Firstly, it's not hard. And you don't need a fancy electric yogurt maker appliance. You also don't have to buy freeze dried gourmet yogurt starter. I just used the yogurt I had in the fridge. I used my biggest stock pot as a sterilizer and bottom half of a jury rigged double boiler. I used my second biggest pot to hold the milk.
So here's how I did it....
Filled my big pot with water and brought it to the boil. Then I dropped in my metal spoon and jars and lids. I let them stay in there about five minutes, and pulled them out with tongs.
Filled the smaller pot with whole organic milk ( I used about a half gallon), and placed into the makeshift water bath. Heated the milk to 180 degrees fahrenheit and then cooled to 110. This kills off any bacteria that might compete with the yogurt starter bacteria. Once the milk had cooled down, stirred in about a half cup of organic commercial yogurt--plain. Then I covered the pot with plastic wrap and placed it on a heating pad set to medium. Covered the whole thing with a towel and left it alone for 8 hours. And voila! I had yogurt!
After that I poured the yogurt into glass canning jars and popped them into the fridge.
I like my yogurt fairly thick, and this is a bit runny for me, so I'm draining some of it to have a consistency more like Greek yogurt. The taste is great, not too sour, but very rich and creamy.
Considering the cost of commercial yogurt, and the waste of the non recyclable containers- at least where I live- I think yogurt making will be a part of our weekly routine. We'll be saving money and making less impact on the environment. Hmm, maybe I'll have to add a cow or two into my farm fantasy plans.....
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