This is a guest post from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship.
I’d like to think of myself as a yogurt diva, if you’ll indulge me a moment. Jenny has me beat in all other things probiotic, and I’ll gladly crown her Get Cultured Queen if she’ll allow me to be the Yogurt Fairy here at Nourished Kitchen.
I make a gallon of yogurt in each batch, about every week and a half or so. My family is absolutely lost if we run out. We eat it at breakfast, lunch, and snacks constantly as well as using it in some soaked grain recipes. It’s imperative to have an easy system when you use a homemade food that often. I’ve got it down to a science.
You can see my whole tutorial on how to make homemade yogurt, photos and all, if you’re interested in my no dishes, no special equipment, simplified yogurt making method. For now, here are the top 10 tips I’ve learned over the past four years of making my own yogurt:
- Don’t burn the milk. This is key for multitasking mamas and other busy people who have trouble standing around to stir milk. You can avoid burnt milk by putting glass jars filled with milk into a pot of water and boiling them that way instead of putting the milk right in the pot. This also saves on dishes, one of my favorite worthwhile pursuits.
- Don’t cool your milk down in the refrigerator. Put it outside in the winter or in a sink of cold water and a few ice packs, or even on the counter if you’re willing to deal with inconsistency, not in the refrigerator which is taxing to the system and ultimately costly.
- More starter is not better. Two tablespoons starter per quart of milk is perfect. Any more, and the bacteria will be too crowded as it tries to culture. Survival of the fittest = runny yogurt.
- Incubate at around 100 degrees F for maximum creaminess. I used to shoot for about 110, but I have found that slightly less than that seems to get more consistent texture results.
- Incubate 12-24 hours to allow the bacteria time to predigest the milk proteins. Nearly all the lactose is converted to lactic acid at this time, and many lactose intolerant people can eat 24-hour yogurt without repercussion.
- Place jars in the freezer for the first hour or so after culturing. This will stop the multiplying of bacteria quickly, which gives you the best, delightfully creamy consistency.
- Use free jars. I like to keep my jars from spaghetti sauce, etc. to use for making yogurt.
- Eat your yogurt with as little sweetener as possible. I’ve weaned myself down from sweetened yogurt cups to just needing a little bit of honey, or even no sweetener if I mix in homemade applesauce with LOTS of cinnamon. (See 4 tips for eating less sugar in your yogurt.)
My son demonstrates his love for applesauce and yogurt.
- The no-thermometer method. I like having one less item to gather when I make my yogurt. I can tell each temperature now without the thermometer:
*Up to 180 when a skin forms on top of the milk.
*Down to 100-110 when (a) I can hold the jar without pain and (b) a drop on my wrist feels warm, within a few degrees of body temp, not painful. - Freeze some starter. If you’ve tried Greek yogurt or have a special starter that cost you a lot, freeze some of the first batch right away in baby food jars. Generally the yogurt will still culture just great after thawing, but I always like to have a few backups just in case.
I am a firm believer in the health benefits of yogurt, and the convenience of always having it on hand makes the never-ending question, “What is nourishing that I can offer my kids for a snack that won’t take long to prepare?” an easy one. “Yogurt with…” is always answer number one.
My next goal is to figure out how to dehydrate yogurt-n-fruit rolls so I can take it in the car with us without the serious mess factor.
How do you take your yogurt?
Katie Kimball has been delving into the real food/traditional food movement for about a year. She blogs her successes, failures and goals at Kitchen Stewardship, where the mission is to help people balance their time, money, nutrition and environment in the kitchen, baby step style.
Further Reading:
- The health benefits of yogurt
- Yogurt Recipes
- Jenny’s Homemade Yogurt post
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/01/12/homemade-yogurt-recipes-so-you-can-eat-it-all-the-time/
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© Katie for The Nourished Kitchen, 2010. |
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Post tags: homemade yogurt, making yogurt, yogurt