Just like making my own bread, the other day I thought I'd have a go at making my own yoghurt.
Part of the holistic, healthy lifestyle that I'm aiming to live involves limiting my intake of processed foods as well as becoming more self-sufficient and I thought that a great way to do this would be to learn how to make my own dairy products.
I decided to start with yoghurt as I saw that it was a fairly simple process. Next I'd like to try making my own cheese, but yoghurt was definitely a great introduction to the art of homemade dairy.
I have been telling myself for quite a while now that I'd have a go at making my own yoghurt "one day", so much so, that I actually bought a yoghurt maker probably about year or so ago.
For this batch of yoghurt, I used the EasiYo yoghurt maker which I think I bought from either Coles, Woolworths, or Kmart.
EasiYo have their own brand of yoghurt starter sachets, but they are sold separately and I decided that I'd prefer to start my batch of yoghurt using a pre-made batch of yoghurt instead, so I bought a small, 200g tub of Farmer's Union Greek Style natural plain yoghurt. I like this brand because it contains nothing but milk, cream and cultures - no added nasties!
The first step was to fill the EasiYo cup to the fill line with filtered water (using tap water can kill the cultures that help the yoghurt to develop due to the chlorine found in tap water).
I then added 2 tablespoons of my Farmer's Union Greek Style yoghurt which I mixed into the water. The yoghurt is the culture required to start off the batch of yoghurt. Once it was in the water, next step was to put the lid on and shake it up really well to mix it all together.
The great thing about making my own yoghurt is the fact that I can now go and use 2 tablespoons of this batch of yoghurt that I made to start off my next batch, meaning that I don't have to buy anymore yoghurt from the store!
Next step was to add in 200g of milk powder. I wanted to use organic milk powder, but the Woolworths brand was all I could find. Not the end of the world.
Once the milk powder was in, the mixture needed another REALLY GOOD shake with the lid on to mix the ingredients all together.
When everything was well-mixed, I then filled the EasiYo cup to the fill line with some more filtered water and popped the lid back on. Once this was done, I boiled a jug of water and filled the larger container to the fill line.
All that was left to do then was place the smaller container full of the yoghurt mixture inside the larger container of boiling water, screw on the lid of the larger container, and leave it to sit on the bench overnight to ferment.
The next morning I was super excited to see how my yoghurt turned out and when I opened up the cup containing the yoghurt, I was pleased to find thick, creamy-looking yoghurt. Yay, I did it!
Before taste testing the yoghurt, I did place it in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours first. When you first open the lid, the yoghurt does have a slightly yellow tinge to the top layer, but this is normal and nothing at all to worry about. Giving the yoghurt a good stir gets rid of the yellow tinge and the yoghurt then looks the familiar white colour that we're used to.
The first taste test was plain yoghurt, nothing added and I was really happy with it. In my opinion, it tasted even better than the yoghurt that I made it from which I was really happy about. When my partner had a taste, it was his opinion that it tasted like Ski yoghurt, which is his favourite.
Over the course of the next week, we tried the yoghurt 3 different ways and were happy with it each time. One time we flavoured the yoghurt with vanilla extract, next was banana and honey, and then mango which we decided was our favourite.
All in all, I was pretty satisfied with the end result - it was nice and easy to make, tasted great, and was very convenient to have a litre of yoghurt in the fridge to snack on whenever we felt like it.
It cost me $2.50 for the original tub of Greek yoghurt and $8 for the milk powder. The Greek yoghurt I won't have to buy again, and the remaining milk powder will make me another 4 batches of yoghurt, meaning that each litre of yoghurt only cost me around $1.60 to make and from each litre we got 8 servings plus the 2 tablespoons required to make the next batch.
The yoghurt will last in the fridge for 2 weeks. I originally stored it in the fridge in the container that I made it in, but I think with the next batch I might divide it up into individual containers as I do prefer to use glass containers or jars for food storage to reduce the risk of chemicals leaching from plastic containers.
Have you ever had a go at making your own dairy products? If so, how did they turn out?
Interested to know if anyone has tried making yoghurt using a different method such as using a starter culture as opposed to pre-made yoghurt as a starter? Or maybe you've had a go at making your own cheese? That's next on my list. 🙂
Would love to hear about your experiences!
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Lisa. 😊 xx
Gallery images, left to right from top:
1. Ingredients and equipment required for home made yoghurt.
2. Adding filtered water to fill line of EasiYo yoghurt maker.
3. Adding 2 tablespoons of pre-made yoghurt as starter culture.
4. Adding 200g milk powder.
5. Filling EasiYo yoghurt maker larger container with boiling water to fill line.
6. Placing smaller EasiYo container full of yoghurt mixture into larger container of boiling water.
7. Leaving yoghurt on kitchen bench to ferment overnight.
8. Home made yoghurt.
9. Home made yoghurt flavoured with fresh mango chunks.
I like your nails in the picture! hahhahaha 😍
So much better for you than store bought!