Making yogurt

So I decided to try and make my own dairy products because they typically come packaged in plastic and I am trying to reduce my/our plastic consumption. I searched the internet for recipes for homemade yogurt, butter, sour cream, and cream cheese. A few weekends ago I attempted to make yogurt. This is that story.

Friday: started at 3:30 pm
I found a really neat recipe for making your own yogurt in a crock pot here. The instructions seemed really easy, and there was a lot of down time, which is perfect for my life because I have two children who demand a lot of attention.

Ingredients: 2% milk, one container of plain live active culture yogurt

Details to be aware of:
1. Don’t use ultrapasteurized milk.
2. Use 1 oz of store bought yogurt for every cup of milk you use.
3. Once you make your own, you can use it for starter culture to make more yogurt instead of buying a container from the store. I have no idea how long you can do this, because at some point the bacteria die off and you will have to buy another container from the store.
4. The site I found directions on says the yogurt is good for 7-10 days.

Procedure:
1. Add milk to crock pot and heat on low for 2.5 hours.

2. Turn off crock pot and let sit 3 hours.
3. Remove two cups of the milk to mix with the yogurt.
4. Put the milk mixed with yogurt back in the crock pot and stir it up.
5. Wrap a heavy bath towel around the crock pot and let it sit overnight.

6. Open the crock pot and view the magic that has occurred while you were sleeping.
7. Eat with fruit, unless you like the flavor of plain yogurt.

Saturday: 8 am
SUCCESS!!! This recipe is sooooo easy!!


The yogurt had a layer of liquid on top, and I tried my best to spoon it off, but most of it got mixed in with the yogurt. I also attempted to drain it with a coffee filter in a colander, but a lot of it got stuck to the filter, so I just quit trying that. It really isn't that big a deal. The crock pot yogurt is pretty much the consistency of low fat yogurt. I mixed some yogurt with some peaches I had and it was DELICIOUS. Most of it I froze, and I kept out a little bit for me, since I am the only one who will eat it. I might get Riddick to try some if I mix in some blended berries.

I will definitely do this again. I totally can’t wait for there to be all sorts of wonderful fruits at the farmers market to try with my yogurt!