How To Make Your Own Yogurt/ Greek Yogurt, without a Yogurt Maker

How To Make Your Own Yogurt/ Greek Yogurt, without a Yogurt Maker

Yogurt is easy to make, and an interesting process. I like "back to basics" type of activities - and I like to show my children where things come from, other than the store! We don't always make our own yogurt these days, but we do when we can. It is cheaper than the store, and you know *exactly* what is in it this way! Everyone knows yogurt is healthy, but a lot of people don't realize that if you buy those little pre-sweetened packages of fruit-flavored yogurt,
you are far from eating a health food, as they have so much sugar and other no-good ingredients in them. So, anyway, here is how you can make your own!

All you need is milk and some live culture, i.e. plain yogurt, to get started.

And the following supplies, which can be adjusted to what you have available:
-a quart jar
-a 1/2 gallon thermos
-a pot (preferably not teflon)
-a candy thermometer (or jelly or fat thermometer) - these are very inexpensive at places like Wal-Mart, and even cheaper where I got mine - a garage sale. :)

Now we are ready to begin.
Measure a quart of milk (so it will fit back in the jar later), and put it in your pot:


Good! Now, pour it into your pot and place your candy thermometer in the milk.


There are different sizes and shapes of thermometers that are suitable. The kind I like the best are the kind I find at garage sales in the $.05 box! :-)


Now turn your stove on to a medium-high heat and heat your milk up, stirring occasionally, until your milk reaches 180 degrees F. (About 85 degrees C.)
At this point, turn off the heat and remove pot from stove.
Leave your thermometer in the milk, and allow it to cool until it reaches 120 degrees F. (About 50 d C).
You can employ your 6yo to watch the thermometer for you and let you know when it reaches 120 degrees, so you can change the baby's diaper and take your toddler to the potty in the meantime. :-)


Once it has cooled back down to 120 degrees, you are ready to add the live culture, or plain yogurt to it.  You only need about a heaping spoonful.















Now, take about a cup of the cooled milk out of your pot and stir the live culture into your milk:


Then add the contents of the cup back into the rest of the milk in the pot and stir it around:


Now put the contents of the pan back into your jar, and put the lid tightly on the jar.


Place the closed jar into your thermos now, and fill the thermos as much as you can with the hottest water you can get out of your tap:

Close the thermos tightly and you are done! I like to wrap my thermos in a towel to try to keep the warmth in as much as possible.


Just leave it set aside for 12-24  hours. I find that mine does better in about 20-24. If you like it more liquid, you will be fine after 12 hours.  Since I like it more "set", I usually open the thermos about half way through and dump the now-cooled water out and refill it with HOT water again.

When it is done, the first thing I do is take a little scoop of it out to use for my live culture starter for the next time I make it! That way you never have to buy yogurt again, if you don't want to!  If you forget and consume it all before making more, you will have to buy plain yogurt again before you make it next time.

EDITED TO ADD ONE MORE STEP!
If you like "Greek" Style yogurt, you need to do one more step here.
Simply put a strainer over a pot or bowl of some sort, and then line the strainer with a (clean) dish towel (the linen kind, not the terrycloth kind) or any other kind of thin-ish cloth - even a (clean) t-shirt.
Dump the contents of your newly made yogurt into the towel over the strainer, and leave it there for a few hours. This will separate all of the whey from the creamy part of your yogurt. The carbs are in the whey, the milk sugar, and the tartness. Don't get me wrong - the whey is really healthy for you! That is why I put a receptacle under the strainer to catch the whey. But removing the whey makes the yogurt a more concentrated protein, less tart and more creamy. It is my new FAVE!  I love it on muffins, in place of cream cheese, to mix with a little sugar-free homemade strawberry jam for an afternoon pick-me-up, etc. Fantastic!

I will try to post a pic of the straining process soon. :)

Tip for getting children to eat plain yogurt:
My children LOVE eating yogurt mixed with some applesauce.  It sweetens it enough to be palatable, but it is not like the pre-sweetened garbage yogurt you buy in the store. :-)  You can also add fruit, of course,  or some honey and/or granola as well.

Happy Yogurt Making!