I am working hard on my decluttering project and probably will be working on it for a while. While I was going through our spice cabinet this week, I found the packets of yogurt starter that I ordered from Amazon this past summer.
Here is a picture of the yogurt starter:
Fun fact: If I choose to make more yogurt in the future, I learned that I can use some of the yogurt that I made as a live culture to start for more yogurt. To make your own yogurt all you really need is milk, a heating and cooling source and a live culture, which can come from other yogurts that don’t contain sweeteners or thickeners.
How I got started on this yogurt making journey:
I blame Aldi because last spring they had Oui Yoplait yogurt on sale for a few weeks in a row.
The environmentalist in me found it hard to dispose of the Oui jars without reusing them. However, last June, Mr. Katie and I promised ourselves that we would only save the jars for a month. If we did not reuse them we would move on from them. Long story short, we did not use the jars and we didn’t move on from them either. They were still in the cupboard last Wednesday, so when I discovered the yogurt starter, I knew that it was time to put a plan together to make yogurt.
Additionally, I was also motivated to drive right in to yogurt making because I have an interest in making my own dairy products. In fact, in the winter of 2021, I made a few different cheeses in my own kitchen. I wrote about one of the experiences at the time on this blog.
One caveat about yogurt making:
I was unsure of how much work and time would go into making yogurt. Luckily, what i found is that not that much work goes into making yogurt. Here is one caveat though: the process takes some time. I started making my yogurt at 11 am and took the pot of yogurt off out of the instant pot at 10 am at night. Then in the morning I still needed to put the yogurt into jars.
How to find a yogurt making recipe:
I did so some research before getting started. The starter I purchased included easy instructions, which I read but honestly there are a ton websites online with yogurt making directions.
The Washington State University Extension office had a recipe that was very clear and straight forward.
In the end though, I ended up using the recipe that came in a cookbook that accompanied our instant pot.
However, I would not say that owning an instant pot is essential though to yogurt making. In fact, our instant pot is kind of glitchy and shoots out an error code sometimes when you take the lid off of it to stir your recipe. I discovered that while heating the milk to 180 degrees, it was a smoother process for me to dump the milk out of the instant pot and onto a pot on the stove because the instant pot kept getting upset with me.
The purpose of heating the milk to 180 degrees is to denature the proteins in the milk.
After, reaching180 degrees. I took the pot off of the stove and put it in the sink which was filled with cold water.
The purpose of the next step is to cool the milk to 95-105 degrees.
During this time, I dissolved the yogurt starter packets in a small amount of cool milk (from the refrigerator) in a bowl. I then mixed the starter with a small amount of chilled milk from the refrigerator until the starter powder dissolved.
Once the pot of milk had reached the desired temperature range of 95-105 degrees, I added the yogurt starter milk to the pot of milk. Then I mixed them together and pored the pot of milk back into the instant pot.
This step is called incubation. The point of putting this mixture back in the instant pot is to keep the mixture at a constant temperature around 100 degrees. This is to provide the ideal temperature for the bacteria to grow and multiply. Yogurt needs to incubate for 8-12 hours.
I set the instant pot to the lowest yogurt setting, put the lid on and let it incubate for 10 hours.
After 10 hours, I turned off the instant pot. I let the instant pot cool.
This is where I messed up a little. I should have put the pot right into the refrigerator with a covering over the top. What I did was I let the pot sit out, with the silly notion I needed to let it cool off before putting it in the refrigerator. Then I forgot about my pot until the following morning. Then I refrigerated the yogurt.
How are my results?
My yogurt turned out okay despite my omission to refrigerate it immediately. It is very sour but still edible. It is plain and flavor and needs to be sweetened in my opinion to be enjoyed. Everyone in my family has tried it so far and Mr. Man and Mr. Katie have said that they liked it. I like it too. I made it with whole milk it has a rich flavor especially when enjoyed with fruit and maple syrup.
I plan to try it again when this batch is gone but this time I will refrigerate it immediately.
Have you ever made yogurt before? How did it turn out?
I have never made any yogurt! Don’t think I will. You can make it for your family!
When I bought my instapot, I bought it because I wanted to make yogurt- I bought one without a yogurt making setting/ I used it for cooking a few times before I discovered that it did not have that function – my instapot is now sitting in my basement with all my “I need this amazing, time saving appliance” that I found I do not actually use. Maybe I’ll get it out this winter and attempt something, maybe not.