Commercial yogurt, unless plain, may have added sugar, high fructose corn syrup, high -sugar fruit jams, or artificial sweeteners.
The only ingredients in yogurt should be active cultures and milk. The more ingredients there are the less actual yogurt you are getting. Stoneyfield Farms makes a wonderful full fat plain yogurt, but always having that in your refrigerator, especially if you eat yogurt as often as I do, runs into quite a bit of money.
It is much easier and less costly to make your own yogurt. When I first decided to make my own yogurt, I bought a yogurt machine. I used it for a while, but then I realized that by heating up my raw milk, I was in effect pasteurizing it and throwing away most of its nutritional value.
After a bit of experimentation, I discovered how to make yogurt using raw milk without heating my milk up first.
You probably want to start with small batches until you get your yogurt the consistency you want. I will share with you how to make a small batch.
Pour 1 cup raw milk (if you don’t have access to raw milk, pasteurized milk should work the same) into a glass container that has a lid. You can substitute cream for some of the milk, but I wouldn’t use all cream; you may end up with sour cream instead of yogurt.
Add 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt or ¼ teaspoon of yogurt starter to the milk. Also, to thicken your yogurt you may add 2 tablespoons of powdered milk. The more powdered milk you add, the thicker it will make the yogurt.
Unflavored gelatin can also be used as a thickener, but the small amounts I used always gave me yogurt flavored gelatin. Not exactly the results I was hoping for. My dogs loved it. Yogurt with the consistency of gelatin didn’t bother them at all. So I would recommend using powdered milk as a thickening agent if you want your yogurt thicker.
Once you mix your ingredients together, put a lid on your container and set it in the over overnight, with the oven light on, for 8 to 10 hours. When you pull it out, sit in the refrigerator to thicken up. If you don't have an oven light, preheat your oven to 100 degrees and turn it off, then wrap your covered container in towels to hold in the warmth and place in preheated oven for 8 to 10 hours.
You can make this yogurt without the addition of powdered milk, but the result will not be nearly as thick. Actually, it will be kind of runny. I am not a fan of powdered milk, nor do I like the taste of it, but the taste is not evident in the end result. Since there is so little of this pasteurized product in the yogurt, I still consider the end result to be unpasteurized, and healthy.
There are awesome benefits to making the yogurt yourself. Most importantly, it is much healthier and cheaper. Also, you are in charge of the flavorings that go into your yogurt. To my yogurt I like to add just a little bit of honey (about a tablespoon), ½ teaspoon vanilla, and a big spoon of natural peanut butter. That makes a wonderfully filling breakfast.
If you want your yogurt to be really thick, once it is done and has thickened slightly in the refrigerator, place the yogurt in a strainer lined with coffee filters. I use a fine mesh stainless steel strainer. The mesh is so fine that there is no need for me to use any kind of lining. Allow to sit for several hours or overnight so that the whey will drain out. You will end up with thick and yummy Greek yogurt. When mine is done, it has the consistency of soft cream cheese.
There is a lot of nutrition in the whey, so if you drain it off, you want to save it and add this liquid to other recipes in place of water. That way you won’t lose out on getting the nutrition from it.
For a really refreshing treat on a hot summer day place some yogurt, flavored as you like, in the freezer in a covered container for about an hour, or longer if you want it frozen more solidly.
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Oxo Good Grips 6-Inch Double Rod Strainer
