Re: [gardeners] Mediterranean yogurt... and now Homemade American Yogurt
Diane Roeder (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 5 Feb 2001 19:05:04 -0500
Hello from Massachusetts where it's a virtual white-out.
Regarding making your own yogurt, here's the method in general terms. You
need milk: soy, whole, 2%, skim, whatever. You need the bacteria that will
culture the milk; if you lilke to spend money you can buy bacteria on
various places on the internet, or that company whose name I can't remember
right now that is run by the Amish. Otherwise you can just buy some yogurt
and use a little of it to get the culture going. I used Sunnyfield Farms
organic plain yogurt from whole milk to get mine going. You need some
nonfat dry milk, I assume to add a little more body. You need a place to
keep the mixture warm while the bacteria are doing their thing. An oven
with a pilot light, a cooler with a shop light clamped to it, etc. It takes
a minimum of six hours to culture yogurt;; you can let the process go
longer. The last time I let it go 24 hours, and it is still just a little
on the thin side. Save about one half cup from this batch to use for
culturing your next batch. A little like sourdough bread.
I tried it the first time just using my electric oven, intermittently
turning the dial to warm and then to off for several hours. The results
were delicious, but I resolved to locate a yogurt maker. A few days later I
took some clothes to the Salvation Army, and there on the shelf was a Salton
Yogurt Maker for $3.99!
If anyone is interested in pursuing this I can provide more specific info on
amounts of the ingredients as well as one or two links.
Diane