I’ve been making my own yogurt for several years now* and I’m here to tell you: it’s easy. Homemade yogurt is tasty, MUCH cheaper than store bought, and it doesn’t come with any packaging. I make vanilla yogurt and top it with homemade jam or jelly for a variety of flavors.
Ingredients:
- Half-gallon milk. (I’ve used whole raw milk and low-fat local milk with success. Use milk that has not been ultra-pasteurized, if possible.)
- 6 oz container of yogurt with active, live cultures
- Honey (about 1/4 cup)
- Vanilla (a splash)
Pour the entire carton of milk into a large pot. Heat to 180 degrees (F) over medium-high heat stirring occasionally. Once you’ve achieved that temperature, remove the milk from the heat and allow to cool for about half an hour, depending on your household temperature. (I set my kitchen timer in ten minute increments otherwise I will forget about it)
Warming the milk.
While your milk is cooling:
- Fill a container with hot water and place it inside a cooler. Close the cooler, allowing the hot water to warm the inside so it’s all ready to incubate your milk. I use an Icee Kool oversized lunchbox cooler and it is fabulous. Seriously, if you’re in the market for a cooler that will hold ice for a week, these are awesome.
My very efficient cooler.
- Prepare your jars. You’ll need 2 quarts or 4 pints.
- Keep an eye on your thermometer.
At 125 degrees: add about a quarter cup of honey (don’t measure – just eyeball it and save yourself a sticky container to clean) and a splash of vanilla. Adding these ingredients now will help the honey to dissolve and will cool the mixture a bit more. If you like a sweeter yogurt, add a bit more honey.
At 110-115 degrees: Stir in half of the container of store bought yogurt. Use a whisk and make sure it’s really mixed in well. Do not get excited and add the yogurt before the milk cools to this stage or you will kill the live cultures.
Tucked around the hot water.
Once the starter yogurt is well incorporated, pour the mixture into jars, seal, and place immediately into the pre-warmed cooler alongside the hot water bottle. Close the cooler securely and leave it for eight hours or overnight. When you open up the cooler, you’ll have lovely thick yogurt to enjoy. Store in the refrigerator.
Topped with homemade passion fruit jelly.
*Shout out to my colleague Diana Burrell who promised me years ago it wasn’t too hard to make yogurt and shared her method, which I’ve modified a bit. Or a lot. I can’t quite recall.
If you’re reading this on the front page of Attainable Sustainable, please click through for more photos.
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- Warming the milk.
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- My very efficient cooler.
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- Hot water.
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- Hot water in the cooler.
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- Yogurt with live cultures as starter.
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- Look for “live cultures” or “active cultures” in the ingredients list.
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- Tucked around the hot water.
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- Ready to eat the next day.
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- Topped with homemade passion fruit jelly.
This post is part of Fight Back Fridays.
You have inspired me! I will start making my own yogurt again. I used to make it with buffalo yogurt as the starter, because it came out firmer that way, but then the local health store stopped carrying the buffalo yogurt. Also, I have discovered that organic whole milk works best in our area.
Alexandra recently posted..Plunge!
Use greek yogurt for firmer texture, it works very well. We make our own all the time.
My husband loves Greek yogurt; I’ll have to try it that way sometime.
We certainly don’t have buffalo yogurt here!
Interesting! I remember years ago there was a way to make yogurt from a “kit” that you could purchase…but I don’t remember how exactly it worked. I’ll bet the taste of homemade yogurt is wonderfully fresh.
This looks yummy. I’m going to give it a try!
Wow! I admit that I will likely never make my own yogurt (don’t eat much of it!) but this post was an absolutely fascinating read. I learn A LOT – and really enjoyed it. Thanks, Kris!
I was JUST talking to my hubby about how we used to make our own yogurt back in the day. We had a little doohickey warmer machine with little glass jars and tops. I have no idea where that piece of kitchen gadgetry ever went, but I think it’d be fun to make yogurt again. And fun to see the shout-out to Diana B.
Jane Boursaw recently posted..Three Osama Bin Laden Movies Already in the Works
I toyed with getting a yogurt maker at first, but I just don’t have room for a piece of equipment that does only one thing. This method works just fine!
We eat so much yogurt in my home I really need to start making my own. Thanks for the step-by-step guide.
sarah henry recently posted..James Berk of Mandela Foods Brings Produce to His People
So cool. I say a yogurt maker at a gourmet store this week–this would be so much less expensive and the possibilities with making your own flavors…I need a better ice chest though.
MyKidsEatSquid recently posted..Dinner ideas for Cinco de Mayo
Sigh – I used to make homemade yogurt all the time when I had a long commute and needed lots of snacks to get me through the day. I think it’s time to get back on the yogurt train! Have you ever tried this with a soft-sided cooler?
Casey@Good. Food. Stories. recently posted..Don’t Be Shellfish- Good Food Stories Wants You
I haven’t tried it with a soft sided cooler, but as long as your cooler is good at retaining temperature, it should matter if it’s soft or hard sided. Wrapping the cooler in a big quilt could help retain warmth if you are concerned about that.
Hi,
I want to make homemade yogurt and use some of it for my son to take in his lunch box to school. But I am really struggling to find suitable containers. Any ideas?
Thanks
I presume that you’re asking because you want to avoid plastic. And glass isn’t too good for a kid’s lunch. These are stainless with bpa-free plastic lids: http://t.co/aqNWW2s. The stainless containers w/stainless lids I’ve used haven’t been leak proof, but these have a screw on lid and are *supposed to be leak proof: http://t.co/w7BwW4C.