I made my first batch of yogurt!
08-25-2010, 05:26 AM
#1
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 69
I made my first batch of yogurt!
I'm really pleased.
It was a little tricky, because I was heating the milk in a makeshift double boiler, and it was taking forever to get to 185 degrees (to kill off whatever eats up the yogurt cultures and keeps them from multiplying, I think). Finally I discovered I had let the pan boil dry! No harm done, but it kept me in a hot kitchen a lot longer than I would have otherwise.
Anyway, I let it cool to 110, stirred in a couple tablespoons of store bought yogurt, and put my container (a crockpot container) into an insulated bag. All night long, while I slept, those little bacteria guys were busy, busy, busy!
When I checked it this morning, it was perfect. It was thick and yogurty! I haven't tasted any yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
Okay, just out of curiosity, I went to Safeway.com and did some price checking, to see if it's really cheaper this way. Here's what I found, assuming all whole milk products, not organic:
A half gallon of milk is $2.49, or $.04 per fluid oz.
A 32 oz tub of Mountain High plain yogurt is $3.89, or $0.12 per oz.
And the individual tubs of plain Brown Cow (the only individual whole milk yogurt I can find) are $1.49 each, or $0.25 per oz.
So, it's about three times less expensive than buying the big tubs, and 6+ times less expensive than buying the individual cups. Cool!
It was a little tricky, because I was heating the milk in a makeshift double boiler, and it was taking forever to get to 185 degrees (to kill off whatever eats up the yogurt cultures and keeps them from multiplying, I think). Finally I discovered I had let the pan boil dry! No harm done, but it kept me in a hot kitchen a lot longer than I would have otherwise.
Anyway, I let it cool to 110, stirred in a couple tablespoons of store bought yogurt, and put my container (a crockpot container) into an insulated bag. All night long, while I slept, those little bacteria guys were busy, busy, busy!
When I checked it this morning, it was perfect. It was thick and yogurty! I haven't tasted any yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
Okay, just out of curiosity, I went to Safeway.com and did some price checking, to see if it's really cheaper this way. Here's what I found, assuming all whole milk products, not organic:
A half gallon of milk is $2.49, or $.04 per fluid oz.
A 32 oz tub of Mountain High plain yogurt is $3.89, or $0.12 per oz.
And the individual tubs of plain Brown Cow (the only individual whole milk yogurt I can find) are $1.49 each, or $0.25 per oz.
So, it's about three times less expensive than buying the big tubs, and 6+ times less expensive than buying the individual cups. Cool!
