Yogurt is easy to make and quite economical too. Once a week you can spend a few minutes making a week’s worth of this nutritious food for your entire family. Once you have an initial starter (getting it from a friend, using store bought yogurt, or creating your own from a purchased starter packet), the only ingredient you will need for continuous batches of yogurt is milk. I recommend a starter packet, as this should give you clean living bacteria to begin with. I have purchased my starters from cheese supply stores, like leeners.com or cheesemaking.com. Just follow the directions on the packet to create your first batch of yogurt. Basically you will heat a quart of milk, mix in the starter, incubate this, and put it into the refrigerator to have your first batch of yogurt. To begin making successive batches of yogurt with a mother culture, you will need to save a portion of this freshly made yogurt for your next batch. Watch my video below to see the process of how I make yogurt using fresh milk and my mother culture of yogurt.
This is pretty much the standard way of making yogurt. The way to incubate it differs according to what works best for you. If using a cooler and heating pad doesn’t work, I encourage you to be creative or check the internet to find the best fit for you. It certainly is worth it to find a way to make this nutritious and delicious beverage for you to enjoy.
Some additional notes:
—If taken care of, a mother culture can last a long time. But it can become weak with time or it can get contaminated. One way to tell a new starter is needed is if, considering that all other things are done properly, the yogurt starts to continually taste a little too sour for eating. Then it’s time to create a new mother culture.
—If the yogurt has separated when taken out of the cooler, it may have been incubated too long or at too high of a temperature. Just make adjustments when making the next batch.
—Homemade yogurt tends to be a little runnier than store bought since it does not contain any additives. You can add gelatin or powdered milk to thicken it. Also, initially heating the milk to 180 degrees and then letting it cool to 110 degrees before adding the starter may help with thickening (as this changes the protein structure).
— It is a real treat to drain the whey from the yogurt to have a Greek-style yogurt. You can use the whey for other purposes.
EASY STEPS TO MAKE YOGURT
In a saucepan heat milk to 110 degrees—the amount you want to eat plus some to use as mother culture for your next batch of yogurt.
Stir in mother culture-1/4 cup per quart of milk heated.
Pour into clean glass jars and screw on lids.
Place the jars in a cooler with a heating pad.
Maintain a temperature of around 110 degrees for 4-6 hours.
Remove from cooler and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
Eat within a week.
Use mother culture for your next batch of yogurt.