Make Your Own Yogurt (And Stop Wasting Soured Milk)

Changing our relationship to the earth requires re-evaluating every relationship in our lives. For example: old food.

Why does moldy bread, fermenting juice, or sour milk strike fear in our hearts? Are these things really so bad that they warrant the pinched nose fingertip dash to the trash can? Much of the old food we junk has value, either as compost, shoe polish, or different forms of perfectly delicious food. It's wasteful to just toss it out. For example, you know that swollen carton of milk that's been sitting in your fridge for suspiciously too long? ...The one you're afraid to sniff? Why not make it into yogurt? It's deliciously green. (The practice, not the milk.)

The following is an excerpt from When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency by Mathew Stein.

Fresh whole milk and cream spoil rapidly without refrigeration, but by adding cultures of "friendly" bacteria, you can control the way your milk sours. The result is yogurt, which will keep in a cool room for several days. You can start your yogurt with commercial cultures, three tablespoons of commercial yogurt containing "live cultures," or some of your last batch of homemade yogurt.

To make your own yogurt, take the following steps:

1. Heat the milk to 150°F to pasteurize it (do not boil).
2. Cool the milk to between 105°F and 110°F.
3. Mix in 2 tablespoons of starter yogurt (buy it anywhere) per quart of milk. Add powdered milk if desired for added thickness.
4. Cover and keep warm until thickened. On top of a refrigerator overnight is a good place to keep it warm. Wrap the container in thick towels if there is no warm place.
5. Refrigerate.

Happy yogurting! Send pictures!

Comments

[HomemadeYogurt]

This is a great idea to promote, but the directions are a bit off. Technically speaking, Pasteurization occurs at 161F for 16 seconds, so the technique described does not achieve that. Besides, unless you are using raw milk, it is already pasteurized. You heat the milk to prepare the milk proteins for bacterial propagation, and you do it at 185F. If you would like to read complete instructions, with photographic examples, please try my website:

http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/

[NWBrunette]

You'd be much healthier drinking no cow milk at all. Try hemp milk - its delicious. And its much much much better for the environment. If the price is too high there are other alternativ­es... soy, almond.

[lmvd3]

Uh, no thanks.

[bizzymuch]

Um that sounds kinda gross

[Dystopic]

On food network, Alton Brown (Good Eats) made yoghurt on an episode... tried it and it was great.

[MeowAllieCat]

On the other hand, if you *really* want to live green, give up cow's milk. Dairy farms are resource-intensive pollution factories.

[MsRy]

excellent point. Add to that: beef.

[Dystopic]

cows leave the land worse than when they found it, Buffalos are the exact opposite.

[chayefsky]

LOL! The model sure looks like shes enjoying that yogurt. Ya know, I don't think I've ever seen anyone turn that shade of green before.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

Circa 1971 in the Ecology Action house on Benvenue Ave. in Berkeley, the yogurt mix was started in a large crock, which was then wrapped in a thick towel and placed on the kitchen counter. A particular cat would then curl up on top of the crock for a long nap and the next day, we had great yogurt.

[Pema]

oh dont forget you can add a little vinegar to a glass of milk, leave it out overnight and have buttermilk too.,.

[Pema]

I come from a culture that makes yogurt, doesnt buy it. I think the recipie you gave is not quiet what i would do. If anyone wants my tata's recipie from damascus here it is.
1 half gallon milk
1 8oz cup of plain yogurt(hold a cup back for your next batch)
in a extremly clean pot (do not use no stick) bring milk to a bare simmer for about 10 mintues, just so the milk is slightly getting bubbles, skim off the protien layer that comes to the top and sides, take off he till very warm, not hot, you habe to wait a few mins. stir in a little of the very warm milk(otherwise you can break the yogurt and have a mess) this is called tempering, stir in a little more and then add tot he warm-hot milk. cover and bundle in a thick blanket, put for 10+ hours or on top of your fridge. the longer you wait the thicker the yogurt is
ok that is my syrian grannies recipie, its not hard, just needs to be followed correctly.
try it like we do for dessert, a shallow bowl of it drizzeled with honey and even some toasted nuts as a topping. I hope you all try it. You can wiz froz strawberries or other fruit.
Remember use good yogurt. and always plain. your home yogurt should be smooth tasting. the longer it sits fermenting the tarter the taste will be.
ENJOY!!!!!

[DavidMG]

also turn yogurt into yochee

http://www.healthyhighways.com/yochee-way.shtml

[ecotopian]

Wow, people drink so little milk it goes sour? My family goes through two gallons of milk in three days. Sour milk is unknown in my house.

[Dystopic]

hopefully that is all hormone free milk.

[sandiegoconservative]

Same here. I can't remember a time where any milk in my fridge went bad, save for one time when I left the fridge door open on accident. I love milk!

[lmvd3]

Blecccchhh.

[SneathLane]

Modern yoghurt bacteria varieties are as highly bred as greyhounds or beef cattle or Siamese cats.

Long before bacteria were understood, bad tasting fermented milk was fed to the pigs, better tasting fermented milk was used to make the next batch, and unusually good fermented milk was shared with the relatives and neighbors so they could improve their own home-grown stuff. Repeat that cycle a few million times in kitchens and yurts and carts and saddle bags and you get modern yoghurts.

Some of todays yoghurt bacteria have pedigrees that go back hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of years. To compare them with wild spoilage bacteria is grossly ignorant.

[Ajita]

That's true to a point. There are many cultures around the world where curdling of milk is a family tradition that goes back centuries. These cultures have preserved the artificially selected for strains of bacteria. Knock on any household in South India and you will be treated to a truly organic form of yogurt that's better than the stuff you get in the stores here.

[CR46]

Wow! I've tried alot of "homemade" things over the years but never thought of yogurt. I think I'll try it with fresh milk though, but thanks for the recipe. My little grandson is a yogurt monster :)

[sandiegoconservative]

I tried to make it twice, and I guess I am just lame because I could not get it right. Good luck, but take my advice and sample it first with a VERY small spoon.

[deborahlee]

Keep the yogurt warm with a hot water bottle in an insulated lunch bag. I make 2-3 quarts at a time in wide mouthed quart jars. And what's the problem with the fat in the dairy?? Without the fat, your nutrient absorption suffers and you err on the side of over-eating protein or carbohydrates. High quality fat, even saturated fat, is not the problem it's made out to be. Don't get me started but it's not hard to guess where our health problems come from: we eat three and a half times the unsaturated fat our grandparents ate, and less than half the saturated fat. And how much packaged, processed, tweaked food compared to fresh? High fructose corn syrup? Eliminate that and lather on the butter!!