Homemade Yogurt **Updated** Cheese and Buttermilk

[BamaChicken]

Okay, this is kind of frustrating me. I haven't been able to find Organic Yogurt. I went to a health food store today and all they had was Organic plain Goat milk yogurt. It was aweful tasting. Had a funky goat taste to it. Yuk. Do I need to use this making my yogurt. I sure don't want to transfer this flavor over. It very very bitter too. Has lots of culture in it though. It was over eight dollars for a quart and that was the only size they had
What suggestion on other yogurt to buy. I may try calling around as I have been to six stores already. I live in a city of over 80,000 but still have to run from store to store.

 

[MissPrissy]

Your local walmart doesn't have Stoneyfield Farms? I am surprised by that.

You can buy the yogurt culture in the freeze dried form and use it.

I just use the stoneyfeild and culture from that one because it has been easy to find here and in Georgia and when I buy a quart I can freeze it and use it later.

 

[BamaChicken]

I am going to call around tomorrow and see if I can find it before I drive all over the place. Miss Prissy are you using goats milk to make your yogurt or cows milk?.

 

[MissPrissy]

I use the goat milk when I am milking. This week I had to use cow milk

I am letting my girls dry off and rest. winter is hard on them to maintain weight in this icey weather.

Cow milk makes a firmer yogurt.

 

[BamaChicken]

Good news. I went to a different SuperCenter Wall Mart and found the stonyfeild yogurt. I am all set to make it now. Probably tomorrow before I have time but will let you know how it turns out. I even bought some granola.

 

[Morgaine]

Ok, I made it and it is now sitting in the cooler with some mason jars filled iwth hot water. It not as thick as I thought it would be, but it's not runny or anything. We'll have some for dessert with homemade strawberry jam. I'll post tomorrow about how it tastes

 

[MissPrissy]

If it is not as thick as you like it when it is completely chilled then next time you make it add a little more powdered milk.

 

[Morgaine]

I might try that. The only yogurt I have liked in the past has been the custard style, which was really thick. But then our store stopped selling it. This stuff isn't runny or anything, about like puddening before it completly sets.

 

[BearSwampChick]

The first time I made the yogurt it was a little runnier than I like. Second time I used 1/2 cup of dry milk, about 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. I set the starter yogurt out to come to room temp. while heating the milk. I read on another yogurt recipe to cool the milk to 115 deg., so that when you add the starter it doesn't go below 110. Then I used a cooler that was just big enough to hold 3 quart jars wrapped in the towels. I also left it in the full 10 hours and it was much, much better! Very thick and creamy. Delicioso!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

I've been making the yogurt for some time now and made some yesterday. I ran into a strange problem and wonder if any of you have ever experienced this before.

I mixed as usual then poured into separate jars. In one jar, I stirred in a bit of sugar and some vanilla. In another, I stirred in blackberry preserves. In the third, I stirred in strawberry preserves. The final jar was left plain. I set them all in the same cooler to set.

The Blackberry and plain yogurts were done after a few hours. I re-warmed the water jars and placed them back in with the two remaining jars of yogurt. After another few hours, the vanilla one was done. The strawberry one was still quite runny. I stirred in some more yogurt starter into the strawberry one and put it back into the cooler.

I re-warmed the water jars again, and let the strawberry one sit for another 8 hours. Nothing happened. It was still quite runny after all that time while the other ones were quite solid.

Any theories why? I've made strawberry preserves yogurt this way before without having this issue, so I'm stumped.