Yogurt Casera?

[MorganF]

Hey everyone

Random question. No, today's question doesn't involve philosophical ramblings, heh.

I'd like to make some yogurt at home. I've never done this before. Using a useful website called "Google", I've discovered that you need yogurt cultures.

I haven't been able to find anywhere on the Interwebs that sells yogurt cultures, in Argentina. All my Mercado Libre searches yield in -- humorously -- people selling their Dahi yogurt glass containers. (Ha, ha! Going rate, 10-14 pesos each.) But no luck finding cultures. Any ideas?

I'm not an expert on this. I'm much more experienced in early modern English literature and ancient Greek mythology. But making your own yogurt? I'm a total newbie. In fact, I'm not even quite sure what a "culture" is other than it sounds healthy. (Maybe I'll combine these interests and make.... Greek yogurt! Ha!) (dum-de-dum, I know that one was totally obvious. I'm a simple guy who tells obvious jokes, I know.)

If anyone has made their own yogurt here, any tips?

Also, I discovered there is a machine called a "yogurtera" that seems to be useful for this and the going Mercado Libre rate is about 700 pesos!

morgan

 

[Girino]

No need for a culture. You can use vinegar or rennet. I have some rennet I brought from home, though I haven't still tried it and it has been sitting on the shelf for 1.5 years now.

The issue I had was with milk, too much watery hence very little yogurt left.
You can also start with actual yogurt, I think 1/10th of yogurt should do the trick. Plenty of recipes on the internet.

 

[Tilda]

I heat up full fat milk to finger temperature (about 1,7 l) and mix it with a pot of Yogs natural yogurt. I pour it into a two liter thermos and let it sit for 12 hrs in a warm spot. Then I pour it into a bowl and beat by hand to work out the lumps. I then let it sit in the fridge, in a jar with lid, for six hours. It will have a concistency a bit thicker than drinking yogurt.

It makes the yogurt cheaper than buying it in pots...

I have not had much luck in continuing the chain though. I can make another two liters maybe three times, then the product becomes too thin or some other bacteria takes over and it becomes a lumpy soup.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

We use lots of yogurt and are making about 2-3 kilos of our own yogurt each week. It's not always consistent but it is delicious.

Okay: first of all, rennet or vinegar or lemon juice are used in the production of curd cheese such as ricotta. Curd cheeses are yummy but they aren't yogurt. To make yogurt you need a bacterial starter and the easiest way to obtain your first one is to buy a natural yogurt from a shop.

If I've read correctly, Tilda, your consistency problems may be avoided by sterilising the milk just before making yogurt from it - even if the label says the milk has been sterilised or pasteurised before. Heat up the milk until it reaches simmering temperature to kill off any resident bacteria then let it cool down to the incubation temperature before adding the culture and leaving it to work.

Just a few tips from our experience:

Full cream milk makes nicer yogurt than skimmed or semi-skimmed. We buy our milk in the polybags in the supermarket based entirely on which brand happens to be on offer in which supermarket this week.

Gently warm the starter yogurt before mixing with the milk to avoid the "shock" of cold starter hitting warm milk.

To make your own starter for the next batch, make one of your yogurt pots a small one which you won't open and eat but will keep sealed in the fridge until you use it as a starter next time. You can't avoid some bacterial pollution but using this technique you can keep making your own fresh starter at least ten times before you need to think about buying a new one.

The difference between drinking yogurt and thick yogurt is the temperature and time taken for incubation. To make it thicker try and keep it warmer for longer but too high a temperature will kill the starter.

You can make fake Greek yogurt by boiling the milk for ten minutes before letting it cool and adding the starter.

You can make real Greek yogurt by making ordinary yogurt and then straining the whey out with a fine cloth. NB People pay a fortune for bodybuilders' whey and it is highly nutricious so don't pour the whey away: incorporate it in your regular recipes.