Homemade Yogurt

About once a week I make homemade yogurt.  We eat it almost everyday at lunch.  Sometimes I add homemade jam to it and then freeze it for a great treat.  Frozen yogurt- yum.  I love knowing whats in my food and how its been prepared.  This means I have fresh homemade organic (by preference I use all organic ingredients whenever possible) yogurt available almost all the time.  You haven’t lived until you try it.  

You will need:

▪ A 3 quart crock pot

▪2 quarts of milk ( I use 2% organic… can’t wait until I can try it with my own goats milk)

▪Yogurt starter (Some grocery stores sell this in the baked goods section or near the jello mixes.  You can order it online here.  Or you can use 1/3 cup of plain vanilla yogurt.  Yes you need yogurt to make yogurt.  The short explaination is – pasturization kills the good bacteria needed to make yogurt; so you need to get that good stuff in there.  Or you can reserve some yogurt from a previous batch you made and use it. You can do this about 3 times before refreshing the starter.)
Directions: Pour milk into the crockpot.  Careful not to splash.  Put the heat to low.  Put the lid on.  Set a timer for 2 hours 45 minutes.  Walk away.  When the timer goes off, turn the crockpot off.  Set a timer for 3 hours for the milk to cool. Leave the lid on.  Walk away.  When the timer goes off add your yogurt starter & stir to incorperate it fully.  Unplug your crockpot.  Wrap and cover with a towell to retain heat.  This is called leaving it to culture.  Just let it be for 8-12 hours.  There you go- yogurt.  

But its so creamy good, yes I know.  But its not very thick… oh you mean like Greek yogurt.  For a more Greek style yogurt strain off some of the whey.  Whey is a protein filled watery yellow substance.  It can be used in many recipes to boost their nutritional value.  Yogurt will thicken some as it cools.  Enjoy.