Yogurt making like a boss!

We here in America love our yogurt. In 2016, in America, 184 million people consumed yogurt. So that's more than half of the U.S. And let's be real there are those of us that have a love affair with yogurt. however, you don't have to be one of those hardcore yogurt lovers to save money by making your own yogurt. If you eat a lot of yogurt this will save you money but, if you don't this is still worth it because is is so much better for you!

Making your own yogurt can be one more way you cut down on eating artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and other undesirable things that are in processed foods. This yogurt keeps quite well because of the fermentation process. It will continue to become more yogurt-y the longer it sits in your fridge. It will go bad at some point but you can make your batch as small or large as you want depending on how much yogurt you normally eat.

My 17 month old loves yogurt so I make five cups at a time (this is before the whey is separated off). The yogurt will end up tasting like a pretty standard unflavored yogurt which is a nice base for a smoothie, parfait, or you can flavor it yourself.

HOW DO I MAKE IT?

This is a very simple recipe. It's one step above making kefir in terms of difficulty because it does require some heating and cooling of the milk but, otherwise it is a breeze.

Step 1: Get out the milk and measure out about how much you want. Add slightly more due to the whey and curd separation that will occur at the end.

Step 2: In a big pot, heat the milk up to 180 degrees F (82 degrees C). Then cool it down to 100-110 degrees F. *For raw milk only heat it up to 105-110 degrees F or it will destroy the beneficial enzymes.

Step 3: Add the starter yogurt. For my five cups of milk I use about a cup of starter. You can add less for less milk but it will never hurt to add slightly more.

Step 4: Let it set somewhere warm (roughly 100 degrees F) for between 8-10 hours depending on the type of milk and what texture/consistency you want. The longer you let it set the thicker it will be because more whey will separate out and more bacteria will grow. For much thicker yogurt you can do part heavy cream and part whole milk.

Step 5: Strain out the yogurt. You can keep the whey and use it for other fermenting projects or get rid of it. (The whey is the yellowish, watery part.) Letting the yogurt strain for longer will also increase the thickness.

Step 6: Refrigerate and eat as desired. Generally the best by date on the milk is a good indicator for when it should be eaten by but I have found mine will last at least a week or two past. Always smell first and if it's off you'll know.

For the Starter

For the starter make sure to get unflavored plain yogurt. If you use a flavored one it will as best taste super funky and at worst it will mess up the growth of the bacteria effectively ruining your yogurt.

Since I make it for my son, I make it out of whole milk but you can use 1%, 2% or whole milk. If you want to make yogurt from raw milk, which I highly recommend as it is delicious and has loads of beneficial enzymes, you can still use a store bought starter just make sure it has no fillers or preservatives that will harm your milk enzymes.

Keeping it Warm

You can keep it warm several ways. I have a yogurt maker (they are not expensive and are great if you make a lot of yogurt) which a dear friend gave to me as a surprise blessing. I am super grateful to her for it because our home is rather cool and my yogurt was struggling to stay warm. However, there are many other ways to help your yogurt along.

You can:

-Use a yogurt maker which will have instructions with it

-Keep it in your oven (turned off) with the overhead light on directly on your container and wrap it in a towel for insulation.

-In a crock-pot in water, with a setting that stays at 100 degrees F. Mine has a low setting that is too warm so you'll have to look up your model to see if it will work.

-If you are somewhere warm then possibly it will be fine with just a towel wrapped around it but I'm hesitant to suggest this because if the temperature drops too much you may not know it.

-Use a dehydrator and set it on 100 degrees.

Flavoring Your Yogurt

There are an infinite amount of ways you can flavor your yogurt. It all really depends on your taste. I have found that adding a little organic honey and some elderberry syrup (see recipe here) makes it taste wonderful! This adds a sweetness and an immune system boost all at once.

You can add berries, granola, honey, nuts, maple syrup, molasses, elderberry syrup, citrus fruit (gives it a really fresh zing), or just about anything you can think of.

Make sure you add the flavoring to your bowl right before you eat it as the yogurt does not have any preservatives so the bacteria will distort the taste if it's left in there. Also, make sure to leave about a cup at the end to use as a starter for the next batch. It can be continually used and you'll never have to buy yogurt again!

*Only use the previous batch to make more if it has been five days or less because after that the bacteria will become weakened by the cold and lack of food so it may not culture as well or at all after that time period.

Yogurt is a wonderful addition to a balanced diet and can be made even more healthy if you make it yourself! I hope you enjoy this as much as I have and do :)

Blessings!

Kelsie

(The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.)