Making Yogurt Part I

Twinville and Kris asked me about yogurt making. I first learned how to make yogurt from Liz, at Pocket Farm. She has since given up blogging, but still has a few of her favorite posts here. I didn't find her yogurt making how-to among them, so I'll have to do the best I can here!

What you'll need:

• two quart sized jars with lids
• small "six pack" type cooler
• bath towel
• thermometer
• stainless steel pan with lid
• 4 cups milk
• tea pot/water
• yogurt culture or 2 T of your favorite plain yogurt

Heat milk to 180F. Cover and cool to 116F. Meanwhile heat 4 cups water in your tea kettle to boiling. When the milk reaches 116, add 2 T of your yogurt culture. Stir thoroughly. Pour the milk mixture into a cleaned quart sized mason jar. Fill the second jar with the hot water. Put the jars in the cooler and wrap the towel around them.

Close up cooler and let sit undisturbed for 6 hours. Put the yogurt in the fridge overnight and in the morning, enjoy! Tips:

• You can buy yogurt cultures (and follow pkg instructions) but I used Liz's suggestion of using my own favorite plain yogurt as a starter. Liz suggests Stonyfield as they use 6 different cultures and most other brands only use 2 cultures. Use the first 2 Tbs to start your new batch of yogurt and freeze the rest in ice cube trays. Then, whenever you want to start more yogurt you can take 2 T from your homemade yogurt or use 2 ice cubes (thawed) to start your new batch.


• I used Ball's plastic lids to make my yogurt, but Liz says you can use the metal lids, as long as they've already been used and the seal is broken. (You don't want to seal in your yogurt.)
• You can use pasteurized store bought milk or raw milk with little difference. I noticed I needed more culture when I switched to raw milk and it still managed to be a bit runny for my tastes.


• Try mixing in a bit of jam, honey, syrup, granola or fresh fruit into your yogurt for flavor. My kids love Whole Foods mixed berry jam mixed into theirs .
• 

I used this method happily for months. But as the busy summer season approached I found myself forgetting my yogurt in the cooler more and more and after ruining more than a few batches I switched methods. More on that tomorrow!