Making Yogurt.

I know many of you may never make your own yogurt, but I've decided to try a tutorial on my blog because I've enjoyed them on other blogs, like this one. Making yogurt at home is so incredibly easy, saves a lot of money and keeps hundreds of plastic tubs out of the landfill or recycling stream. I don't always get to it and sometimes buy the yogurt in tubs, but when I can this is what I do:

First start with the basic ingredients and supplies:

*One quart of milk (we use fresh whole milk we buy from a nearby organic farm where the cows are put out to pasture. Elijah can't digest pasteurized milk well because pasteurizing kills the enzymes that help in digesting lactose. Many people believe raw milk is better for you, and it tastes so much sweeter! Any milk can be used but whole milk is best because it takes the fat in the milk to digest the protein in it. We're not into skim or 1 or 2% here!).
*2 tablespoons plus two teaspoons of yogurt from a store or a previous batch (1/2 cup if using pasteurized milk)
*a pot, a wisk, a candy or liquid thermometer, and a quart jar

*my recipe comes from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook you see pictured, by Sally Fallon
*a cooler, cardboard, aluminum foil, a gallon pitcher or any covered container you can fit into your cooler and in which your quart jar will fit, and a blanket (for the incubating phase--see below)

First make your incubator. I cut up three layers of cardboard to fit the bottom of my cooler. Cover this in foil, shiny side out. Then tape foil on the sides of the cooler, shiny side facing the food to be incubated (you can even cook in this, things like rice, oatmeal, etc. if you have no power source for cooking. See this blog here for how.)

Now, in your pot heat the milk on a low-medium burner, to 110 degrees F., using the thermometer for accuracy. I tried to do this without the thermometer once because I'd broken ours, but it didn't work out. For pasteurized milk, heat to 180 F. then cool to 110 F. Once it's at 110 F., remove 2 tablespoons of the warm milk and add 1 tablespoon yogurt, whisk together well either in a bowl or in your quart jar. Add another 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of yogurt to the jar and stir well. For pasteurized milk, just stir in 1/2 c. yogurt all at once. Pour the rest of the warm milk into the jar.

Cover tightly. Fill the gallon pitcher or other container with hot tap water. Place the yogurt jar into the hot water, being careful that the water comes only to the top of the glass jar and doesn't cover the jar's lid. Pour some water out if there's too much and put the jar back in. I find that filling my pitcher about 1/3 full works best. Put the cover on the pitcher or other container. Cover all this with a blanket stuffed into the cooler. Put the top on the cooler tightly and let everything sit in a warm spot of the house for 8 hours. Transfer yogurt to the refrigerator when done. It should set up will but will be thinner than most commercial yogurts. For the little bit of work, though, you'll get yogurt that's so much less bitter-tasting and so delicious with some honey or maple syrup and berries, or some granola on top, or whatever you like. If you plan to make yogurt again, take 1/2 cup right off the top of this quart and save it in a separate container for use as starter for your next batch.