Noreen's Homestead How-To: Yogurt

Greetings! Since I was making yogurt today, I thought I would share how I do it with you. So simple and so easy and requires so few ingredients you will not believe it. Now, most of us love yogurt. I know I do and my kids do too. It's a great source of protein and when you make it yourself you can add protein to it and you can control everything else that goes into it as well. I used sugar this time, but have had success with honey, maple syrup and agave nectar as well. I would refrain from using the artificial sweeteners, but that is your choice.

I first learned how to make yogurt from a video put up by Yankeeprepper as well as Michigansnowpony. They both inspired me to do it myself and I hope that I can inspire you to make your own now as well. I have posted links below to the other videos that were my inspiration.

Simple formula for this yogurt is as follows:

For each quart of milk you need 1/2 cup of dry milk and 1/3 cup of sweetener of your choice. If using agave nectar cut this amount in half and go by taste, you can always put more sweetener on the prepared yogurt when it is served, but you cannot take it out. ALSO: You can choose to leave the sweetener out all together should you wish to use this as a sour cream substitute or make yogurt cheese. I will show you how to do that in another video soon.

Bring the milk, sugar & dry milk and 1 tablespoon of gelatin (if you choose) to a temperature of 160 degrees, don't boil! Place into sterilized jars and allow to come down to 110 degrees. At this time add a heaping tablespoon full of yogurt, either store bought or your own. If using store bought yogurt, make sure that the label says "LIve" cultures otherwise your yogurt won't make yogurt. Stir this in well and cap your jars and set them to incubate for 8 to 10 hours then refrigerate and enjoy your homemade yogurt for breakfast with granola, fruit or in a smoothie.

I have also used organic milk and yogurt. My preference, I have never made it with anything else. If you go to all the trouble to make this from scratch, I feel like you should use the best ingredients.

I want to take a moment to explain why I did this. You all know that I try to make lots of things from scratch, yes it takes more time and yes it is more work, BUT, think about this, what if you could not get yogurt? What if some day we did not have access to things that we love? Some of you know that I talk about food storage a lot, something I believe in. Preparing for the unknown, whether it be unemployment, disaster, hurricane, etc. With dry milk, and time, you can make this. You can even buy yogurt cultures in a dry form, in a packet to keep on hand. This is something that my kids will eat. If we have a stressful situation, having something good to eat available, will be important because the last thing you want to worry about in a time of need is what you will be eating! Also, I feel like it is important to have homemaking skills that will help us all perform at the highest of our abilities should something go wrong. It also helps us to help others. We need to get back to simplicity. Alright, enough of my preaching.

I hope you try this and I hope you enjoy it! As always, Happy Eating!

Link to Yankeeprepper's yogurt video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BK7VIvMLSc&feature=channel_video_title

Michgansnowpony's yogurt video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Michigansnowpony#p/search/0/o5kV2eS7fHM

Category:

Education

Tags:

• How to make yogurt
• make your own yogurt
• milk
• dry milk
• sugar
• agave nectar
• maple syrup
• honey
• live cultures
• gelatin powder
• mason jar
• sterilize
• incubate
• six pack cooler
• heating pad
• easy
• how-to
• recipe
• cooking
• homestead
• kitchen skills
• homemade
• organic
• food storage
• shtf
• pantry
• preparedness
• survival skills
• back to basics
• Noreen
• atticus9799

[suhefus]

Noreen, what if I didn't pay attention, and my milk reaches the complete boil. Is it gone bad? do I have to throw away all the milk? or what else can I do. Thank you

[atticus9799]

@suhefus Can't use the milk if it boils. You actually are just heating it to get rid of any bad bacteria. If you boil it you will kill all the bacteria. Yogurt is about the good bacteria. Without it you won't have yogurt. So if you boil it, you gotta start over. Sorry : (

[laughingstamper]

Noreen, do you buy your gelatin on line? Do you have access to restaurant supply store? Just looking for good buys.

[atticus9799]

@laughingstamper Yes, i buy it at bulk foods dot com. I think the container I bought cost around 12 to 15 dollars, which is a steal if you have priced out the knox packets that sell in the grocery store. One packet has about a teaspoon of gelatin and there are three packets in the box. That box, the last time I looked was almost $6.00! So I gladly spend the money on the bulk product. I also bought my pectin for jams and jellies in bulk off of ebay 10 pound bag was 30 bucks. A big savings

[OUARNP]

Thanks for the GREAT video - I started making YP's yoghurt this summer. WOW was I pissed when I found out that it was basically boiled milk I was paying $4.26 a quart. I am too ADHD to wait so I heat my oven to 180 turn it off and set my jars in there with the oven light on for 3 hours and perfecto. So many heating pads have smart feature that turns themselves off in 2-3 hours which screwed me up.

[atticus9799]

@OUARNP Thats a lot of money for just a quart! I figure that it costs me about 3.50 to make the amount that I demonstrated. With the cost of food, I figure that cost is even less if I tried using the dried milk that I have in storage. But I have never tried it before. I am going to have to try that oven method. I like the way that sounds. Totally simple!

[grandmacheapcheap]

Thanks for subscribing and I did the same. I love a good cook.

[JackKerouac26]

Thanks for the vid. YankeePrepper is actually how I found you, Noreen!

[artidellob]

loved this video how did u make ur vannila was it with a bean n burbon?

[Deereyes45]

Hi Noreen, have you make yogurt out of kefir grains? love all your video's :)

[aurorason]

Thank you for this! Your yogurt how to has been the easiest I've seen.  Question: Can one use the yogurt one makes to culture the next batch? I would assume so but I don't want to get myself into a mess.

[lanelol81]

Great guide Noreen, as an alternative to the heating pad I have always used a fish tank heater(you can buy these at pet stores) they may be a bit expensive($20) compared to heating pads but I had some lying around. The heater is put into a water bottle that has as much water in as possible without overflowing I sealed the heater in with silicon(any type will work). Make sure that no water can leak out(patch if there are). Place the bottle on its side in a cooler and set the temp Great for bulk

[lanelol81]

Great guide Noreen, as an alternative to the heating pad I have always used a fish tank heater(you can buy these at pet stores) they may be a bit expensive($20) compared to heating pads but I had some lying around. The heater is put into a water bottle that has as much water in as possible without overflowing. I sealed the heater in with silicon(any type will work). Make sure that no water can leak out(patch if there are). Place the bottle on its side in a cooler and set the temp Great for bulk

[laughingstamper]

@atticus9799 Thanks so much! Yes, I do know the price and I saw your large container and just had to ask! Yowza, that is a lot of pectin! It would take me a long time to use up that much! Since we are on the subject of pectin/fruit, you're a peach! Thanks!