The Bennetts: May 2009

A few weeks ago, I went to a food storage class that was all about dairy products and how to use and prepare dairy products from non-fat dry milk powder. One thing I decided to implement from the class was how to make my own yogurt. Since my kids think yogurt is one of the major food groups and we eat it almost EVERY day, I figured making my own might be a brilliant idea! So, here's a mini lesson on how to make your own yogurt.

First, put 2 Cups of 130 degree water into a blender. As a side note, I had to turn my water heater up to get water out of my tap this hot.

Add 1 1/2 Cups of non-instant milk powder to the water in a blender. Add powdered milk slowly until smooth.
Non-instant milk powder is the stuff you buy at the cannery, through the church. Or you can use 3 cups of instant milk powder, which is like Carnation that you buy at the store. Instant milk makes a sweeter yogurt, but it's more expensive.

Add 1/2 Cup plain non-fat yogurt. Blend until smooth.

*Use only pure cultured plain yogurt as a start. It CANNOT contain gelatin, pectin or any other thickener. I found my plain yogurt at Fred Meyer in the organic section. All the other yogurt I looked at had pectin or some other thickener in the ingredients.

Immediately pour yogurt into mason jars. Screw lids on tight and place in ice chest.

Cover above level of milk with hot water (150 degrees). Close lid and let set for 4-8 hours.

Then check to see if yogurt is set. If you turn the jars upside down and the yogurt is runny, then it's not set. So if it doesn't set, drain the water out of the cooler, refill with 150 degree water and let set for another 30 minutes. The yogurt is set when you turn the jars over and the yogurt does not fall from the bottom of the jar. When I made my yogurt, it was not set after the 8 hours. So I refilled the cooler with the hot water and after 30 minutes it was set.

Dump your yogurt from your jars into a bowl. Let it refrigerate overnight before eating or sweetening.

I decided to sweeten mine since I knew my kids weren't going to like plain, unsweetened yogurt. To sweeten the yogurt add 1/2 t salt, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and 2 Tablespoons of Whippit powder to 1 quart of yogurt.

Here's what the Whippit powder looks like. This stuff is so awesome!! It's like whip cream, but not as bad for you! All you do is add water to it and whip it up. And it stays thick in the frig and doesn't get all watery like real whip cream does. I don't know where you can buy it, unless you live in Boise. :) I recently used it on our strawberry topped angel food cake and it was delicious!

So after you sweeten the yogurt you need to put it back in the frig over night again. After it sits in the frig, you can eat it or you can flavor it if you want to.

I decided to flavor mine and made it strawberry. I did this by adding 1/2 teaspoon strawberry jello dissolved in 1 1/2 teaspoon boiling water. Add this to 1 cup sweetened yogurt. There are other flavors you can make and other ingredients (like Crystal Light) you can use to flavor the yogurt. After it's been flavored it has to sit in the frig again for another 8 hours! Yes, making yogurt is NOT a short process!

So I didn't snap a picture of my yogurt after it had been sweetened and flavored, but it looked and smelled like store bought yogurt. So the true taste test.... will the kids eat it???? Well, I dished them up a bowl and they did eat a few bites. That's right, a few. Then they politely said, "No thank you." I ate some and I didn't think it was too bad. I'll admit, it's not quite like eating a Yoplait white chocolate strawberry yogurt. But what do you expect when making yogurt from your food storage... right? I knew my kids would eat this yogurt, but I had to disguise it! So I put it into a fruit smoothie and......

YUMMY..... and