Homemade Yogurt

Yup, you read right. And its not complicated. Nor is it expensive. No fancy yogurt maker, no giant igloo containers hanging out in your kitchen. You got a slow cooker? Then you are ready to go! Well, you will need milk as well, but I'm thinking that's a given.

You will need:

8 cups of whole milk

(or 8 cups of skim milk with 8 tablespoons of dry milk powder added)

1/2 cup of plain natural yogurt

Thermometer

Slow cooker

There are several ways to do this but here is the way that I have found is the quickest. Start by turning your slow cooker to the low setting. Then, warm on the stove the 8 cups of milk in a pot until it reaches 120ºC. Remove from heat and cool till 110ºC. Pour the milk into the warmed slow cooker. Add the yogurt to the milk and stir. Put the lid on, unplug and cover in towels. Let it sit overnight and WHAM-BAM, you have yogurt in the morning! Now, I prefer a greek yogurt, so I now use my coffee carafe and drain the whey till the yogurt is the consistency I prefer. I've made this a handful of times, and I get anywhere from 500-800 grams of greek yogurt. (Oh, and save the drained whey!)

Now, you may be thinking, "Why wouldn't I just by yogurt at the store?". Well, many of the yogurts at the store have many, many additives to them and chemical sweeteners. As well as fake fruit. This way, you are in control of what you are eating. Again, you may be thinking, "Well, I can just by the natural yogurt and be on my way.". Natural greek yogurt costs around $5.00 for 500 grams where I live. 8 cups of whole milk costs $3.00. And as this recipe makes at around 700 grams of yogurt per batch, it costs me just over $2.00 to make 500 grams of yogurt. So I'm in the savings!