So, I know that this blog is about preserves, but I recently started making my own yogurt and want to share some lessons learned from two successful batches and two failures. I use the same half-pint jars as for jam. Here’s my process:
1) Heat the milk to 190 degrees and keep it there for 5 mins. Do not boil. After one of my failures, I talked to the yogurt-maker at my farmers’ market, and he told me that I likely hadn’t kept the milk at a high enough temperature for long enough.
2) Put pot into bowl of cold water, and let milk come down to 110 degrees.
3) Add some plain yogurt. Stir very well. Make sure the yogurt has active cultures. Stonyfield says it does, but their yogurt didn’t work for me. The yogurt from my farmers’ market has been my most successful starter-yogurt.
4) Pour into half-pint jars and cover with lids and rings. Old lids work fine since the yogurt doesn’t need to be vacuum-sealed. Just be sure to keep your old lids separated from your new lids!
5) Put into a pre-heated oven (170 degrees). You need to keep the yogurt warm for a few hours. A gas oven with a pilot light works, or (if you have electric like me) just raise the temp to the lowest allowed every hour or so and turn the oven off. I like to leave it in for about 7 hours, which gets me a thicker yogurt. I use “reduced-fat” milk and it comes out plenty creamy for me (and I’d drink half-and-half if it didn’t kill me).
6) Refrigerate for a few hours, and, of course, add a tablespoon of jam.
My first failure occurred when I put the jars in a closet covered with an electric blanket. The jars accidentally fell over and the yogurt separated. For reasons I’m not clear on, you must make sure the yogurt stays upright while it is fermenting. Does anyone out there know why?
A note on the cost: Plain yogurt costs $0.89 at my Whole Foods for 6 oz. One quart organic milk costs $3.50 and makes 32 oz. of yogurt, saving me $1.25 (and 5 plastic containers).
Hi there. So I’ve done a little yogurt myself in past months and love it. Will be doing more with P starting on dairy soon. I use a store-bought starter typically, but you’re saying I can just use other yogurt. Then would I save a little of my homemade batch to start the next round? And can I add cool yogurt to my 110 degree yogurt? I do have a yogurt maker, which keeps it at that temp you say for as long as I need. –S
Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for reading my blog! Yes, you can use 1/4 c (per quart) of your homemade batch to start the next round. Apparently, you can only do this a few times, though, and then you need to use an active culture yogurt again. This person says that you can buy store (or market) bought in large quantities and freeze it in cubes as starter yogurt.
I’ve also read that you should mix the starter yogurt with a small amount of 110 degree yogurt to warm it up before putting it in the pot (so it doesn’t cool too fast and kill the cultures. But, I’ve never done this and it worked out fine for me!
I’ve thought about buying a yogurt maker, but I think A would kill me if I brought home yet another kitchen gadget!
–Amy
Whoa — I just noticed that the person whose blog I linked to above is a bit of a right-wing nut. Sorry about that, I only read her yogurt-making tips (which are quite comprehensive) and didn’t go to her homepage. Just wanted to be sure you didn’t think I sent you there for nefarious reasons!
Amy:
I have also been experimenting with yogurt - similar process to the above - although what I did was put the jar inside one of those styrofoam coolers and filled it with hot water. About the upright thing - I also read that yogurt doesn’t like to be disturbed while fermenting. Try also to add a little bit of powdered milk which also helps thicken it up and give more food for the cultures to munch on. Sort of like spiking the keg with everclear I guess.
By the way Cara was in DC last week and Alexei gave us some of the strawberry rhubarb - it kicks ass.