We were talking about sugar, D and I.  That's kinda how it started.  There is sugar in everything.  Not a bad thing necessarily because sugar can definitely enhance taste even in a savoury dish.  The problem is that sugar is in EVERYTHING.  It's hidden often.  We don't see it in our various sauces, cereals, crackers.  I mean you expect it in cookies right but crackers?  I've heard it said that if you removed all the items containing sugar in some form or another that there wouldn't be much left.  A green pepper and a few eggplants maybe.
So we were talking about yogurt and how much sugar is in yogurt.  And if you get the low-fat yogurt then there's all this kinda sugary stuff that can't be pronounced.  I told D that I could make my own yogurt.  It wouldn't be sweetened but I could do it.  And D said 'Let's try it'.
Now I have to stop here for a minute.  First thing I gotta tell you is that D and the entire family has gotten used to eating with a lot less meat over the last year.  Occasionally I've gotten the question 'Is there any meat in this?' but in terms of complaint that's been it.  I've 'subjected' the entire family to way more meals that include squashes, beans and root vegetables of various kinds, again without too much fuss.  Yogurt, however, I thought was a sacred thing for D.  Yogurt that has be sweetened by the user well I thought that would be right up there with unsweetened ice cream.  So for D to say 'Let's try it'.  Yeah... within two days I had everything together and was sliding my pot into the oven to incubate.


Making yogurt is much like a grade school science experiment but it's honestly not hard.  I would tell you the truth.  I swear and pinky promise that you won't get lost in this one.  You do need to have a little bit of equipment:  A candy thermometer and maybe some cheesecloth but that's about it.  The cheesecloth is genius because you can let it thicken after it's incubated to whatever thickness you want.  Think about the possibilities - your own ricotta/yogurt cheese.  Mine came out thick like heavily whipped cream.  Beautiful.  It's inspired me to keep canning so that I can use the preserves for the yogurt.  Let me tell you, when I teamed up the yogurt with the rhubarb/blueberry/strawberry sauce that I made a while ago... it was a beautiful thing.


Homemade Yogurt adapted from More with Less
makes about 2 cups

1 quart (4 cups) milk (I used homo - I will try organic in future and raw would be awesome)
1/3 cup of plain yogurt (no added sugar, full bacteria stuff and all of that)

1.  Scald the utensils that you'll be using.  (I did this and then left them on the counter and promptly forgot to use them)
2.  Use a candy thermometer and heat the milk to 180 degrees F.  You may want to stir this fairly often as it gets a skin on the top sometimes and the bottom can stick quite easily.
3.  Cool the milk to 110 degrees F.
4.  Pour a little (1 cup) of the warm milk into the yogurt.  Mix and add into the pot of warmed milk.  Stir briskly.
5.  Warm the oven to 100 degrees F or so.  Turn off the oven.  Wrap the Pot (I used a caste iron kettle thing) in a large towel and carefully set in the oven.
6.  Turn on the oven to 100 just briefly every once in a while to keep the temperature consistent.  Check the mixture after about 3 hours.  Depending on the consistency that you like you can keep it in for a total of 8 hours.
7.  Remove and place into jars.  (I actually drained mine in some cheesecloth for a couple of hours to get it even thicker).
Save about 1/4 or 1/3 of a cup and freeze it to start your next batch of yogurt.
You can freeze all the yogurt or use it immediately.