Making yogurt at home

                    

Home made yogurt

Chonette’s introduction

Back ground history and information

Yogurt with blueberries
dark chocolate shavings and
toasted flaked almonds

I have now been making yogurt for a number of years and have compared various information sites, although I am not much good at science I think, I am able to understand a bit more on the process of yogurt making now than I did in the early years.

The first time I went to Brazil back in 2004 there they made yogurt every other day at the Permaculture institute, they got the milk fresh from the farmer next door, it was always perfect and I thought it was the most simple thing to do so on my return to the UK I tried following the instructions from Brazil, however nothing happened and was unable to make yogurt so for a while I gave up on the idea.

Then some years ago I had a sort of argument with the council in Chippenham about recycling plastics, plastic have a coded number and they only recycled No. 1, 2, and 3, but all yogurt pots and margarines are No. 5 so after several emails and some phone calls in which they gave me all the reasons why they only recycle those types one of the ladies simply said “you could always make your own yogurt” so I thought to myself ok let’s investigate and stop buying yogurt. (all plastics are now collected for recycling)

My research told me that some Indian people living away from their native country had the same problems I had getting the yogurt as thick as at home so I followed some of the recommendations and my yogurt worked out well.

As time went by and I continued being interested in the yogurt making I came across better information so now I am putting together all the info I got over the years I make yogurt every week or 10 days and always works out fine.

I have made a kit to make 1.5 litres of yogurt I hope you enjoy making and eating the yogurt as much as I do.

Greek style yogurt – Recently I discovered that the reason Greek yogurt is so thick is because it has been strained, somewhere I read they can strain it up to three times.

To strain the yogurt all you have to do is using a colander line it with a cheese cloth or muslin cloth, place the colander on top of a dish to collect the liquid and leave it in the fridge for a few hours or until you think it is thick enough for your taste.

I have done it now  on many occasions and works out perfect for making cheese cakes instead of buying Philadelphia cream cheese.

Ingredients for the glass jar kit

I got these jars very cheaply in Wilko and you can find them in some supermarkets, also Charity shops are worth checking.
1.5 litres of milk – I use whole milk but you can use any milk you like   

Live bio-yogurt a small amount maybe 3 table spoons.—this can be the Yeo Valley natural organic yogurt or the Greek Total yogurt, and once you have done it once you use a bit of the previous batch each time so you only have to buy a new one when you forget and eat it all.

Do not use any flavoured yogurt only natural bio live, it always says on the pot.

Double cream 10% of the milk (optional). I like very creamy yogurt so I always do mine adding the double cream.

Milk in the supermarkets is sold in pints so two pints is just over one litre which does not fill the jar to the full.

I have also tested making the yogurt using UHT milk and it has worked well just seemed to take longer time to set.

General Instructions:

Heat the milk to boiling point 86 to 90 degrees together with the double cream if you are using it, instead of the double cream you can add 2 table spoons of powder milk to the fresh milk.

Once boiled, let it to cool until it reaches 43-45 degrees, if I am in a hurry I place the saucepan on the sink over cold water until it reaches the 43-45 degrees. If I am not I just leave it there and go about doing my routines.

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 I use a digital thermometer, but my friends in Brazil just use their finger

My research tells me that the optimum temperature is 43 degrees but it can be higher or lower, I have been told that it must not be 48 degrees as this would kill the bacteria so be careful and make sure the temperature is lower.

To stop making a skin at the top of the milk while is cooling down, I stared  from time to time until it reaches the correct temperature.

When it reaches the 43-45 degrees add the live bio yogurt and mix well.

I once left it to cool down to 41 degrees as I forgot and went ahead with the whole process  without bringing it back to 43 degrees, and the yogurt came out a bit liquid, it tasted ok but was not set and thick as usual so now if the same thing happens I bring the temperature up again.

Transfer the milk mixture to the glass container/jars or you can leave it on the saucepan if you like and transfer it later when it is ready.

Cover your containers well with the cosy (blanket or any warm   garment, I used to use woolly hats before I made some cosies to fit  the containers).

The kit I give my friends has the jar and the cosy, I always put the jar on a plastic bag before putting into the cosy as for some reason sometimes it sweats and I do not like the cosy to get dirty.

Place the containers in a warm place to rest; it will take about 4 hours. If I do it at night I leave it until the morning which would be about 7 hours.

Examples of places to keep them warm:

Next to the radiators in Winter,

I heat the oven to 50 degrees and then I turn it off and place the containers there overnight.

If you got an airing cover just place the jar cover with the cosy there.

 In Brazil my farmer friend used to put it in the sun during the day but wrap it on a blanket if done over night.

After the yogurt is ready it is very important to put it in the fridge as soon as you can and wait for it to be cool before you taste it, actually it does not taste nice warm.

Once ready you can eat it as it is or strain it for the Greek yogurt effect.

When I make cheese cakes now I do not buy cream cheese or make quark I simply strain the yogurt for 24 hours in the fridge and use that instead of cheese, it works perfect.