Yogurt Making

[Mtngrl]

Now that I'm taking Tykerb I want to do all I can to keep my GI tract working well. I also think yogurt, and the friendly bacteria that it contains, may play a role in boosting the immune system and in contributing to digestive health.

Did you know you can easily make yogurt? It's the best way to insure that the milk is free of added hormones, and that it is fresh. The fresher it is, the more live and active cultures are in it. It's also very easy to make Greek yogurt.

There are some challenges to yogurt making that are easy to meet. One is to be sure you don't accidentally grow undesirable bacteria or wild yeasts in your culture. Another is to keep it at the right temperature while it is culturing. I solve the first challenge by boiling or scalding everything that comes into contact with the yogurt (jars, spoons, ladle, whisk). I also make a separate small jar of yogurt to be used solely for starter. I put it in the refrigerator and don't open until time to make the next batch. The challenge of keeping it warm long enough is easily solved by putting the jars of milk-plus-starter into an ice chest, filling the ice chest with warm water above the tops of the jars (between 115 and 120 degrees) and letting it sit until it turns into yogurt--about 3 to 4 hours. It's done when it's noticeably thickened and doesn't shift when you tip the jar.

There's a third challenge, which is how to get yogurt that is thick enough to eat with a spoon without having to add anything but milk. After months of trial and error, I figured out that you have to heat it to 180 degrees F., not just to scalding (150 degrees.) I don't know why this works. I think maybe there's an enzyme in the milk that inhibits growth of the yogurt bacteria, and is only deactivated at the higher temperature.

After heating, the milk has to be cooled down to around 118 degrees Fahrenheit before the starter is introduced. Strain the hot milk (to take out the rubbery "skin" that forms on top) into a bowl set into a larger bowl filled with ice and water. Then when it gets cool enough, whisk in some yogurt, pour into jars, put on the lids, and incubate.

To make Greek yogurt, first chill a new batch of regular yogurt, then put it in a strainer lined with a clean muslin cloth used only for this purpose, and set the strainer on a rack inside a big bowl to collect the liquid that comes off. Put the whole thing into the refrigerator for several hours to drain, and transfer to a clean container.

Not only is homemade yogurt higher quality, with (probably) a lot more live bacteria in it, but it's also less expensive than store-bought.

If you want more detail, the instructions for making yogurt in Laurel's Kitchen are helpful, except I prefer boiling the jars to sterilizing them with chlorine. Also, there's my discovery that for thicker yogurt you need to heat the milk to almost-boiling, then cool it down.