Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Before fermenting, combine the starter and milk. It doesn't matter for usefulness if you use whole
milk, skim milk, or anything in between. Practically speaking, it would make sense to use the milk
left after you skimmed the cream off for butter.
Over the Garden Fence
Store-bought yogurt is congealed with pectin, so you probably won't be used to it being very thin at
all. The texture will be a little different. If you prefer thicker yogurt, try adding in a few tablespoons of
powdered milk. It should thicken the yogurt without changing your recipe or process at all.
To open up the milk proteins and heat away any unwanted bacteria, strongly consider scalding the
milk. This is heating it in a heavy-bottomed pan or double boiler until it reaches 185°F to 195°F,
then immediately submerging the pan in cold water to cool the milk down to 120°F to 130°F and
no hotter. In effect, this is very similar to high temperature/short time pasteurization processes used
by commercial dairies.
Cooled to this temperature, the milk can be combined with your yogurt starter. For 1 gallon of
milk, you need 1 cup of yogurt. Mix 1 cup of milk with the starter first, and then slowly stir that
mixture into the rest of the milk. At this point, the milk and yogurt blend is called
inoculated milk.
Now you have to keep the yogurt at the proper temperature for the next several hours. Too hot,
and the bacteria will be killed. Too cold, and it will not ferment properly. There are many ways of
accomplishing this:
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Slow cooker.
Actually, the entire yogurt-making process can happen in the slow cooker. You
can heat it to scalding on high, then after cooling and inoculating with the starter, turn it off,
unplug it, and cover with a beach towel so that it holds temperature overnight (12 hours).
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Thermos/cooler.
Pour your inoculated milk into sterilized jars. Cover them, and place
them in a cooler of water warmed to 120°F to 130°F. Or for a smaller amount, pour it into
a thermos and wrap the thermos in towels. Leave it for several hours. After five or six hours,
the yogurt should start to gel.
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Sun.
If you have a spot where kids or animals will leave it alone, you could set your mixture
in a covered glass dish in the sun. Keep an eye on it so that it is left alone and in direct
sun the whole time. After five or six hours, it should be ready. But that is a long time to go
undisturbed in the sun, and you should be careful on hot days that it doesn't get too warm.
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Oven.
Preheat your oven to 100°F, then turn it off. Set your inoculated milk blend in a
covered dish and in the warmed stove. Let it sit (with the oven closed) overnight, and you
should have yogurt ready for breakfast. A slow cooker can be used as an alternative, or you
can set the milk blend over a lit oven pilot light.
