Homemade Yogurt: The Ultimate Local Food?

One of the foods I ate with regularity while in India and that was easiest for me to adopt on a regular basis when I returned home is yogurt.  I've never been much of a breakfast person, but when I returned, I started to eat plain yogurt with some added berries, some granola, and a couple of small slices of buttered toast with my coffee.

With this new breakfast staple in my repertoire, upon starting the Eat Local Challenge, one of my first tasks was to identify Bay Area yogurt makers, of which there were a couple that I bought and ate.  Then my friend "S" told me that she had made her own and my curiosity took hold.  Not only did it sound like a fun project to undertake, but if I could make my own yogurt, I could surely find a way to do so with 100% locally sourced ingredients.

I spent the next two weeks trying to convince "S" to come visit me at my home to teach me.  Finally we settled on a date, and then she had to cancel.  When I think about it, I suspect she was merely laughing at the idea that I would need help, as yogurt making can be extremely simple.  Aside from the time required, the only ingredients you need are milk and a culture, or bacteria source.

Wikipedia defines yogurt as a "dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk."  You can get your bacterial source either with a starter yogurt that has active cultures in it (off the shelf, plain yogurt), or you can buy a starter culture from a health food store, but that seemed to be an unnecessary expense to me.

I suspect if you want to become a master yogurt maker, you will learn about different bacteria and their differing taste and health properties: bacteria such as L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus, bifidobacterium lactis, and L. casei.  You may learn to make yogurt with goat milk, or even water buffalo milk and you might learn how to alter the consistency by straining it to remove the wheys to create a consistency and texture closer to cheese (think Greek yogurt), or by adding powdered milk into the recipe.

For my ingredients, I used whole milk and whole milk yogurt from Straus Creamery which is located in Marin County.

All in all, the process took me about 9 hours from start to finish, with 8 of those hours being waiting time.  Consequently I've learned that it's best to start this as a morning activity.
1.  Heat the milk

• I used 1/2 gallon, heated to 180F

2.  Sterlize the containers

• I added boiling water to them and let them sit for 5-10 minutes before filling them with the inoculated milk.

3.  Cool the milk and inoculate it

• Turn the burner off once it reaches 180F and stir for 2-3 minutes to prevent any milk from scorching;
• Once it reaches 105-110F, mix 1/4 cup of the starter yogurt until it's liquid and add it to the pot of warm milk.  Stir a bit to ensure the bacteria spread.

4.  Pour into containers

• I used 6 ounce Kerr jars

5.  Load the containers into a cooler and insert heat sources

• I added several glass jars and containers filled with boiling water around the yogurt containers.  I also insulated the cooler with tin foil at the bottom and tucked everything in between two towels;
• Let the yogurt ferment for 6-8 hours.  The longer you ferment, the more tart the yogurt supposedly becomes.  Eventually, you may have to experiment with the time to determine your perfect flavor.
• Set the cooler aside and try not to move it. 

6.  Check to see if it is done

• The yogurt should be firm.  Test this by gently tipping the container to see if it keeps shape;
• There is likely to be some slightly yellowish, viscous liquid on the top.  This is whey.  You can either pour it or scrape it off, or just mix it into the yogurt when you eat it.

7.  Cover and refrigerate!

• Cap or cover the yogurt and put it in the refrigerator.  It should last about 2 weeks;
• If you want to use one of the yogurts as a starter for your next batch, use it within 5-7 days.  Alternatively, you can freeze some of the fresh yogurt and let it thaw before inoculating your next batch of sterilized milk.

While I've definitely had better tasting yogurt before, my little home brew isn't bad, and I'll continue to make my own in the future.  And there are some cost savings to be realized by making my own.  I spent $5 for a gallon of milk and about $2.50 for the starter yogurt.  With this, I was able to make two batches, or about 14 servings of yogurt at an average cost of about $0.50 a serving. Compared to retail prices of $1.00 - $1.20, I saved about $10. 

Who said eating local had to be more expensive than the alternative?

Comments

[Marissa]

What's the shelf life on that? Can you really eat 14 servings of yogurt before it goes bad? I can hardly finish off a container of Fage before the expiration date hits.

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Can I substitute yogurt for milk or cream in custard? If I use Greek yogurt, or homemade yogurt made from half whole milk and half cream, would that work?

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We would certainly want to have some slack in the food system so that unexpected drops in production in a particular region can be compensated by production from other regions.

[undandao]

I am grateful for you discussing this in the internet page.

[Jo]

Great post! Thanks a lot for the tip I could clearly get used to stocking up on yogurt with these tips!