Yogurt-- I Finally Made It!

If you were following along with my household dramas in the Fall of 2009, you'll remember my yogurt making experiments- sans a yogurt maker appliance- went bust (see the post here). Three times I followed recipes that failed to produce anything but sour milk and a phlegm like texture.

Its been a year and a half and I finally felt ready to brave the experiment again (Thanks for the inspiration, Evelyn at A Chaotic Lifestyle). 

I'll skip the suspense to announce my final results, in a frenzy of caps lock excitement: THREE TIMES I'VE SUCCESSFULLY, MIRACULOUSLY turned milk to yogurt! 

While the first re-trial came out more like Yop than Yogurt, which I froze as popsicles and no one knew the difference, the second and third were progressively more firm. I've Mother Earth News to thank for the instructions. Find the full article at Mother Earth News. 

For the curious, I simplify the process below. If you decide to try it, reference the full article at MEN.

First, I melted 2 T of honey at bottom of pot to prevent milk scalding at the heat source.

Then on mid-low heat for about 30 minutes, I heated four and a half cups of milk until skin formed on top- with bubble trapped below. Turning off heat, I cooled milk for another 30 minutes until it didn't burn by inner wrist- but it stung (did mention there is some masochism involved in this?)

As the milk heated and cooled, I added a couple tablespoons of raspberry jam to the bottom of 2 of 3 clean, 500 ML jars. I kept one plain so I had starter for next time.

Once the milk was 115 F (hot but not too hot to the touch), I mixed in a couple Tablespoons of 'starter'. The yogurt contained NO gelatin, and ACTIVE bacteria cultures. I also added 3 Tablespoons of skim milk powder.

I then placed the jars in the crock pot and filled it with HOT water. I occasionally and shortly turned the crockpot on low to keep the water warm.  When I headed to bed, I placed the glass covered pot under the cabinet lights. This seemed to keep the water relatively warm. In the morning, I checked how thick the yogurt was (it wasn't quite ready) then kept the yogurt in a warm bath for most of the day. When the yogurt finally seemed thick enough, I refrigerated the jars.

[On another occasion, I put the jars in my dutch oven and placed this into a cooling oven. Along with the oven light on overnight, this provided enough heat to solidify the yogurt.)

The four and a half cups of milk produced the equivalent amount of yogurt: about a tub and a half of the standard 650 g worth about $5- 8 at the store. Homemade it cost me $1.25. After doing it three times, I feel pretty confident that I could do it regularly without much trouble-- most of the time it takes to make involves me sleeping, surfing the net, and working on other things in the kitchen. 

Tonight, I'm happily calculating how many pairs of shoes and Lee Valley garden tools I can buy with my savings. As I do, I'm sucking a raspberry, yogurt popsicle that once was Yop, which before that was milk in my fridge. 

'Making' Yogurt

On Sunday afternoons at the Old Halton Homestead, Mama Halton would pull two large yogurt containers from the fridge and, under intense scrutiny from her six kids, would serve up 8 equal portions. Legend says, each child would grab their share and move off greedily to their separate corners. Some would eat the coveted treat quickly (you never know who’ll jump you). Others would go slow and as the ‘Inhalers’ finished the ‘Savorers’ exaggeratingly licked the yogurt from their spoons. The taunting usually meant someone got hurt.

Yogurt was a big deal for a large family living with one income. It doesn’t come cheap. So when I read that it’s possible to make yogurt at home with milk, milk powder and a tiny amount of yogurt with active bacteria, I was pretty stoked to try it.

There are at least a half dozen ways to make my husband’s family’s most beloved treat . You can make yogurt by putting your milk out in the sun. You can make it by putting milk over your wood burner. You can make it in the oven and in the crock-pot and in a thermos. It all sounds cheap and easy.

Turns out its not as easy as I thought. Tonight I’m on my third attempt. On my first try I managed to burn the ‘yogurt’. The second try ended with a gelatinous, sour mixture that was okay with curry but not passable on its own (the texture was a little like phlegm, so it didn’t go down real easy).

This will be my final attempt. A failure tonight means that the Legend of the Halton Yogurt Sundays will soon become our reality… with a growing family I can’t afford yogurt as an everyday thing.

To keep the tension high for you, I’m going to check on my batches (one is in the crock-pot and another in a thermos) after I run through the details. This basic recipe can be found in multiple sources, however I’m working from the books: The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan and Country Wisdom and Know how by Editors of Storey Books.

Prep: Make sure all utensils are sterilized in the dishwasher or by boiling for 1 minute. Yogurt may come from the interaction of bacteria, heat and milk, but it’s only a certain kind of bacteria you want to grow!

1. Heat/Scald 4 cups of milk – whatever milk fat you choose- to 180 F over medium/high heat.

2. Remove from heat and add 1/3 skim milk powder (If you want to sweeten yogurt, also now add about 1/3 C of sweetener like honey, maple syrup, sugar or artificial sweetener).

3. Let mixture cool to 90 F- 120 F (this step can be speeded up by putting mixture in a chilled bowl in the fridge).

4. Whisk in 1 Rounded Tablespoon of Plain Yogurt with Active Bacteria (I picked up single serving containers at the grocery store)

A. FOR CROCK-POT- HEAT CROCK-POT ON LOW UNTIL HOT TO TOUCH. Place mixture in containers that have tight closing lids (glass jars used for canning work great) and place these in crock-pot. Cover and turn off heat. Over the next three hours, turn on heat to ‘low’ every hour for 10 minute stints. Place containers in the fridge to further thicken.

B. FOR THERMOS- Pour mixture into pre-heated (I boiled it) thermos then do not agitate! Wait 3 hours to check for firmness. When thick, place in fridge to further thicken.

Yogurt can be flavoured with fresh or canned fruit after yogurt is made, or you may add 1 Tablespoon of jam or syrup to bottom of containers before adding the milk mixture.

This is the routine I followed three hours ago and now it is time to check on my yogurt’s status. If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll be a minute…

It is a sad day at the Halton Homestead. Seems I may be forever doomed to supermarket yogurt treats. All I’ve got in my containers is flavoured warm milk. However, since I am an optimist and one of the books does say to leave overnight, I’m going to sleep on it and check it in the morning. Stay tuned.

(8 hours later)

As I opened my yogurt jars this morning, I was treated to the smell of sweet… jam and sour milk. . I’ve been skunked again

My sources give a number of reasons for milk not thickening:

- Too little ‘starter’ yogurt

- ‘Starter’ bacteria was inactive

- Incubation temperature was too hot or cold

- Milk was too hot or cold when ‘starter’ yogurt was added

- Utensils were not sterilized

Frankly that’s a lot of possibilities and, at least for this year, I’m going to accept failure. But perhaps you will have more luck.

And after reflection through the night, there is an option besides supermarket brands. I think I’ll buy a yogurt maker appliance; limited storage be damned.