Even less plastic: delicious homemade yoghurt
Where I live, yoghurt pots are not recycled. No, this is not the 3rd world, this is one of the richest towns in northern England.
We eat a lot of yoghurt in my family. One way we have been reducing our own generated plastic trash is by buying the big tubs of 1kg of yoghurt. But, recently, I have had an even better idea: homemade yoghurt. It is super simple and quite fast to prepare. Because yoghurt lasts forever in the fridge, I can prepare a large amount each time. It is cheaper than store-bought and, more importantly, it is delicious. Here is my simple recipe.
1l of whole milk
6 tablespoons of plain yoghurt
Special equipment:
a food thermometer
Preparation:
Heat the milk up to 85°C, stirring it as it gets hot (if you don't have a food thermometer, heat it up until it is just below boiling temperature, it should be smoking and foaming). Let it cool to about 46°C (it should be warm, not hot) and mix the yoghurt. Put it away in a warm place for 6 hours and then in the refrigerator.
As you can see, the recipe is supersimple. Here is a bit more information that may be useful.
We eat a lot of yoghurt in my family. One way we have been reducing our own generated plastic trash is by buying the big tubs of 1kg of yoghurt. But, recently, I have had an even better idea: homemade yoghurt. It is super simple and quite fast to prepare. Because yoghurt lasts forever in the fridge, I can prepare a large amount each time. It is cheaper than store-bought and, more importantly, it is delicious. Here is my simple recipe.
Homemade yoghurt
Ingredients:1l of whole milk
6 tablespoons of plain yoghurt
Special equipment:
a food thermometer
Preparation:
Heat the milk up to 85°C, stirring it as it gets hot (if you don't have a food thermometer, heat it up until it is just below boiling temperature, it should be smoking and foaming). Let it cool to about 46°C (it should be warm, not hot) and mix the yoghurt. Put it away in a warm place for 6 hours and then in the refrigerator.
As you can see, the recipe is supersimple. Here is a bit more information that may be useful.
- Take the amounts suggested as proportions. You may want to make only half of it (using 500ml of milk and 3tbsp of yoghurt) or any other amount. The amount of yoghurt you use does not have to be exact at all. You can use a lot less or even more and still succeed.
- can be skimmed milk, but your yoghurt will be less healthy, less tasty and more runny. You can add a bit of pectin or other thickening agent to give it a better consistency. It can even be made of powdered milk. And another trick people use to make stronger, thicker yoghurt is to add some powdered milk to the milk. The reason you must bring the milk to near boiling point is that this is essential to get the right consistency afterwards.
- must be real yoghurt, no sugar or taste added and, more important, must have live cultures in it. Dead yoghurt will not breed new yoghurt. In case, you don't know: there are live bugs living in your yoghurt. These bugs are what makes real yoghurt super healthy. They don't die but cannot reproduce at low temperatures, which is one of the reasons we keep yoghurt in the fridge. At temperatures of around 46°C they will start breeding and spreading all over the milk, converting it into yoghurt while feeding from it. At higher temperatures they'll die and so it is super important you do not mix the yoghurt before the milk reaches the right temperature. Must you use yoghurt to make yoghurt? Yes and no. You may be able to find yoghurt starter, which some people prefer to use. However, yoghurt is so easy to find and cheap, I see no reason to complicate things. Of course, you can use your own homemade yoghurt for your next batch. You can also freeze yoghurt for later use as starter (for example, if you are going on holidays).
- keeping the yoghurt and milk warm for six hours is the only tricky part of the process. There are many ways to do that. You can buy a yoghurt maker, which will give you piece of mind, but will be occupying space in your kitchen. Instead, you are better off buying a food vacuum flask, which is cheaper and occupies a lot less space and can be useful for other purposes. Alternatively, you can warm up your oven at minimum temperature (which is 50°C in mine), then turn it off before putting in the yoghurt mix (make sure the oven is warm to the touch, but not hot). Leave the oven light on in order to keep it warm for longer. I use a heavy cast-iron pot and warm it up in the oven as described. Then put the yoghurt pot inside. This works even better than just using the light on. The down side of using the oven is that you won't be able to cook anything in it for the six hours it takes to make yoghurt. Buying a vacuum flask just for making yoghurt may be the more practical option if you are going to be making a lot of yoghurt. Knit a cozy to keep it toasty for longer. Some people just wrap up the container in blankets (and keep it near the heater in winter).
- is added after the yoghurt is ready. You can add it just before putting the yoghurt away in the refrigerator or just before eating your yoghurt. The latter has the advantage that you can have different flavours, the former that the yoghurt will be ready for a quick meal afterwards.
- is simply strained yoghurt (and there is nothing particularly Greek about it, as yoghurt is eaten like that in many other countries besides Greece). If you prefer it like that get a cheesecloth and use it to strain the yoghurt until you get the consistency you prefer. The whey obtained from straining is very rich in protein and can be used in many different ways: some people like drinking it (not me), you can also use it as broth when cooking or add it to the water when making bread or cake.
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