General Chat

Does anyone make their own?

I got a yoghurt maker this week, and made the first lot this morning.

I eat a lot of yoghurt (at least 2Kg a week), but recently found out that the "low-fat" ones have LOADS of sugar! Grrrr...... do what I think is the healthy option, eat the low-fat and find out it's not really healthy! :-(

If anyone makes their own yoghurt, any tips for me?

:-D

Sharron gave a very straightforward one sometime ago but I can't find it to nudge, I tried it and it worked very well, and now I've lost the recipe.

But I always buy the Fat Free ones, no added sugar - the supermarkets here all seem to do them in half-litre tubs. I don't know if the yoghurt is the same as the milk analysis - there is apparently more sugar in skimmed milk than semi-skimmed and full cream milk because once they take the fat out there is more liquid milk with natural sugar to make up the volume! You can 't win.

Fill your vacuum flask almost full with milk, leaving space for about two tablespoonsful of yogurt.

Heat the milk and allow to cool to blood heat.

Whisk two tablespoonsful of natural yogurt (most yogurt is live now) into the milk and pour it into the flask.

Leave overnight and you have a flask of yogurt.

Keep two tablespoonsful of this for the next batch.

Thankyou Sharron.

Your flask method sounds the same as the yoghurt maker, but yours doesn't use electricity :-D

I had a voucher to spend at a shop........ got things I never thought I'd have :-0 ... like a waffle maker.

Waffles & yoghurt anyone?



:-D

Aldi had a sandwich toaster with detachable plates and waffle plates.

Made the stuff, put it in the waffle iron and realized it would be a lot easier to do it on the griddle pan so the waffle plates have not seen the light of day since.

Bl**dy thing!

Made the yoghurt this morning........ turned the machine on, timer set for 6 hours.

6 hours up, and the yellow light was still on... it's supposed to turn green when the yoghurt is done.

at the 6 hour mark, we had to go out. Dilemma! What do I do? Turn it off and put the yoghurt in the fridge, or leave it on and see what happens? :-S

Left it on.

Got home 5 hours later.... yellow light still on! Yoghurt looks OK, nice and thick, the way I like it.

I'll mess about with it tomorrow, try different fruit in it.

Raspberries for a start..... my favourite! :-D

Must look for some rhubarb.

I hope this makes sense.......... I've had a "few" sherbets tonight :-D

Back in the early 70's, I was given a piece of a yoghurt plant. You put tihis in full fat milk, and left in a fairly warm ( def. not a cold place) place overnight. Worked every time. I never used sugar in yoghurt, still don't. Had that 'plant' for many years, but is disappeared somehow. I advertised in a local newspaper for one ( have never seen one in a garden center) had one response from a woman who gave it to me for free.. I did exactly the same with this 'plant', but, the yoghurt was def. nowhere as nice as the first one. Am going to try the other way, i.e.using part yoghurt & full fat milk etc.It is well worth trying again.

Yoghurt plant? googled but they seemed baffled - but took me to mumsnet where they seem to have heard of them but no suggestions about how to find one!

The yoghurt spent the night in the fridge.

This morning it looked like cottage cheese! :-( I had some with grainy cereal (a bit like muesli) & raspberries. Tasted OK, but not wonderful.

I think I know where I went wrong.

The instructions that came with it were very vague, so I found the maker's website and printed off instructions. I think I have an older model than the one on the website :-( There's a light on mine that shows orange when it's switched on, but it doesn't turn green. I think I "cooked" it for too long.

Also...... it was recommended to put some powdered milk in, if you want thicker yoghurt...... I won't use so much next time and might get yoghurt instead of cottage cheese :-D

Elizabeth with numbers.I was given this ' plant',,it looked like white-coloured brains.Sounds delicious,doesn't it? It could be used for ever, so to speak. Don't know if it is possible to get this anywhere now, you can get so,many different types of yoghurt in the shops, reckon most people can't be bothered to fiddle around with doing this. Btw, I live in Holland, maybe this 'plant' wasn't available in the UK?

Run it through a muslin overnight and you have a soft cheese.

Mix in a bit of something, whatever takes your fancy like chives or garlic and put it on some biscuits.

Waste not want not.

I don't have any muslin. No fabric shops here.

If I use a clean cloth (I'm thinking of a new large hanky) over a sieve, would that work?

When I was eating my breakfast I kept telling myself......... It's Yoghurt! It's Yoghurt! It's lumpy, but It's Yoghurt! :-D

Muslin. I buy packets from the baby department of Saints...y, very useful as allround kitchen cloths though I haven't used them for straining food yet!

The lumpy yoghurt is now sitting in the fridge..... inside a scalded hanky (a never used one) in a sieve, over a bowl.

I'm making a new batch of yoghurt........ milk has been heated to 90C and is now cooling down to 40C........ then I'll stick it in the pot and wait for a miracle.

The instructions recommend adding some powdered milk if you want a thicker yoghurt. This time I'll try it with no powder and see what happens.

A few experiments methinks.

:-)

I should say..........

I didn't go out to buy a yoghurt maker.

I won a raffle prize.... my choice of $1,000 of electrical goods. :-D

I now have lots of gadgets that I wouldn't have bought otherwise.

I found I had much better results when I thoroughly whisked the yogurt into the milk before I put it into the flask rather than just drop a dollop in.

I don't have any yoghurt, other than the stuff which is now turning into cheese.

I used the tiny speckle things.... starters........ what are they, dried yoghurt?

Once I have a decent yoghurt I can use some for the next lot.

DH says he'll leave home when I ask for a cow or a goat :-D

Just buy a pot of plain yoghurt and use a dollop of that.

Then save a bit of what you made to go in the next lot.

second lot done, and in the fridge.

It's just as lumpy as the first lot, and I don't like it. :-(

I think I have a cheese maker, not a yoghurt maker.

:-|

Could be the culture.

I have never used it. Try a bit of natural yoghurt and if it still comes out tasting like it has already been eaten once. take the machine back and tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine (Clause 4, subsection 9 of the Sale of Goods Act!)