Friday, September 24, 2010

Happy and Healthy - Making Homemade Yogurt - Part 1


I have always wanted to make yogurt. I know it is an easy thing to buy but I want to make it myself, like I want to learn to make cheese. Yes, I can now find even organic yogurt everywhere, but I still want to try to make it. It is a goal of mine to at least try to make everything I so conveniently buy from the store, from scratch. I make many things from scratch, although some things I leave to the experts (like sushi, you know how some things just taste so much better when someone else makes them?). In my effort to learn more about yogurt making, I ran across the blog One Hot Stove. In a post on making yogurt, Nupur states the following reasons for why she wanted to make her own yogurt:

"I'm happy I started making yogurt for several reasons-
(a) Texture: Don't get me wrong, I like store bought yogurt just fine and have eaten it for years. But since I started to make yogurt at home, I love how the texture is creamy but never gummy.
(b) Packaging waste: I'm very happy to be able to avoid the plastic yogurt tubs. I always reused the tubs (for pantry storage) or recycled them, but reduce beats both reuse and recycle.
(c) Cost: The yogurt cultures are not dirt cheap or anything (around 5-6$ for a pack of 6 sachets), and you have to factor in the cost of the milk, but homemade yogurt is still significantly cheaper than store-bought stuff.
(d) Streamlining my grocery list: I use fresh yogurt in place of sour cream and cream cheese in dips and spreads and to dollop on burritos, so I have cut down significantly on buying other dairy products."

These are all reasons I want to make yogurt. I also prefer to make the things I eat because they are fresh and I know every ingredient that has gone into to them.

It seems that I can make yogurt at home with very little equipment. There are many yogurt makers available for purchase and I have ordered the Cuisipro Donvier Electric Yogurt Maker above from CSN Stores. Have you ever heard of CSN? They have over 200 online stores that sell everything from dining sets to pet supplies. I am always finding some new kitchen gadget I need at CSN. I am anxiously awaiting my newest kitchen helper and will happily pass along my results.

Do you make yogurt at home? Do you have any good recipes to share? I would love to hear your advice so please comment below.

3 comments:

Nupur said...

Thanks for checking with me about quoting my post, and yes, it is fine. Good luck with making yogurt!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

I used to make yogurt decades ago. As I remember, it's rather easy and delicious with home preserved fruit.

Tiffany Teske said...

Thanks, Nupur! And Sandra, I am not surprised that you have yogurt making experience :) Do either of you think I should skip the yogurt maker and just do it the old fashioned way? Do you have any advice? Thanks so much!