A tablespoon of yogurt in a quart of milk, at about a hundred degrees, in a thermos overnight = yogurt.
Failing a thermos, a pot with a glass lid on a sunny day—that’ll do it, too. The bugs are called something thermophilus, apparently, which means they like heat. How’s that for scholarship?
There are niceties, but I haven’t figured them all out yet. The longer you maintain the heat, the more acidic it will be. For instance. I’ve had the texture turn out a little ropey once or twice, but I can’t say why quite yet. The fact is, I only know as much as I’ve told you here, and we’ve stopped buying yogurt.
Save dollars! I am keen on that. Also, I am now only a source of milk and a few winter vegetables away from being able to quit regular trips to the super market. Which is a deeply satisfying proposition.
Hey, maybe I’ll get some pictures up on this blog sometime again!
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Comment. Though I’ve read it’s optional, I’ve been heating my milk to 180 and cooling it back to 100, and adding the starter then. I feel certain that, at least under the right circumstances, this step must be entirely unnecessary. I don’t know why I’ve been doing it. It’s definitely against type. I intend to quit, as soon as my poor brain finds it easier to think about it than to do what is recommended, albeit optionally. But this is just to say, for the moment, this is what I actually do.
I think it’s more likely to be “ropey” if you don’t heat it up first.
I think that is a hasty assertion, wife. Of course, we could just look it up on the internet.
If you heat it to near boiling and let it cool before adding the culture, you will get a thicker yoghurt but you have killed off the bacteria that were in the milk if the milk was raw. If my milk is raw I don’t heat it high, but if it’s pasteurised then it doesn’t make any difference. Ropey – think that might be if the milk is a bit too hot when you add the culture and it kind of curdles before it becomes yoghurt.
Hey Kate, thanks! This is the best reason to keep a blog yet!
:-D
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