Home Made Yoghurt
This really is worth doing, in a few steps and using only 2 Ingredients you can make the most delicious, light, luscious yoghurt. No added sugar or thickeners, made simply with milk and a small amount of a live yoghurt culture.
Commercial yoghurts can contain high amounts of sugar, artificial flavours and other additives. Satisfying to make your own, it is also so much lighter in texture and flavour than a commercial product.
I started with about 800ml of milk, enough to fill two jars, and one large tablespoon of Jalna Pot Set Organic Yoghurt - free from sugar, gluten, stabilisers and gelatine, made from biodynamic organic milk.
HOW TO MAKE YOGHURT
Heat the milk to 92 degrees C, this destroys the naturally occurring bacteria found in milk. If you don't have a thermometer, it is just as the milk starts to foam
Do not boil, as this will denature the proteins and it will not set
To avoid sticking you can continually stir the milk or heat gently in a double boiler
Remove from the heat and cool to 35-40 degrees C
This you can do by placing the saucepan over cold water
Add the live yoghurt culture to the cooled milk and combine well
This inoculates the milk, bacteria then convert lactose to lactic acid
Pour into clean dry glass jars, fill to the top and screw lids on
Jars must be sterilised and dry, place in a low temperature oven to achieve this
Place your jars into a small esky or foam box with a little warm water in the base, to maintain the temperature at about 35-40 degrees C for 12-24 hours
Change the water a couple of times as it cools
Serve for breakfast with poached fruits, granola or quinoa porridge
Include in wet ingredients when making cakes, muffins, or pancakes
Use as the base for dips
Mix with mint, garlic and/or cucumber and serve with chicken, lamb or fish
Put a dollop on curries & other meat dishes
Add to smoothies
WHY IS YOGHURT GOOD FOR YOU?
Only 'live yoghurt' contains Probiotics
Probiotic literally means 'for life' and refers to the good bacteria our gut needs
Probiotics boost digestive health, reducing common gastrointestinal discomfort & disorders
Benefits the immune system, due to contained trace elements & effect on the gut
Source of protein and minerals
Yoghurt is easy to digest, is soothing on the gut and has a multitude of uses in cookery, providing you and your family with delicious options for good health.
You may also have heard of Kefir, which typically contains three times the amount of probiotic cultures than yoghurt. To make kefir, milk is fermented with a mixture of 10 to 20 different types of probiotic bacteria and yeasts; most yogurts are made using only a few. Some organic kefir, for instance, delivers 40 billion probiotic organisms per half cup, while most probiotic yoghurts contain roughly one billion per serving.
Available in health food stores
Mix the contents of one sachet in 1 litre of milk.
Leave for 24 hours at 20 degrees C As for yoghurt do so in a small esky containing warmed water
Half a glass can be used as a subsequent inoculation in another 1 litre of milk
Kefir has a more liquid consistency and different flavour from yoghurt
Wonderful in your morning smoothie
