Homemade Natural Yoghurt.
I’ve always been a lover of Natural Yoghurt & remember my Mum leaving it on the top of the AGA overnight, I’d never thought of having a go myself as I don’t have an AGA but had a friend that mentioned she’d bought a special pot to make some in and it worked well. So after a little research I decided to get one of the Yoghurt machines that come with several jars, as I thought they’d be easier to store and for my husband to take individual portions to work. I also looked into the actual making of the yoghurt & learned that I’d have to heat the milk before pouring it into the jars, this seemed too much hassle to me until I read that you could use UHT milk instead, to which I was a happy bunny! So after yet more research I was happy to learn that for best results I should use a starter culture that was full fat (Total Greek yoghurt) & also UHT milk that was full fat (Tesco full fat UHT milk). Why was I happy about this? Well for a while now I’ve been moving away from all the low fat versions of food & the sugar free versions as well, as I was fed up of reading a whole host of bizarre ingredients they put in to replace the fat/sugar. I’d rather eat real produce & just have less of it. As my Grandma would say ‘A little of what you fancy does you good’.
So armed with my new machine I got started.
As you can see from the photo, I now use one of my own yoghurts as my starter culture (instead of Total Greek yoghurt), so I haven’t bought yoghurt for a long time.
I put one heaped teaspoon of my starter culture into each jar.
Then fill each one with the UHT milk and use one of the lids to shake each on up. The whole one litre carton fills these seven jars perfectly. Then I put the main lid over them and leave for between 6 – 9 hours. In the Winter months it seemed to take longer for them to set, so 9 hours overnight worked best. I’ve found in the Summer it’s more like 6 hours, so I’ve been putting them on in the morning & they’ve been ready by mid afternoon.
To check that they’re done, I just give one a little wobble to check that it’s set. Then put all the red lids on and refrigerate until chilled.
The end product is quite thick, but to get a more Greek style you’d need some muslin cloth, a sieve & a jug. Which means the excess whey would drip into the jug leaving you with a thicker yoghurt.
My favourite way of eating natural yoghurt is with fruit, seeds & of course Linwoods Flaxseed mixes.
Then there’s nuts and some honey if you need sweetening up.
Or you could try making yourself a Smoothie.
Which ever way you eat your Natural Yoghurt… Enjoy….