How do I make my own yogurt?

I have been making yoghurt at home for a few years.  It is so easy to make, tastes great and saves money. Making your own yoghurt also saves endless yoghurt pots going in the bin reducing your plastic waste. So why not give it a go!  

My reduced plastic yoghurt recipe

Equipment:

• 1 litre large wide necked flask

• Saucepan milk frother or stirring equipment you have to hand.

• Funnel Ladle Spoon

• One large glass jar with lid

• One small glass jar with lid

Note: all equipment should be sterilised before using.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of full fat organic milk. Preferably non-homogenised and in a reusable glass bottle.

• Two tablespoons full fat plain organic yoghurt. Can be shop bought or homemade.

Method:

• Bring a litre of milk to a slow boil.  Some great tips for stopping the milk sticking to the saucepan and to stop it boiling over.

• Once the milk has boiled up turn off the heat and allow it to cool for 40 minutes.

• Around 10 minutes before the milk has finished cooling pour some boiled water into a thermos. Put the lid on and shake. Leave the boiled water in the flask until you are ready for it. Now is a good time to sterilise other equipment needed too.

• Once the milk has cooled add your spoonfuls of yoghurt to the pan and stir thoroughly.

• Next take the lid off the flask, pour out the hot water. Then ladle the milk / yoghurt mixture into the thermos with the aid of a funnel.

• Screw the lid on the thermos tightly and leave for around 12 hours.  If it is winter you can wrap a towel around the thermos.

• The next day decant the yoghurt into sterilised glass jars. Most of it in one large glass jar and a few spoonfuls into a small glass jar to start off the next batch.  

• Store in the fridge.  Mine always goes within a week or two, but if you are finding you are making too much you can always use reduce the ingredients or turn it into frozen yoghurt!

• Clean out the flask using a scrubbing brush and bicarbonate of soda with a little water. Then rinse clean.

The benefits of making your own yoghurt

My kids eat yoghurt for dessert after dinner on a regular basis.  They enjoy it with a variety of flavours including: homegrown or foraged berries, homemade blackberry jam, local honey (make sure you know where it comes from!),  chopped up fruit such as pears or plums, raisins, cinnamon or crumbs.  

There is still plastic involved in this process so isn’t perfect.  There is plastic on the flask I use. I have a plastic ladle and funnel and there is plastic on the milk frother, but I have had them for years and thought it was better to make do with what I have.

As I said earlier making your own yoghurt can also save you money.

At current prices it is around £1.50 for a 500g pot of plain organic yoghurt.  If you buy the little tubs, you pay more.  I pay 75p for 1 litre of milk which gives me around 1kg of yoghurt. By making my own it costs approximately a third of the price of the cheapest shop bought organic yoghurt.