How To Make Homemade Yogurt

I have always confessed a love for yogurt, with my favorite being plain yogurt with fresh berries. My husband and I used to love a swig or two back in the day,and this seems to have rubbed off on the kids over time. For much of the last 10 years,I have peddled packets of this stuff from the store to the house,and the experience has always been amazing. It so happened just over two years ago, one of my friends came over with a cup of her own brew.

I did take a little mouthful,and I noticed that the taste and flavor were way different from what I had become used to. It was a little tangy, a little soft, caressing my tongue and tickling the best out of my buds. It was only when we sat down that Kayla told me that her version of yogurt was homemade, and the reason she went out of her way was because the product was natural and highly nutritional. This revelation piqued my interest,and I have never looked back ever since.

For the last 18 months, I have tinkered with all manner of recipes for homemade yogurt, and even though the road has been a little longer than expected, my final product is now flawless and off the top drawer. Commercial yogurts have added ingredients such as preservatives, artificial sweeteners, corn syrup, gelatin and artificial dyes.

All these ingredients are not exactly good for your body but are absent in a home-made yogurt because you can control what goes in there. Commercial yogurts also do not have fresh active bacteria necessary to kill bad viruses and help with digestion. After sitting on the store shelves for days, they lose the active bacteria and become heavy and cold.

This heaviness will make the product hard to digest and can even cause weight gain. Oh, and the reduced cost doesn’t hurt, either. Half a gallon of whole milk. Any type of milk will do but I prefer whole milk so my yogurt can be extra thick. The Kids love this one too.

Sugar, maple syrup and blueberries/strawberries for flavor (If you are a fan of chocolate, can add cocoa as well. Half a cup plain yogurt. The commercial yogurt must contain Live Active Cultures and be unflavored. It’s really important to buy yogurt that has these Live Cultures and the more the better. A thermometer will help you get the exact temperature milk should boil. A spatula is needed to stir.

This list is not exhaustive. You can modify and tinker with the ingredients of your homemade yogurt recipe as you see fit. 1. Boiling the milk. Place the two pots inside each other and pour the milk in the inner pot. Using two pots ensures the milk does not heat too fast and burn.

Add 2 tablespoons of sugar (For a healthier but still sweet mix, you can go with honey instead of sugar). Add two tablespoons of cocoa powder if you want to make chocolate yogurt. Let the milk heat up to 200 F(93.3C). If you don’t have a thermometer, this is the point just before the milk boils and it looks frothy at that time.

Take the inside pot out and place it in a basin of cold water. This will allow the milk to cool fast without forming cream on top. Let it cool until its baby warm and stir every once in a while. The ideal warmth should be about 110 F(43.3C). Remove the pot from the basin.

I usually add some of the hot milk into my culturing yogurt and mix it well before pouring it in the milk. Doing this ensures the yogurt is warm and thinner which makes it easy to blend with the milk. Whisk the yogurt and milk mixture thoroughly until it’s smooth. Tightly cover the pot with the lid.