This is my recipe to make yogurt. I started making it for
Easton, my then 8 mo old grandson, but I eat it too. If you have babies… it’s so simple, wholesome and cheap.
Babies as you probably know need fat and are
supposed to be drinking whole milk according to the AAP after the age of one. About 8 mos old they can start on whole milk yogurt because yogurt is digested differently than milk. The story behind this
yogurt making of mine is that when Easton was born, Sydney being a single Mom wanted to feed him as cheaply and wholesomely as we could. We’ve been
making his food all along.
You will need a crock pot, although you can follow the same
procedure on the stove, I just haven’t tried it.
You’ll need a gallon
of organic WHOLE milk (I use Shamrock here in AZ)
A 12 oz carton of
organic (I use Stony field) Plain yogurt. (Nothing in it but milk and
milk cultures). * I buy organic milk, and yogurt, because I
don’t like the antibiotics in reg. milk but you can use any whole milk if you
are comfortable or even raw milk.
1 to 1½ cup sugar
2 TBSP vanilla
I start this process about noon on a day that I will be home
all afternoon. It’s not time consuming but you need to be around to watch
the temperature. Every crock pot heats up at a different speed, so for the
first few times you make it, note how long your crock pot took to get
to the desired temp ...YOU DON"T WANT TO BOIL IT!
Start by pouring the
milk into the crock pot and heating it on high it until it reaches 180 degrees on
a candy thermometer like the one below, to kill all the bacteria in the milk.
This takes about 2 hours in my crock pot but it will depend on your pot, and
the amount of milk you put in as well. If a scum forms on the milk while you're
checking the temp just skim it off and throw it away.
Once the milk reaches
180, unplug the crock pot and let it sit covered for a couple hours or so until the temp cool down to 110 degrees. You cool the milk to that temp so it’s not too
warm to kill off the new cultures you are going to add when you add the yogurt starter to make the new batch of yogurt.
At the 110 degree point you add 12 oz of yogurt and mix into
the milk with a whisk. No need to whip
it just mix it in good. Make sure the yogurt you buy has nothing but milk and
milk cultures in it (no pectin or stablizers), if you want to stay true to
the nothing added for babies, although any yogurt will work. At that time you can add the sugar to your own liking, and pure vanilla and stir it all together throughly. ( I tried other more organic sweeteners like maple syrup, etc. but I didn't like the taste so went back to sugar. Like I said this is how I make it, not how it is to be made, chiseled in stone. A recipe is just a starting place... mess around with it and make it your own like you and your family like it. Maybe you'd rather use a pot than a crock pot for example, or you like yours unsweetened.
After you mix the sugar, starter yogurt, and vanilla in, put the lid back on the crock pot leaving it unplugged ( so no one messes with the knobs ) crock pot, and cover and tuck around three bath towels making a warm, dark environment for bacteria to grow. Let is sit there for 12 hours or so (overnight). When you open the lid there may be water standing on top. That is called whey and is full of protein and vitamins and a wonderful probiodics. You can drain that off, if you like a thicker yogurt and use it in something else. I never do I just mix it back in to the yogurt and then pour the yogurt into a plastic bowl with a pouring spout to fill my jars neatly. I invested in some little jars just because I like them but it can be stored in any jar with a cover. The jars I like are these from Amazon, although they will leak if tipped over in a lunch bag the reviews say, but I only keep them in the fridge so I love them.
http://www.amazon.com/Euro-Cuisine-GY1920-Glass-Yogurt/dp/B000EWX4CA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389336005&sr=8-2&keywords=glass+jars+set+small
The batch this size
makes 24 6 oz jars of yogurt. I feed my Grandson one every day so that’s how
long it last depending on how many I eat, it’s so good! It keeps in the fridge
up to a month, however I’m always out by then. You can cut the recipe in half
if you want to.
Now, do the math money wise. A carton of yogurt is on
average $1.25 per 6 ounce serving. The home made yogurt was 3.83 for the milk, .75 for the
sugar, .25 for the vanilla and 3.24 for the 12 oz Greek yogurt starter. That
adds up to 8.07 divided by 24 = 33.6 cents compared to 1.25. It’s a little less firm, than the yogurt that has stabilizers and pectin etc... but not enough to
make a huge difference and you know they are eating just milk, yogurt, sugar and
vanilla, rather than an inch of stuff on a carton you don’t even know what it
is. Easton likes it plain, or sometimes I put fruit in it. I have pureed strawberries
( after baby is a year) . Until then they can have blueberries, peaches,
apples or many other fruits. It’s so simple, I hope you enjoy it.
