Do you make yogurt?

Greetings!

This is my first post in this group, and I apologize in advance if this has been covered before. I was wondering if anyone makes yogurt from scratch? I've been using the Easiyo stuff (www.easiyo.com), and the system is great - a thermos you fill with hot water and then put the jug of yogurt-to-be inside, and voila, 8 hours later it's delicious. It makes great yogurt, except I can't buy the mix here, and have to rely on my partner's occasional trips home and his mom remembering to give it to him. Which is all very risky, indeed, for my digestive well-being!

I CAN buy good yogurt where I live, but it's expensive and not at most grocery stores -- but it is active culture, so I should be able to just plop it in with some milk in my thermos thing. But it always turns out too runny to be enjoyable -- kind of just sour milk. Blech.

Any tips from seasoned yogurt makers? It's HOT and HUMID all the time where I live, if that makes any difference.

Thanks!
Jean Louise

I have not been using it recently, but as I recall, the system is simple.

Heat milk in a sauce pan with a little bit of active yogurt in it.

Put milk in the cups in the yogurt machine.

Plug it in.

The machine keeps the yogurt culture at the correct temp for it to grow. When it is finished, I just move the little cups to the fridge.

No mix needed, just a spoon full of plain, active culture yogurt from the grocery.

in the house, a spoon of old yogurt (for the cultures) and milk. I'd like to try it again, as you can basically keep making more just as you are about to run out. I'll have to dig in to some old books and see if I can find the procedure.

But I wondered if you couldn't do something similar with the kind you make from the mix. I reserve some of my finished yogurt to make the next batch. Perhaps that would work for you, too. I would try that as an experiment. I'm not sure if freezing some would allow it to keep going once it's thawed. But I was also trying to think of a way to preserve your starter in case you didn't want to keep making yogurt.

Sometimes I make this when I have too much milk and need to preserve some.


Plain Yogurt

1 qt. milk (whole, skim, or powdered) (With powdered, use 1/3 C more per quart)
Yogurt Starter: 1 heaping Tbl. plain yogurt (not pasteurized) or 1 pkg. of dried yogurt culture, or yogurt you've previously made.
 

Heat milk to scalding, cool until you can hold your finger in the milk and count slowly to 10 (old German technique). Add yogurt starter and blend well.
Leave in pan or place in pint jars or glasses. Put jars in pan of hot water filled to the level of yogurt in the jars. Place in oven or other warm undisturbed place for 3-6 hours. When jelled to custard consistency, chill. Will keep 1 week in refrigerator. Be sure to save 1-3 Tbl. plain yogurt for starter.

I come from a long line of yoghurt makers. My grandmother was the master. Since then, my father has experimented and experimented, only to arrive at this method. I think our biggest mistake was overheating. Because it's actually just as simple as it sounds. I've had good and bad results, but he claims that by following this method, his results have been consistent. I might add that using Nancy's yoghurt out of Oregon, you will have the best starter I've ever tasted.

1. Make sure everything you use is sterile, including pan, spoon, container, your hands.

2. Bring milk (any milk from non-fat to whole milk) to boil with low enuf heat not to hopelessly burn milk at
bottom of pan nor add burn taste to yogurt. I use half way between LOW and Medium on our gas stove.
Add 4 tablespoons powdered milk per quart while heating and stir in well. I recommend one quart at a time,
so the starter wont be too old for next batch. Heat till milk begins to rise in pan and quickly remove it from heat.

3. I cool milk down quickly by setting it a water bath and stirring it. Be careful when stirring not to introduce any
bacteria into milk. Cool down to at least 105 degrees before adding starter. I believe temp can be a lot
lower, since all the bacteria care about is being warm for at least 8 to 12 hours.

4. Place two tablespoons of starter into clean container, pour in a small amount of milk and stir well. Add rest
of milk and cover container.

5. Wrap container sufficiently well to maintain warmth overnight. If your oven has a pilot light, try putting it in there
to take advantage of warmth.