I’m amazed at how hard it is to find yogurt in glass. Supermarket yogurt is mostly in plastic containers and if you’re trying to keep your family plastic-free, yogurt would have to be taken off your list. Unless you make your own.
We’ve been making yogurt for about 12 years now and it wasn’t until 4 years ago that I realized I didn’t have to make it in a yogurt maker with those tiny little jars. When I was 16, I recall making yogurt on the beach in a big camp pot when my big brother and I were camping during the summer on the island of Corsica in France. The simple process of making yogurt in a pot, bowl, or jars in the sun or by a fire should’ve stuck with me, but somehow I became complacent, thinking I needed a yogurt maker to make the good stuff. Not so.
Today, I make yogurt in bulk — large quart mason jars of it so I can share starter with friends or barter it for other fresh produce or home-made goodies. I don’t need any electricity to make it so I call it off-the-grid yogurt, reminiscent of my teen days in France.
This yogurt is the best I’ve ever made or tasted. All started from organic Greek full cream goat’s milk yogurt. But now I simply use our local organic whole milk as the yogurt’s main ingredient, which is delivered once a week to our home. This yogurt lasts in the fridge for months without molding!
All you need is a couple of tablespoons of leftover yogurt as your starter for the next batch. We usually make at least 2 quarts of yogurt.
Ingredients:
Whole milk (at least 1 quart)
2 Tablespoons yogurt (I prefer organic)
Jars with lids
Pour your favorite whole milk into a pot. There’s no exact measurement for this, just pour as much milk as you want yogurt. It’s basically a 1:1 ratio of milk to finished yogurt.
Set your timer for about 8 minutes so you don’t let the milk boil over.
You want to heat up the milk until it scalds. You’ve scalded it when little bubbles start to appear on the sides of the pot and a film develops on the surface.
Turn the heat off and take the yogurt off the burner to cool. Let it cool to room temperature. Add your 2 tablespoons of yogurt and with a wire whisk, whisk the yogurt completely into the milk. Pour the milk/yogurt mix into jars.
Place your jars of yogurt into a pot of warm water. You want to create a warm water bath. I simply put my pot of water over our pilot light and that’s enough to keep the jars warm overnight. You can also place the jars on a warm lintel above your fire in a towel or blanket for warmth. The key is to have a spot that is consistently warm for 8-12 hours. The longer you let your yogurt mixture sit in the warmth, the firmer it gets. I go about 12 hours.
When it’s to the consistency you like, put it in the fridge to let it cool. Enjoy!
My friend Rebecca has another method, which I call the warm cooler method: It involves putting your yogurt jars-in-the-making in a cooler surrounded by other jars of warm water and some blankets and towels. Check out her excellent method here.
Do you make your own yogurt? What method do you use? Let us know in the comments below!
Hi there 🙂 Just dropping by to tell you that I awarded you for the Liebster award. Just a fun little way to get to know other bloggers etc ! Here is the blog post for it ! https://beyondthebookshomeschool.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/discover-new-blogs-liebster-award/
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Thank you, Julia! What an honor!
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Liesl, I guess you were too young when we lived in Chile. We always made our own yogurt with a starter that just sat on the windowsill in the kitchen until ready to consume. It was the base for every after school snack. Then, when we took a trip to Argentina, the family that came to stay in the house while we were gone threw it out.
Mom
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Thanks, Mom. Oh, the scoundrels! They didn’t know what they were missing. Meanwhile, you should get back to the yogurt-making again!
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A guy from india, i met at the gym, gave me a homemade yogurt recipe. Boil milk. Any milk. Soy, almind, rice, etc. Save 2T of yogurt from any yogurt you have. After milk boils. Stir in 2T yogurt. Put a lid on the pit and a kitchen towel. Turn iven lught on. Just the light. Place pot inside stove overnight. In the morning, yogurt. Always save 2T to make your next batch 🙂
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