Homemade Yogurt **Updated** Cheese and Buttermilk

This thread is being edited to include an index to the recipes contained here.

Ice cream

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

Butter

Buttermilk - Cultured

Cream Cheese

Creme Fraishe

Kefir

Mozzarella Cheese

Pizza Dough

Rhubarb Sauce

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

Vinegar Cheese

Yogurt

Yogurt with photos

Yogurt Cheese

Low Carb Yogurt


First you need a good starter of plain yogurt culture. You can buy it dried but the best way is to buy a container of good yogurt that you like to eat. Plain yogurt. Nothing with fruit or other flavors in it. I use Stonyfeild Farms Organic plain yogurt. It has 6 different types of active yogurt cultures in it.

If you want a thick yogurt you will need a small box of powdered milk.

Cow milk or goat milk will make good yogurt.

Using quart sized mason jars - Sterilize the jars and lids.

1 quart of milk mixed with 1/3 cup powdered milk.

Using a candy thermometer heat the milk slowly to 185 degrees.

Remove from heat.

Allow to cool naturally(or set pot in a ice water bath and carefully watch the temp -it will drop fast while stirring) to 110 degrees.

Stir in 2 heaping tbsp of your plain yogurt. Mix well until all is dissolved.

Pour the mixture in your quart sized jar. Wrap in a dishtowel to insulate.

Using a second jar, fill it with boiling water. Wrap it in a dish towel to insulate.

Place both jars in a small cooler that you have heated with hot water****. Allow the yogurt to cure for 10 - 12 hours. When the milk is set to a solid it is ready. Refrigerate and serve cold.

If you do this in the morning you will have fresh yogurt for the following morning.


****Do not leave water in the cooler. Fill the cool with hot water while you are preparing everything then pour it out. You simply want a warm place to incubate your yogurt cultures.

Sounds like fun.
I've always wanted to learn how to make cheese.
I guess yogurt is similar.

I just made a new batch of yogurt tonight. My chicks will have a treat tomorrow. I also picked up some blackoil sunflower seeds today.

Has anyyone tried making the yogurt themselves yet?

My mom used to make it all the time. She had a little "yogurt maker" appliance that sat on the counter and made four, half pint yogurts. I've thought about trying it in the oven (preheated and turned off) Yogurt you buy in the store is generally full of crap, but the good stuff is so expensive!

I'm thinking about trying this, only I really don't like eating plain yogurt! But it sure makes good blueberry muffins! Do ya think when I go to eat it I could mix something tasty in, like some peach preserves or something? I hope it wouldn't mess it up.

We eat our yogurt every morning for breakfast. I serve my children about 3/4 cup of yogurt and they top it with fresh fruits we have put in the freezer this season. Last week we took out a quart of strawberries. All week long we enjoyed the yogurt topped with strawberries and organic granola. Yummy!

If you choose a good plain yogurt and a good fresh milk the yogurt will not have that bitter after taste and strong sourness that the plain store bought yogurt has.

I make a 2 quart container about every other day. My kids love it. Our chicks love it. I even mix it with the baby ducks feed - they love it.

You can buy powdered starter cultures that are more sweet from cheesemaking suppliers. We prefer to use the Stoneyfield Farms brand because of the 6 different cultures in it.

I promise you that the yogurt you make at home will taste better than any of the plain organics you can buy.

OMG........quite the ambitious bunch you are. Whaddya think this is, mayberry?
Whats wrong with foodmart's yogurt?

Mmmmm My mom used to make yogurt and we'd put honey in it. She had some sort of yogurt making machine.

Fresh yoghurt is delicious! I've never made in myself, though, but I think I shall! Nothing better than a healthy dollop of quality yoghurt topped with granola and fresh fruit!

Cookinmom a nice idea would be to make a fresh fruit puree and mix it in if you weren't looking for fruit chunks but a flavoured yoghurt. I have a Magic Bullet my mom bought me and love to make fresh fruit puree just to eat on it's own. It's especially yummy if you use frozen fresh fruits so you get an icy treat. Actually, it sounds like it would taste quite good mixed in with homemade yoghurt! I know what I'm making tomorrow after I finish the chicken run

Nothing is wrong with store bought yogurt if that is what you like and don't mind the expense. I find store bought yogurt to have a bitter after taste and to be more sour than homemade.

This summer we are trying to eat more local foods and foods we produce or grow ourselves.

The homemade yogurt is cultured from local fresh milk. I can make a gallon of yogurt for about what a quart costs at the grocery store.

The yogurt and cheese that you can make at home in your own kitchen tastes so much better than most of the mass produced items you can buy at your local grocer.

It takes a little bit of effort to make your own but it is also a skill I want my children to learn. I want them to grow up with a respect for food, how it is raise/grown and how much work it takes to get the foods we like onto the table at meal times. I want them to grow up knowing that they don't have to be tied to only what is available in a commercial grocer store.

We aren't hippies or trying to live off the grid or stick it to the man. We want to be more self sufficient. We want to eat whole, natural, organic, non-hormonal, non-altered, non-chemical, just plain non-messed-with foods. I grew up and spent most of my adult life on a farm in Georgia. We grew, harvested, canned, froze, pickled and perserved for as long as I can remember. After marrying and relocating to Virginia I have had to learn how to grow things in this climate. You wouldn't think dirt is very different from place to place but growing things here is very different from growing things there. I have had a HUGE learning curve the last 2 years.

Doing it yourself also in many ways is far less expensive than paying up at the cash register.

Come over to the darkside, lurky. Make a quart of yogurt. LOL