People have making yogurt for 4,500 years. It is made by culturing milk with a bacteria called Lactobacillus Bulgaricus, which occurs naturally in Bulgaria. The bacteria eats the sugars in the milk leaving an acid which thickens the milk. People in warm climates make yogurt to help preserve their milk. There is a very long but cool article about yogurt at Wikipedia.
To make yogurt, we pasteurize two gallons of Flopsy's milk by heating it to 162 degrees on the stove. Then we cool it down quickly to 110 degrees by floating a plastic tub full of ice on top. We put one tablespoon of store-bought yogurt in each one of 8 super-clean quart-sized canning jars, add a little honey, and fill almost to the top with the warm milk. We put the jar lid on tightly. The yogurt needs to cook for 8 to 12 hours at a constant temperature of 110 degrees. There are lots of ways to do that. We found the quart jars fit in our old food dehydrator. We leave it on overnight, and it's done in the morning.
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI love to read all about you and your goats. I live in Northern CA and have no room for farm animals. The closest goat farm is 2 hours away from here where I some times buy my milk and make goats milk soap. The milk is not cheap (16$ per gallon) and I wonder if I am better off making some yogurt (or cheese) with it. I do have a large 6 qt.crock pot and wonder if I could "incubate" the jars in there at the lowest setting. Maybe have the jars submerged in water for a few inches. Can you offer some advise?
Thanks again for your great site.
Inge S., Lafayette, CA
spyrogyra2@yahoo.com