Homemade Yogurt

[Bandwagonesque]

Has anybody here made yogurt at home before? I bought a yogurt maker for about $18 on Amazon (made by Salton), and it's fantastic. You basically mix in some store bought yogurt, or a starter bacteria culture (from a health foods store) with some heated milk. I've been using the pro-biotic Danone Activa as a starter, and the results are great. You place the mixture inside the incubator, which keeps it at a heated temperature for 8-10 hours. Take it out, let it chill, and you have homemade yogurt for considerably cheaper, and healthier than the store bought stuff. Tastes delicious with fruits, berries, and granola. Lately I've been making mine with lingonberry and cloudberry preserves, or mangoes and guava juice...

It's probably obvious, but the end result is plain yogurt, and depending on your tastes, might require some sweetener - usually a tsp/250mL does the job. The longer it incubates, the more tart, and firmer it gets as well. At 8 hrs, the yogurt is generally thinner than store bought (due to lack of gelatin, and other stabilizers/thickeners).

Worth trying for anybody who wants to put more yogurt/pro-biotic in their diet, and dirt cheap to try.

 

[Tck13]

Originally Posted by Bandwagonesque

Has anybody here made yogurt at home before? I bought a yogurt maker for about $18 on Amazon (made by Salton), and it's fantastic. You basically mix in some store bought yogurt, or a starter bacteria culture (from a health foods store) with some heated milk. I've been using the pro-biotic Danone Activa as a starter, and the results are great. You place the mixture inside the incubator, which keeps it at a heated temperature for 8-10 hours. Take it out, let it chill, and you have homemade yogurt for considerably cheaper, and healthier than the store bought stuff. Tastes delicious with fruits, berries, and granola. Lately I've been making mine with lingonberry and cloudberry preserves, or mangoes and guava juice...

It's probably obvious, but the end result is plain yogurt, and depending on your tastes, might require some sweetener - usually a tsp/250mL does the job. The longer it incubates, the more tart, and firmer it gets as well. At 8 hrs, the yogurt is generally thinner than store bought (due to lack of gelatin, and other stabilizers/thickeners).

Worth trying for anybody who wants to put more yogurt/pro-biotic in their diet, and dirt cheap to try.

I haven't tried to make my own yogurt but I have bought "homemade" yogurt at the local Farmer's Market (from the same stand where I get non pasteurized/non homogonized milk) and the taste is sooooo much better than the regular store bought stuff. They basically add sugar and fruit (like you mentioned you added to yours) and without all of the added chemicals it tastes amazing.

 

[LabelKing]

There is a nice Italian natural yoghurt, called Spega, and it's essentially a sort of organic yoghurt with fruit.

They sell it at Trader Joe's.

 

[whoopee]

We sometimes have yoghurt made at home and it is indeed very good.

 

[amdi8]

Funny. I used to make yogurt at home (probably the same yogurt maker), and it wasn't particularly better nor cheaper than the organic yogurt at Trader Joes. So in the end, it was just an inconvenience and I gave up.

Now I just buy large tubs of plain organic yogurt and mix them with whatever I want right before I eat it.

 

[LabelKing]

I like vanilla yoghurt. The Nordstrom Cafe has an especially good yoghurt parfait.

 

[odoreater]

I eat homemade yogurt all the time. I don't know how to make it, but my mother makes it sometimes and it's a lot better than the store bought stuff. But, she doesn't use a "yogurt maker" or anything like that. In fact, I'm not sure exactly how she makes it, but it involves huge pots on the stove and multiple gallons of milk.

 

[Mentos]

I was always under the impression that all you have to do is put a spoonful of yogurt into a tub of milk and leave in a warm place. But I've never done it, and now that I think about it, that doesn't sound too hygenic...

 

[odoreater]

Originally Posted by Mentos

I was always under the impression that all you have to do is put a spoonful of yogurt into a tub of milk and leave in a warm place. But I've never done it, and now that I think about it, that doesn't sound too hygenic...

I'm not sure that store bought yogurt uses any more of a "hygenic" process. Also, generally the bacteria that grow in yogurt are "good" bacteria and are especially good (actually, it's the only time they're good) when they are still alive.

 

[Bandwagonesque]

Originally Posted by Mentos

I was always under the impression that all you have to do is put a spoonful of yogurt into a tub of milk and leave in a warm place. But I've never done it, and now that I think about it, that doesn't sound too hygenic...

The milk generally needs to be heated to a higher temperature first - 170 F, then cooled to a temperature that allows for optimal growth. Lower or higher temps prevent growth, or kill bacteria respectively. If you don't heat it first, any bad bacteria in the milk can grow later.

Anyway, people have been making yogurt for centuries using less accurate processes. One of my friends from Pakistan tells me they just leave a bowl of milk out on the counter on a hot day.

 

[masqueofhastur]

Used to make lots of homemade yogurt when I lived on a farm. It was delicious. Next best thing for store bought is balkan.

 

[Reggs]

Originally Posted by LabelKing

There is a nice Italian natural yoghurt, called Spega, and it's essentially a sort of organic yoghurt with fruit.

They sell it at Trader Joe's.

Having my first jar right now. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Reggs]

I purchased this some time ago:

I got the large single container because I didn't want to fool around with those small had to clean glass jars. I only wish the container that came with this was made of Pyrex, but I'm sure I could find a Pyrex container that would fit in the incubator if I looked long enough.

Things are working out great so far, and I just made my best batch yet. So far I've been mixing in jam or preserves, but this morning I got a box if fresh blackberries, put them in a bowel, along with several spoonfuls of cain sugar, and honey, mixed and mashed together with my hand, then slowly stirred into my fresh yogurt. The outcome is perfect.

The only mishaps I'v had are using a bit of dehydrated milk to try and thicken it. It gave the yogurt a bad taste. I also used goat's milk yogurt as a starte culture and the yogurt came out like Elmer's school glue.

I've found that the yogurt will have a nice thickness if you use fresh ingredients, and if you incubate it longer, though if you do that it will be more bitter. 8.5 hrs is my sweet spot. So far I have not noticed a difference in using whole milk and 2%.

 

[Bandwagonesque]

That's the same incubator I have

A lot of the times it's been trial and error. The first batch I tried, I must have used a bad stater culture. It was too runny, and smelled horrible.

My best luck so far has been using 2% fine filtered milk with 1/3 cup of powdered milk, and 1/3 cup of starter yogurt (usually Danone Activia Sweetened Plain). I let it sit for anywhere between 8-10 hours, and it thickens up really nicely. If I need it thicker, I'll add a tablespoon of the Activa. Yogurt can be very finnicky on temperature, so make sure the themometer is accurate. When my themometer broke, I had to estimate the temps. The yogurt ended up being very runny, even after 10 hours.

Usually I have it with diced apple, granola, a bit of vanilla extract, and cinammon. If I sweeten it, usually a teaspoon or two of cane sugar works nicely.

 

[LanAltec]

Originally Posted by Bandwagonesque

Has anybody here made yogurt at home before?

On accident once when I forgot a carton of milk in the back of the fridge.