Yoghurt from scratch...

For years now we have been making Yoghurt using the Easiyo system... The system includes a flask that holds boiling water & a canister... A package of Yoghurt culture is added into a canister with enough water to make up a litre  of Yoghurt, given a good shake, sealed into the flask containing the boiling water then is left for 8-10 hours to let the bacteria do its thing by multiplying into some very nice yoghurt... There are a few different brands of Culture available at the Stoopidmarket in different varieties such as fruit/honey flavoured, Greek style, Low fat & drinking... The cost for this is about $3-4.00 pet litre V's about $5-6.00 for brand name natural Yoghurt so it saves you a bit...

A few years ago we joined the Simple Savings web site where another method of stretching the packet culture was found... To is done by reducing the amount of starter culture to 2-3 heaped Tablespoons, adding 1 1/3 cups of milk powder & the required amount of water to make up a batch... This was a great way to bring the price of a litre of excellent tasting yoghurt, free of additives, down in price even further to about $1.50 per litre...

During my search for some lids to do some canning/preserving with I cam across Green Living Australia that not only sold the lids but also cultures & all the bits needed to make your own Cheese's & Yoghurt's at home... We purchased 2 Yoghurt cultures from them, a normal culture & a Pro Biotic culture...

 We have only made it on the UHT milk (shown above) but will be having a go with powdered milk as soon as this batch is finished... The costings for the UHT batch is $1.25/L...  It would come down $0.96/L on powdered milk...
The Pro Biotic Is a massive savings on buying the little bottles from the shops... $9.32/L from Aldi is the chepest store bought I could find but by making your own you can get it down to an amazing $1.10/L using UHT milk or cheaper if you get the full  1000 batches from the packet...
It has been pointed out to us that as UHT milk has been heated to high enough temperatures to kill off any bacteria that may have been lurking in the milk so doesn't need to be boiled before using & is ready to go once brought up to temperature..
Just a note on the culture, once opened it needs to be kept at very cold temperatures to keep the culture alive.. You also get 2 jars with the packet that are used to divide & then store the culture... All instructions are given upon purchasing for dividing & storing...

As well as the Yoghurt culture's we also purchased a Feta Cheese making kit, lids of various sizes for preserving, jar lifter, Soap nuts for clothes washing & some very small measuring spoons in the following sizes,
Tad - 1/4 tsp
Dash - 1/8 tsp
Pinch - 1/16 tsp
Smidgen - 1/32 tsp
Drop - 1/64 tsp
Tickled our fancy & have already come in handy when dividing up the Yoghurt culture...
I would Like to thank David at Green Living for all his help, encouragement & generous gift of recycled jars to help us start off with some preserving....


 Please note, anyone who tries this does so at their own risk... We take no responsibility for any adverse reactions suffered by people trying to copy our methods...
Just covering our Butts !!!!
**NODS**
Is a sad day when you feel a disclaimer is needed...   
 Have a great one all....
: )»