Food: Homemade Yogurt~

Yogurt has been around for thousands of years & has been commonly used for dips, soups & as a healthy snack. Milk undergoes the process of fermentation by certain bacteria which results in it being thick & tangy which we know as yogurt. So we are eating bacteria that actually aids in digestion.

I'm sure that a lot of you include it in your diet, especially for those trying to lose weight. I think yogurt is actually expensive if you buy it in that small container. What if you are on a yogurt diet & loves to snack on yogurt?

A small container of yogurt that measures 125g is sold for Php 25 each ( $.57)
What if you buy it for the whole family? Let's just say a family that has 4 members eats yogurt everyday.
Mum would have to spend Php 100 ($2.28) everyday, Php 700 ($15.96) every week & Php 3000 ($68.40) for the whole month just for yogurt.

Personally i think it is expensive although we know that there's no such thing as 'spending too much money for your family's health', since we only want what's best for our family.

But did you know that you can just buy it once & would never have to buy again..ever?!
You can keep that Php 3000 & spend it somewhere else. Uso ja nai! I'm not lying!

You can make your very own yogurt at home in just a day. Honto!

It's all thanks to my student, Sue.
We were just talking about random things one day..asking how she spent her day & same with mine. Then i told her that i went to this yogurt parlor & from then on we talked about it. She said that she loves homemade yogurt & since i am always inquisitive, i asked her how she makes it. I was surprised that it sooooooo easy to make yogurt! It doesn't even require any special tools at all!

When i made my first batch of yogurt i was actually quite skeptical. I was thinking that this would be an utter failure for i have this idea that something sold expensively should be needing rocket science in concocting it. But i was wrong!

It was a success!

I still can't believe that i made these for just 1 day! I made a Strawberry flavored yogurt & just a plain yogurt. It taste the same as those store bought ones. I asked my mum to try it... she said ' oh!you bought Nestle yogurt?' i said 'NOOOOO!!! This is my own yogurt!' Her eyes went big!

Bwahaha!
Now i can save the money that i use to buy yogurt & just spend it somewhere else... Happy ol' me!
If i can do it, so can you. Even kids can do it.

You just need milk & yogurt... plus a lot of patience. That's it!
So let's start..

I bought i carton of milk that measures 1 liter & a small tub of yogurt.
If you want to use a low-fat milk feel free to do so. I just haven't tried using soya milk though... I try to not eat/drink anything that has soya in it for i think i am already suffering from rheumatism for my knees are somewhat painful when the temperature is cold.

We know that yogurt contains bacteria. We know that bacteria thrives if the environment is wet & warm. That's all we need to know in yogurt making.
^_~

Most people actually heat the milk up to almost boiling point. In my case, i don't because letting the milk reach boiling point is tricky... i won't go into details about the milk substances & reactions, just know that boiling milk would require you to keep an eye on it all the time since it can burn easily therefore altering the taste.

I pour the milk on a pan ...

Heat it up for 30 seconds at most just to make the temperature a good breeding ground for the bacteria.

Most milk being sold in the grocery are already sterilized so you don't need to boil it anymore to kill any bacteria. You can actually just let the milk stand on your kitchen counter for an hour at the most so that it would be at room temperature. But then if you are having fresh milk delivered straight to you by the milk man then you can boil it to make sure that it is sterilized.

Pop the lid open of the yogurt

 1 liter of milk would need 1 tablespoon of yogurt. So scoop an ample amount of yogurt...

Then add it on the milk.
Whee!
I can hear all the bacteria rejoicing since they have a new breeding ground! Give it a good stir.

Then cover it.
I wrapped the lid in a cloth so that there would still be enough air. Then just let it stand in room temperature on your kitchen counter for 8-12 hours.

Voila!
After12 hours you were able to turn milk to yogurt. Magic,eh?! See how thick it became?

Then just transfer it in a big container for storage. 1 liter of milk will yield 1 liter of yogurt...but if you will strain the whey you'll be getting a glass of it, so it might be down to 3/4 of the mixture. But it's still a lot.

Just a little note though... straining the yogurt will make the yogurt more tangy. But i think you can keep yogurt longer if you strain it. So if you don't want a really tangy yogurt, don't strain the whey. Or you could strain the whey, keep it, then just add it when you want to eat a less tangier yogurt.

What's great about making your own homemade yogurt is that you can choose to just have it plain or fruit flavored. I fancy strawberry for today...so i made a strawberry yogurt...

How?
Just mix it with your choice of fruit preserve!

 

Simple, eh?

Now, i would just want to say that homemade yogurt has this slimy texture compare to store-bought yogurt. You can get rid of it by straining the whey. I think this is how Greek Yogurt is also made.

Greek Yogurt have a very thick & creamy texture compare the ordinary yogurt... almost like this.

That's why it's perfect for making Tzatziki!
*sudden craving for greek foods*
Yum! love that dip!
Hmm.. now that i think of it i ought to invent my own tzatziki too.

So, again, if you want to have a thick yogurt then strain it to remove the whey using a piece of cloth..not cheesecloth,ok? I used 2 pieces of cloth to strain it but 1 will do.

It's better to strain it for at least 8 hours to really get rid of the whey. Don't throw the whey, you can still use it for marinating/thawing meat because milk is a good tenderizer.

Hey, you can do the yogurt mask every now & then!

Well, there goes my second recipe post!
Hope you'll try making this homemade yogurt. It will save you a lot of money plus you can even make different flavors from the plain yogurt.

Jaa~!
^_^