Yogurt Making 101

One of the challenges I have around homesteading is trying to work out when you're better off buying something directly as cheaply as possible compared to doing it yourself.  As an example, last year we grew a patch of beetroot (which required watering, weeding, etc to grow the crop) and then spent an evening cooking and bottling to preserve them.  They taste fantastic, however out of ten jars we bottled we have only used around two jars! Perhaps buying two cans as needed through the year would have been better.

With that in mind yogurt making is one area that is definitely worth the investment for me.  With four young children, we can easily go through two or three kilograms of yogurt a week.  Thanks to Rhonda at Down to Earth, I've found a recipe that works brilliantly for making a large batch - seven one kilo jars tonight alone.  This batch will keep for a week or two, but by having it the kids can go crazy. The brand I base it on costs around $7 for a 1kg jar in supermarkets, but has only cost me around $5, and an hour and a half, to make 7 jars worth!


Yogurt is made by fermenting milk, so the idea is that you need clean equipment (saucepans, utensils, jars etc), and pasteurise your milk to kill off any bacteria.  Then once the milk has cooled slightly, though still warm, add the good bacteria back into the milk and the fermentation process can begin.

The recipe is also quite flexible.  I will often use regular milk, however tonight I used powdered milk that I made this morning and then chilled for the day.  This meant that the milk was properly reconsituted, plus it kept the cost low.

Milk starting to boil, with the milk powder added

To start with, you'll need to gently heat your milk, for me this was six litres.  Once it has heated a little, I then added some extra milk powder (a little over half a cup).  This increases the amount of lactose in the mix which is what will ferment later to make the yogurt. With this extra powder added, keep patiently heating this to almost boiling - 90C/195F. As mentioned above this kills all bacteria in the milk, both good and bad.

Milk heating up to 90C

Using a thermometer really helped with getting this right.  I've made it before, without any problems, using small bubbles on the outside as a guide, but with the thermometer I realised that I was taking it off the boil a little too early.

Milk cooling in sink

Once it's hit 90C, you want to cool it reasonably quickly to below 50C.  I put the whole pan into the kitchen sink, and then moved the water in the sink (gently) to help cool the milk.  By lifting the pan and letting water under, swirling the water around and also swirling the milk inside the pot, you're increasing the surface area of hot liquid "meeting" the cold liquid.  Just makes the process a little quicker!

Once below 50C you can add you good bacteria back into the milk, and then it needs to go somewhere where the mix can stay in the 40's for a reasonably long time.  Part of the reason that I make a large batch is that I can then throw all the jars into an esky, and surround it with warm water.  The heat is then retained overnight, and I can keep it warm for at least 12 hours. By that stage - it's solid yogurt!

Esky full of yogurt

Just prior to refrigerating and really setting it, I add my flavourings.  Below is some berries that I took from the freezer, but the one the kids love - HONEY!!!  While the yogurt's still warm, mix around three dessert spoons of honey into the yogurt and then put in fridge to cool - it tastes fantastic!

Mixed Berry Yogurt

The big lesson I've learned after making this a number of times is to do with your starting yogurt.  The better this is, the better your yogurt will be.  I've tried using cheap yogurts, and you end up with cheap tasting yogurt.  You're better off spending an extra dollar or two getting a good starter. In our case, we used Mundella Greek Natural yogurt (non-sponsored link, I don't think you can order direct through their website anyway!).





Yogurt making is a great way to use some homesteading skills to help with saving some money in your home, and a real treat for your family.  Let me know what your favourite flavours are that you've made.