Day 1 - Yoghurt

I grew up eating homemade yoghurt. My mum still has the yoghurt maker she had when we were little (in the 70s), and still makes yoghurt in it. I remember watching her go through this complicated and bewildering process of slowly warming up milk, constantly taking the temperature and then quickly whipping it off the stove to let it cool down (constantly taking the temperature, again) and then finally putting it in her yoghurt maker and letting it work. Seemed all a little labour intensive to me, but I do so love yoghurt. I happened upon a blog that details out how to make homemade yoghurt in a crock pot, and I haven't looked back since. I make several batches per week. I usually use whole milk or a mix of whole milk and cream. The more fat in the yoghurt the creamier it is. I had a friend dispute this fact with me, so I experimented (same times for heating and cooling and fermenting) and it definitely makes a richer creamier yoghurt the more fat you have. At some time in the future I will be trying Cultures for Health's no heat yoghurt starter so you don't have to heat your raw milk, but for now this works for me.

I just make plain yoghurt with the milk and starter. I do not add anything else. I do let it ferment for a while (at least 12 hours) but we don't mind the sourness, and because of our hypoglycemia, we need to get rid of as much of the sugar as possible.

The whole process is not very visually appealing - white milk in a white pot with white starter, but it is tasty!!!!