MAKING YOGURT
November 29, 2008
by: jovial_cynic
by: jovial_cynic
I've decided to take up yogurt-making.
I've got my head around the wine-making, and I want to eventually try beer-making, but yogurt-making is something that my mom recently introduced to me, and I figured I'd give it a shot.
After doing a little research, I went to the grocery store and picked up some milk and got started.
Similar to real sourdough, yogurt is made with a starter. That is, you can take a batch of yogurt and pass it through batch after batch and make yogurt forever, or at least milk becomes unavailable. There's something kind of magical about the idea of it, and if all goes well, I may have a set of yogurt that'll last for generations.
You can actually just pick up a tub of original all-natural yogurt at the grocery store and use it as a starter, but my mom happened to bring over a mason jar full of yogurt that she picked up from a friend. At this point, I have no idea of the history of this particular batch of yogurt... and although I can probably call my mom's friend and find out, I think I'll let my imagination create my own history on this mystery.
Here's my setup. Milk, source yogurt, pots. There really isn't much to the process of yogurt making.
This is a pot of milk in a pot of water. It's referred to as a water-jacket, and it allows you to raise the temperature of the milk without the risk of scorching it. It's not absolutely necessary, but it is a rather foolproof way of heating up the milk to 185 degrees.
After heating the milk up (to kill off any rogue bacteria), you let it cool back down to 110 degrees and then throw in a bit of the yogurt. For my 4-cups of milk, a single spoonful of yogurt is enough. And then you wait. If you're able to keep the milk at 110 degrees, your yogurt will set up in 7 hours... but if you leave it at room temperature, it takes closer to 9 or 10 hours.
Nine hours later, it's a little runny (it hasn't chilled in the fridge yet), but it's certainly yogurt.
Yogurt, by itself, is not very delicious. I prefer mine with a bit of honey, personally. This first batch turned out quite well, and I'm going to make great efforts to maintain it. It's my very own yogurt quest.
Here's a PDF of the instructions, if you want to try it for yourself.
I've got my head around the wine-making, and I want to eventually try beer-making, but yogurt-making is something that my mom recently introduced to me, and I figured I'd give it a shot.
After doing a little research, I went to the grocery store and picked up some milk and got started.
Similar to real sourdough, yogurt is made with a starter. That is, you can take a batch of yogurt and pass it through batch after batch and make yogurt forever, or at least milk becomes unavailable. There's something kind of magical about the idea of it, and if all goes well, I may have a set of yogurt that'll last for generations.
You can actually just pick up a tub of original all-natural yogurt at the grocery store and use it as a starter, but my mom happened to bring over a mason jar full of yogurt that she picked up from a friend. At this point, I have no idea of the history of this particular batch of yogurt... and although I can probably call my mom's friend and find out, I think I'll let my imagination create my own history on this mystery.
Here's my setup. Milk, source yogurt, pots. There really isn't much to the process of yogurt making.
This is a pot of milk in a pot of water. It's referred to as a water-jacket, and it allows you to raise the temperature of the milk without the risk of scorching it. It's not absolutely necessary, but it is a rather foolproof way of heating up the milk to 185 degrees.
After heating the milk up (to kill off any rogue bacteria), you let it cool back down to 110 degrees and then throw in a bit of the yogurt. For my 4-cups of milk, a single spoonful of yogurt is enough. And then you wait. If you're able to keep the milk at 110 degrees, your yogurt will set up in 7 hours... but if you leave it at room temperature, it takes closer to 9 or 10 hours.
Nine hours later, it's a little runny (it hasn't chilled in the fridge yet), but it's certainly yogurt.
Yogurt, by itself, is not very delicious. I prefer mine with a bit of honey, personally. This first batch turned out quite well, and I'm going to make great efforts to maintain it. It's my very own yogurt quest.
Here's a PDF of the instructions, if you want to try it for yourself.
