All three members of this household LOVE yogurt. Cool Baby takes the plain stuff straight (and lots of it) and the rest of us like vanilla or adding fruit to the plain stuff or using the plain stuff in place of sour cream. I know, it sounds gross, but by now you are probably used to all of our strange ways, right?
This yogurt habit can get kind of expensive, especially when we try to get the organic whole milk yogurt for the baby. Plus, some of the yogurts out there appear to have almost as much sugar or fake sugar as a can of Coke! (Seriously!) So when I randomly came across the idea of making my own yogurt, I was very intrigued.
Quick summary: It can be done. It tastes great. It’s cheap! See ya later!
Detailed summary for the .01% of people who really like yogurt:
- I made the first batch on my stove, without a yogurt maker, and it came out perfectly although it took some time and energy to keep checking the temperature during the long incubation process.
- We are now the proud owners of a Salton YM9 Yogurt Maker, which is like having R2D2′s cute baby cousin hanging out with you in the kitchen.
- I’m paying at most $0.64 cents for each 8 oz cup (this assuming the organic milk and tiny bit of organic yogurt I use is not on sale), compared to
- $1.23 per 8 oz cup of the YoBaby organic yogurt I was buying
- $0.80 per 8 oz cup of the Dannon non-organic yogurt at the sale price of 10 6 oz cups for $6.00
- Worst case scenario would be that the homemade organic yogurt would cost almost as much per ounce as the non-organic yogurt that comes in a large container (and wasn’t necessarily made with love).
Wow, seeing this in print makes me realize…I am SO WEIRD! I don’t even like to cook but here I am making yogurt. Oh well.
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Some may find it weird that you make your own yogurt. I think it’s pretty awesome! It’s more fulfilling making your own, anyhow.
Hmmm….homemade yogurt…i didn’t know it could be made! That’s pretty cool, and wow, saves a lot of money too. I wonder what it tastes like…
i think i would have more fun watching YOU make the yogurt. and then eating some..
i just buy the non-organic big tubs– we have 3 different flavor prefs in our family…
you said the process is a little long.. so how long are you talking?
rachel – i think CM is so cool for doing this.
brooke – it tastes good! i’m very jealous of the boy that he gets to eat as much as he wants.
hambricks – i love watching people make food and eating it, too!
hambricks – you have to heat the milk to a certain temperature, then cool it down in the fridge to another temperature, stir in a few spoonfuls of existing yogurt, then leave it alone in the yogurt maker or somewhere to keep warm for 4-8 hours. the actual work doesn’t take long, but the waiting does.
What I don’t understand is how, if you just leave milk out (or heat it up a bit and then leave it out), it’s disgusting and will make you sick, but if you’re calling it “yogurt,” then somehow the bacteria becomes healthy… I know I’m missing a step somewhere. It’s actually always been something I’ve wondered about. Same goes for cottage cheese. Have you tried making that yet?
p.s. I am impressed.
I’m with Amy on not quite understanding yogurt. I don’t like it at all btw, people keep trying to get me to eat it, say it’s good for me, keeps you regular, whatever. It’s not that I haven’t tried it, believe me I’ve tried it, different brands different flavors, they’re all gross. My mouth just refuses to be okay with the “something that’s soured” taste.
I do think it’s really neat that you’re making your own though.
amy and reese – I had the same question in my mind. I took a class in college all about foodborne illnesses. Ruined me forever. If food stays out on the counter more than 2 hours I’m ready to throw it all out. And you know how much I hate to waste food. Cool Dad usually stops me and says he’ll eat it for lunch tomorrow.
So the milk has to be heated to 185 degrees (frothy) and then it has to be cooled to 110 and kept there for at least 4 hours (by the yogurt maker or maybe the stove on lowest setting). Definitely hotter than room temperature (I should hope)! A cooking thermometer is a must.
I haven’t tried cottage cheese, from what I’ve read it’s a lot more complicated than yogurt. I did read that you can make cheese directly from the yogurt by wrapping it in cheesecloth or coffee filter over a colander in the refrigerator. “Yogurt cheese” is supposedly similar to cream cheese, so you can mix in herbs to make dips, etc. (I bet some of our readers are getting nauseous right now so I’ll stop)
“Cool Dad usually stops me and says he’ll eat it for lunch tomorrow.”
this is very true. i often joke/complain that i am the garbage disposal. i don’t help my cause. i detest wasting food, so i accept that role. by God’s grace, i haven’t gotten sick yet!
I’m so proud of you and your homemade yogurt… and Cool Baby’s “open bird” mouth eating bite after bite says he was too! I was just telling a friend today about your “experiment” and going to e-mail you for more info to pass along, now I’ll just send her the link to your post.
Your “yogurt cheese” comment makes me smile – did I tell you I tried it? Not making it – eating it. It’s actually really good and I would be SO impressed if you whipped some of that up in your kitchen… not that I’m not already impressed.
i was going to try and make yogurt a while back but the incubation period scared me away. i didn’t understand how i could keep it at the temperature, so i suppose to yogurt maker technology comes in handy for that?
you should try/look into making kefir. it is not as labor intensive and has the benefits of yogurt plus some.