Parker loves yogurt, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to find plain, whole milk, organic yogurt anywhere. The other day I spent 10 minutes in the yogurt aisle at Central Market trying to find the one tub they had. They really truly only had one tub and it was hiding behind the honey yogurt (apparently no one eats anything but non-fat yogurt these days, of course, what's the point of eating non-fat if you're going to add corn syrup to it...but I digress).
So, seeing how easy it is to find organic whole milk, I thought I'd try my hand at making it myself.
I pulled out the Good Eats recipe and gave it a try.
It was a little on the messy side (probably more my issue than the recipe's), and it was much more difficult to keep the proper temperature than it looked on TV, but it turned out okay.
It's not quite as tangy as the store bought stuff, but I think that could be fixed if I let it sit longer. It's also more watery, I don't know that there's much I can do about that, but not too bad for a first try.
I've since read that you can use the crock pot to keep it on the right temperature, I might try that method next time. But all-in-all, a fairly successful first try, and about half the price of buying yogurt.
I made yogurt awhile back with the "check the temperature" method and found it to be a pain. The kids weren't too hip on the results either, but I might have just needed to add more sugar.
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to try again and will use this crock pot version (I've seen it multiple places on the web). Seems much easier.
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-can-make-yogurt-in-your-crockpot.html
my sister made yogurt in the crockpot. I think she mentioned it had a milder flavor, but she seemed to prefer it. http://alisterandsarah.blogspot.com/2011/03/experiments-or-making-yogurt-in.html
ReplyDeleteI've had some luck finding organic whole milk yogurt at Fred Meyer. They usually have the Nancy's and Stonyfield Farms. But you're right, it is hard to find and I don't think they stock much of it, so it goes fast. I usually either end up getting the Nancy's non-organic, or else the Mountain High whole milk yogurt (also not organic).
ReplyDeleteWe've been making our own yogurt since we got married. I tried multiple methods that didn't work, so we ended up getting a yogurt maker. Soooo much easier, and it has already paid for itself many times over. The longer you leave it incubating, the tangier it will taste, and the thicker it will get, so I bet if you just let it sit longer you'd like it better. We usually incubate about 10-12 hours (overnight). For low-fat yogurt you can also stir in some dry milk powder to make it a little thicker and creamier, although I don't think you'd need to do that for whole milk yogurt. We haven't started making Sarah's yogurt yet, we buy Nancy's at the Ballard Market. I'm really surprised that Central Market didn't have a better selection!
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