It's ALIIIVE!: home fermentation projects Part 1- Yoghurt!

You know it's good because it has an h in it...

Fermenting things is fun.  It's nice to set something up and forget about it, then come back to a new food that's even BETTER than before!  Beer is the classic example.  Take some lowly grains and leave them sitting around in liquid for a while and voíla! Beer.  well... kind of... Sure, beer-making takes a lot of equipment and maybe it's a little more complicated than I let on, but there are lots of other things you can ferment at home that are way easier, just as yummy, and most are even kid-friendly.

Another benefit to fermenting your own food is that you know without a doubt what has been done to that food.  When you buy food, you're trusting the producers, and consequently the labels, to tell you what's in that container.  Making it yourself also allows you license to get creative and sometimes even clean out the fridge.  I mean, come on, who doesn't need that once in a while?

Some of the most commonly home-fermented foods are saurkraut and yoghurt.  These are followed by the less common kefir and kombucha.

Today, in installment 1 of a several part series on home fermentation, we're going to show you how we make our yogurt.  Depending on the length of time you allow the fermentation to proceed and how well you drain it, your yoghurt can even achieve a cream cheese or ricotta consistency.

So what is fermentation?  The textbook definition is the metabolic process converting sugar to acids, gases, or ethanol by bacteria or yeast. This is how our yoghurt will end up being sugar free. The bacteria in your starter culture (commercial Greek yogurt) will multiply in your milk, eating the sugar and converting it into lactic acid. The acid denatures the proteins is milk, thickening the solution into what we know as yogurt.

Homemade Fat-free Carb-free yoghurt

What you'll need: 

Fat-free Milk (you'll get about a pound of product per gallon of milk)

thermometer

Greek Yogurt (yes, from the store-- make sure it has live active cultures in it, not cornstarch)

A fine mesh sieve

Cheesecloth

What you'll do:

Heat the milk in a saucepan until it reaches 170oF  Next, allow the milk to cool to 110 degrees

Inoculate the cooled milk with a spoonful of the commercial Greek yogurt to get the party started.

Allow the mixture to sit at about 100oF for about 16 hours.  During this time, your bacteria will grow and multiply on their sugar highs and acidify the milk as a result.  We like to set our culture outside for this part.  Phoenix in the summer is the perfect place to do this.  Keep it out of the sun (we like to do ours overnight).

Then set the sieve on a big bowl, line it with cheesecloth and pour in your yoghurt. Like this:

Let it strain at room temperature for about 24h. This time can be changed depending on the consistency you want. Longer straining time makes a more ricotta-like texture, shorter straining time leaves the product creamier. 

Then what?

EAT!

I really like mixing TVP into mine, it's almost like putting granola into yogurt.

You can save some of your yoghurt to use as inoculant in the next batch. This way you have a perpetual starter for making yoghurt at home!