Yogurt

[Too Tall]

I've been making yogurt each monday for the past couple months. We get whole milk delivered from a local dairy which is quite high in fat, a good thing.

After a few tries I've got a process that works for me and results in the good stuff.

After mixed results using neighbors cultures I'm very keen on "Genesis" Starter Culture straight from Bulgaria.

1. Bring milk to a boil than rapidly cool to 120F and whisk in starter culture.
2. Store for 6 to 7 hrs. at 100F and check to see that the culture has set up.
3. Add split vanilla beans, honey or ??
4. Dewater to whatever degree suits you.

There are many ways to reduce the moisture content including sieves, wick or absorbent (clean) cloth.

This is making better yogurt than I ever made when strawberry fields were forever.

[Moke]

Now that Moke has no job and is a pensioner time we gots. I will try your product Mr. Tall. When we were kids there was an older German lady(probably younger than I am now at the time) that made yogurt in the hood and all of the kids were stunned how good it was. My first attempts were a dismal product at first but got better in college. Then life moved on and the culture died. (Several meanings there) I never liked any of the store bought ones except for the Alta Dena and Brown Cow ones that were ok. So I sort of got out of the yogurt eating. Now, I think I need to get back to making my own again. Thanks for the little bump Mr. Tall.

[Too Tall]

No sweat. Brown Cow was our go to before this.
Now that I've got a consistent result I'll start fooling around with adding vanilla bean to warm honey and other such Tom Foolery.

[vertical_doug]

We just use the Caspian sea live cultures for yogurt. It sets up at room temperature.

It keeps life simple which is what we need to continue.

[dogrange]

We used to have a young idealist who would drive to Chicagoland from amish country in Northern Wisconsin weekly to deliver raw milk and other products from the amish farms up there. It was great, but turned out (unsurprisingly) not to be a sustainable lifestyle for him. He always had different stuff as his farmers would produce different things at different times of year, etc. His regualr cow yogurt was great, got it about every week. Once, and once only, he had this sheep milk amish yogurt that was unbelievable. Very tart, but the mouth feel was amazing (probably fat content?). I still think about that stuff and wish all yogurt were like that. sigh.

[nelo784]

Two things to add Josh from my years of making the stuff. One, I never boil the milk! If you have a thermometer, just go to 180 degrees and then back off to 115 degrees before adding starter - this improves the reaction to the culture and avoids any grittiness. Second, I use a small tub of high quality acidophilus yogurt as starter. It lasts for 4-5 tubs of yogurt before I need to add another hit. I also use a hot water bath to stabilize the temperature which works a treat. This makes a nicely thick and creamy yogurt that keeps us going for about a week.