DIY: HOMEMADE GREEK YOGURT

Do you like yogurt? cuz I do. I like it a lot!

I like both conventional and strained yogurt, all have good healthy benefits but I prefer Greek Yogurt for my foods cuz it contains more protein, less sweet, low fat- some even fat-free! - always check the label when you shop it tho, and its creamy cheese texture is really addictive. 

Since I prefer yogurt than mayo for my foods I always need yogurt stock on my fridge and being love working with my hands, I've been wanting to make my own Greek yogurt so to my curiosity, I did a lil research a.ka browsing :P and I found out that it is actually soooo easy to make! Only need milk , yogurt starter, patience and lots of love, well surprise I have all that! Ha ha

In those articles I read on the net many use fat milk. I don't wont that ofc. I use local fresh milk from Pangalengan instead and its 100% pure cow milk so its good.

Pangalengan is a region in South Bandung, well known for its milk products, the cooling weather and beautiful tea plantations.

I read enough, I got all the ingredients I need but because this will be my first time ever making my own yogurt and particularly Greek Yogurt I only use 500ml of fresh cow milk. I only need like 0.5% of yogurt starter for 500ml of milk so I use half tablespoon of live culture yogurt -I use plain greek yogurt I bought earlier. 

Before I browse, I was confuse about the yogurt starter but not anymore now, There are 2 types of starter culture available to use at home: Fresh yogurt and yogurt Powder.

Hommade or store bought yogurt?

A homemade starter usually comes from your own prev batch, so don't forget to leave some to make your next yogurt once you made home made yogurt. The yogurt should be fresh that's means less than a week old so it still contains enough lactic acid bacteria to ferment the next batch. Lactic acid bacteria decrease with age.

I you bought the yogurt at the store, it should be fresh, unflavored and not pasteurized after the bacterial culture added, Check the label and see if it state live bacteria or something similar.


A dried culture contains bacteria and milk solids. Basically, it's yogurt that's dehydrated and freeze-dried and sold in powdered form.

Method: 

Pour the milk into the pot and bring it almost to boil over medium-high heat. 
Once the milk begins to bubble around the edges of the saucepan, remove it from the stove, cover it with a lid, and set aside and allow the milk to cool. 

Next, when it still warm add and stir the yogurt culture into the milk. 

Stir well

Turn the oven on to its warm setting, or to 110°F and leave the yogurt in the oven for 5-10 hours. 

OR- since I wanted to save energy as much as possible:P, you can use the alternative way instead like I did; I transfered the mixture into a plastic box 

and cover it with the lid [no worry am using safe high quality plastic box from a well known brand but maybe next time I'll try with glass container too].

Well, the weather was so good yesterday, it was about 25 degrees C

so I just placed it under the sun. :D 

but dang 3hours later it gets cloudy outside and I still refuse to use the oven and so I wrapped it with a thick towel instead and place it into a clean carton box [which I forgot to shot] covered the carton box with some news papers and leave them in warm room about 7 hour.

 
Once the mixture has thickened, remove it from the oven or the carton box. 

 
Place a fine clean cheesecloth over a bowl or plastic tube like I did. Tie the cheesecloth in place, leaving several inches of space between the bottom of the bowl and the clean cheesecloth. 

Pour the yogurt mixture into the clean cheesecloth and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
.

In the morning the yogurt should be nice and thick. The liquidy whey should be at the bottom of the bowl. Discard the whey. 

 Transfer the yogurt to a nice bowl. It's now ready to be eaten. 

The homemade Greek yogurt will stay fresh for a week when placed in a jar, covered with the lid and stored in the refrigerator but I think I will finish it in just two days ha ha

 Yes, the good thing about homemade Greek yogurt is you can keep the whey.

Yogurt Whey contains calcium, the mineral linked to bone health. It's also a good source of potassium and vitamin B-2 so I definitely have to keep it and will instead using water or milk, I will just use whey for my smoothies, oatmeal even soup for added protein.

Soo many health benefits in Greek yogurt  it just wow me in many ways and am glad I can make it myself now coz this way I can control the ingredients I am using.

Some might not like Greek yogurt. Well, am not a nutrition expert but many good articles out there you can browse that can explains better, maybe this one HERE can be a good start.

I love eating and cooking but I don't want to let go myself and get fat so am dieting always and on the same time I want to stay healthy therefor I cant be ignorant. I need to be smart, keep myself well informed by browsing and read, read, read and learn how to cook or how to pick the right and good foods, learn the best way to process the foods to get the max health benefits, omg its so FUN I tell ya!

Eat smart and stay fit! I word that. YAY

#signingofftofinishmyfreshrawfruitsaladummmyumm

Source:
Wikipedia
yogurtfromhome.com
probiotics-help.com
kitchenepic.wordpress.com
chobani.com
health.usnews.com
livestrong.com
fitnessmagazine.com
webmd.com
foxnews.com
oprah.com 
doctoroz.com
huffingtonpost.com