Monday, October 4, 2010

Homemade Yogurt

Making my own yogurt wasn't something I'd ever considered...until I read this post from The Frugal Girl. She makes her own yogurt on a weekly basis, and figures she saves over $500 a year doing so. (Read her post about why she does it here.) Making your own yogurt also means it won't have any extra added ingredients. I wasn't convinced I'd be able to pull it off, but I really wanted to try.

Her instructions are so, so easy, and they worked perfectly. You don't need special equipment, just glass quart jars, a big pot, an instant-read thermometer, and a cooler big enough to hold the jars and a gallon of water. And the taste? Smooth and very mild--even with nothing to sweeten it I could eat it straight with a spoon. Of course, it's much better with something. While berries were in season I would just crush some into the yogurt, my husband likes to eat it with granola and some honey or agave, but our favorite way is to blend it into smoothies with frozen berries (sometimes I add whey protein powder, especially if the smoothie is for breakfast).

Note: She recommends using whole milk, which I've done. I want to experiment with 2% milk, though; I've read you can add unflavored gelatin to lower-fat milk to help it set up more like whole milk.

Go HERE for the instructions. You really will be so glad you did!

My first batch of finished yogurt (I've made 3 batches at the time of this post).

Look how gorgeous it is!

A smoothie with homemade yogurt, fresh strawberries, and a frozen mix of marionberries, blueberries, and blackberries. No sugar necessary.

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Tiffiny! You are now a member of a small but active group of DIY yogurt makers. I saw your post on the Frugal Girl where I have posted also and followed your link here.

    My initial response to getting a (horrors) yogurt maker was "Where are all the yogurt folks on the web?" Well I found much material splattered all over the Net so I built our own website: http://mryogurt.info/ (and you will have to copy and past that link into your web browser address). There is much material and references out there on the website and hopefully it is a help to everyone.

    With my yogurt maker I regularly ( 2 times a week or more ) make 3 or 4 quarts of yogurt in a little over 2 hours time. Activia is the base component (isn't it SO expensive in the supermarkets?) with some Greek and other cultures thrown in for good measure. Yes, my wife and I consume several gallons of yogurt each week and we must save over $1,000 bucks a year DIY.

    Thanks for your great post...

    Bill

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  2. Awesome! Your yogurt looks just perfect. :)

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  3. Hey, great post and good for you making yogurt! My SIL just taught a class at my house a few weeks ago about how to make it. She uses it for everything--to replace sour cream, etc. She even dripped the yogurt in cheesecloth for a few hours and used it like cream cheese.

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