe for using a thermos, but it's not. Now that I think about it, the friend who gave the the cookbook said that she had used the same directions, and simply used a thermos to do it. Anyway, here ya go!

YOGURT
If you have ever eaten good, naturally flavored yogurt, you will try, as we have, to make it. We hope these directions will spare you some of our exasperating failures. Eastern yogurts are made with milk reduced by about 1/3. Our commercial yogurts have the same value as the milk from which they are made. This is also true of the yogurt you can make yourself. Like yeast, the activator in yogurt is a living organism sensitive to temperatures. Test the milk with a thermometer for consistent results. Use milk from skim to half-and-half richness. Yogurt has the added idiosyncrasy that it doesn't care to be jostled while growing, so place all your equipment where you can leave it undisturbed for 8 hours. However, there are electric devices which can produce yogurt in 3 hours. If you use one of these, follow the directions carefully. Failure may result if milk or utensils are not absolutely clean.

We make yogurt regularly without the use of any heat other than that retained in the milk—using either an insulated cooler or the "snug nest" described next.
For this very satisfactory contraption, you will need a lidded vessel like a deep-well liner. Acquire enough inch-thick foam rubber and plastic wrapping or bags to cover the foam rubber—thus insuring a sanitary, well-insulated lining for your pan. Cut the foam rubber into 3 pieces. Make one round to fit the bottom, one overlap-ping, long, narrow piece for the side wall and a small round that will fit snugly into the top of the side wall. This smaller disk will be held in place between the top of the cups and the lid. Fit into this insulated space any heat-resistant cups or jars that fit your vessel. Also have ready a piece of foil to go between the cups and the top pad.

For the first batch, you will need a starter. Buy a jar of yogurt, get a small quantity from a friend or buy a package of yogurt culture from a health store. If you use the culture, heat a pint of milk to 180°. Cool it to 110°. Stir into this milk very thoroughly a package of the culture. Do not allow the milk to register less than 106° when it is in the jars. Then place them in the insulated equipment. Cover the jars at once and check in 7 to 8 hours to see if the contents have reached a thick, custardy consistency. Then check every half hour. Refrigerate when ready. Reserve from this first batch a small quantity to use for the second batch. Preferably, this should be not older than 5 days when used as a starter. The yogurt will keep for about 6 to 7 days.

When you are ready to start the second batch, have the equipment where you will be able to leave it for the next 8 hours. Measure the contents of your jars or cups. Heat that amount of milk. Bring it to 180° and pour it directly into the clean jars that are in place, except for the foil closures. Cool the jars until the milk reaches between 109° and 106°. When this state has been reached, it is important to work quickly. Take one tablespoon of milk from each pint. Add to the combined amount, for each tablespoon, 1/2 teaspoon of starter yogurt. Distribute the yogurt and milk mixture evenly into the bottles, stirring it in gently. Cover the jars with foil, pad and lid. Let it set 7 to 8 hours.

You may wonder why so little starter is used and think that a little more will produce a better result. It won't. The bacillus, if crowded, gives a sour, watery product. But if the culture has sufficient Le-bensraum, it will be rich, mild and creamy. If the yogurt should not have thickened in 8 hours, you may start all over again and have success by reheating the same yogurt slowly to 180°, cooling to 109°-106° and adding a fresh starter. Should you not succeed, it may be due to too great heat in the mixing so that you have killed the culture; it may be that your culture was a poor one or that there were antibiotics in the milk. Always remember don't eat every drop of your most recent batch, keep those few teaspoons to form the starter for the next one.

 

[ARUBI]

Thanks
Albuburbia & mudwrench

 

[momof23goats]

I make all of my yogurts, and love them . yogurt is very easy to make. you heat the milk up to 80C, or 165 degrees, then you cool it down to 55C or 90 degrees, or 80 is better I think, and add one cup of bought yogurt, with aticve culture, and let set, wrapped up in a blanket or in a ery warm place, for 8 hours, open it up, and you have yogurt. If you want like bought yogurt, add 1 and one half tablespeens of un flavored gelaton. and some sugar, and vanilla, then let it sit, and it will be vanilla yogurt. you can also add any kind of fruit. The easiest way to make yogurt is to buy a yogurt maker, you can find them on line, at a health food store, and at walmarts, they are not expensive. and wrok well.
yogurt is so good for your eumin[tummy and bowels].

 

[Vere My Sone]

I had a yogurt maker a way long time ago--who knows where it went
but, I ran accross one the other day at the Salvation Army store for $1.00
dd and I are planning on trying homemade
freezer jam sounds good-we made lots of peach, blueberry and strawberry