As you may remember, I have been trying to move our family to a more natural foods diet. I had heard of people making their own yogurt, but had always wrote it off as being too complicated(and, ok, maybe a little weird.) But when I saw this recipe, I decided I at least had to give it a try. It looked so simple! Besides, my kids love yogurt.
So here's a picture recap, of how making my own yogurt went.
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These were the only two ingredients needed. Plus a crock pot and a heavy towel. How much simpler can you get(well besides picking up some from the grocery store?)
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A picture of my towel covered crock pot. At this point, the yogurt has about 8 more hours to go.
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This morning, I excitedly told the children we would be having yogurt for a snack. But to my great sadness the yogurt turned out looking like.....
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Soup?! Aw man, I wonder what I did wrong. Oh well, the kids will still eat it. And they did, in fact when they first saw it they thought the yogurt was ice cream. However, after they tasted it they realized it didn't taste anything like ice cream! Yes, I do believe plain yogurt is a bit of an acquired taste, luckily we had some honey and bananas that they added to it and then it tasted fine.
Oh yes, one more thing, after we finished eating our yogurt, I started dividing it into containers. As I was finishing filling my last one, I accidentally knocked over another container, spilling the soup/yogurt mixture everywhere. Here's a picture, in case you don't believe me;
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I took this after I had started cleaning up the mess, so this picture doesn't do the mess justice, but you get my point. The last time I tried making this yogurt the crock pot fell face down on my kitchen floor, and we didn't get to try any. Maybe I'm just not meant to be a yogurt maker? ;)
Ok, so I am not a yogurt making expert, but I made my first batch a couple weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteDid you keep a close eye on the temp.? If it gets too hot, it kills the yogurt making bacteria. Resulting in runny yogurt, this is what happened to mine when I tried the crockpot method. The first batch I made successfully in a small ice chest, and filled the bottom with the hottest tap. Its kinda of a pain babysitting it all day. But it worked. It needs to be around 110 degrees. The third time I put it in jars, filled the crock pot with hot water and turned it off and on as needed. It actually held heat really well, and it turned out perfect! Anyway.. just my two cents on yogurt making!
Thanks for the suggestions, Jennifer! I'll definitely try that next time! :)
ReplyDeleteJust curious on all of this homemade yogurt stuff, but wasn't one of your starting ingredients YOGURT??? LOL Does it just end up giving you more for your money???
ReplyDeleteKendra Spond
Lol, Kendra! I obviously don't understand the inner workings of yogurt making, but the way I understand it is you have to have a "starter" when you first make yogurt. After your first batch you don't have to use store bought, you just use the homemade batch. But I totally thought the same thing!
ReplyDeleteOh man, homemade yogurt is the best! Here's the trick for thick yogurt: Heat your milk to exactly 180 degrees (you'll need a instant read thermometer) and then let it cool to about 110-120 degrees. Add in your yogurt starter, and pour it into jars, or whatever you want. Incubate it at 110 degrees (like Jennifer mentioned, the ice chest method works great!) for 6-8 hours. The longer you leave it to culture, the more tart it will be (as the acids have more time to do their "thang") I prefer mine at 6 hours. But, the key to thickness is heating the milk (pre starter!) to 180 degrees.
ReplyDeleteIt's also SUPER easy to make greek style yogurt, if you like that. Simple strain the yogurt in very fine cheese cloth for about 30-45 minutes, expecting about a 30-50% decrease in volume. Whip it with a whisk until smooth, and add a splash of milk, or cream and you'll have the creamiest, yummiest greek yogurt on the planet. For pennies on the dollar!
Okay, end yogurt rant. I just bought a gallon of milk tonight to make yogurt, so I'm all fired up. ;)
Thank you very much for the tips, LeAnna! You're getting me excited to try yogurt making again! :)
ReplyDeleteOoops!! I saw an idea on Pinterest about mixing yogurt with nutella to make fruit dip...maybe it would be good for that! ;)
ReplyDelete