Why not try to make yogurt by yourself? It is very good!

Seguendo le orme della mia trasmissione radio preferita, caterpillar, quest’anno mi sono buttato nella produzione di yogourt (Ricetta vincitrice del concorso di caterpillar per il miglior yogurt). Il concetto che sta sotto tutto questo e’ che comprare uno vasetto di yogurt industriale, significa comprare un prodotto che ha percorso centinaia se non addirittura migliaia di chilometri... tutto questo aumentando l’inquinamento del nostro pianeta.

Ma insomma, se anche non e’ questa la molla che vi fa partire, lo yogourt auto prodotto e’ molto buono, piu’ buono di quello che si compra, e con i fermenti lattici VIVI...

Per fare lo yogurt ci vuole molto poco... sostanzialmente ci vuole:

To make yogurt you need:

• some yogurt
• some glass jars to put your brand new yogurt
• some milk

The trick is that the bacteria will reproduce, and produce your yogurth, at a temperature of about 38 – 42 degrees Celsius.

The first thing to do is to buy the milk: I use full UHT milk. I warm it up with the smallest fire at the minimum, avoiding to boil it. In the meanwhile I mix the mother/father yogurt with some other milk in order to make it more liquid, and put a pot with some water on the fire (how much water? what for? see below).

Once the milk has reached a temperature around 40 C, which you can control by the usual technique used by mothers when giving the biberon to their newborn, just dip your finger in the milk and feel if it’s warm, pour the mother yogurt+milk in the warm milk and stir it for a short while.

Then it’s time to put the yogurt in the jars, and to store them in a warm place for some time.

Now comes the tricky part: keep the yogurt warm for the time it needs to stay warm. So the solution will depend, also, on the temperature of your house.

What I do is the following: take the pot with water and warm it up on a medium fire at medium power, so that it will be warm but not too much. You’ll need as much water as to cover the jars with it (how much water, it will depend on the number of jars and the shape of the pot: just try it before). Then I put the jars in the pot and the pot in the (cold) oven. Overnight the bacteria will make the transformation of milk in yogurt.

I use UHT milk because it is relatively free of other kinds of bacteria, so that our yogurt bacteria will have all the nutritions for them.

I always make a small jar with some yogurt as mother yogurt that I will use the next time. Sometimes the first yogurt that comes out of a commercial yogurt is not very satisfactory. After few times you produce your yogurt, the bacteria population will get to the equilibrium and the taste will be better. So don’t stop immediately.

• 1 L of milk (half creamed or not)
• jars in glass
• 2 big spoons of yogurt (from your former ones or one you buy)
• a piece of vanilla stick

Edo explained the concept so I just describe my method.

• In principle you just have to warm the milk up to 45oC. However if it is not UHT boil it first (warming up very smoothly). In this case you can also put a piece of vanilla stick before warming if you want vanilla yogurts. If you want to add sugar, put it once you stopped to warm (you don’t want caramel in your milk...), and mix.
• Let the milk cool down to 45oC-50oC (you just need to be able to keep your finger in the liquid).
• Remove the cream.
• Put your yogurt and mix.
• Put this liquid in your jars.
• In order to keep the pots in a warm environment for a while I put them in a big pan with a lid (typically, a pressure cooker), and fill the remaining volume with hot water (the highest temperature I can get from the tap). I cover it and put it in the oven which I warmed up to ~50oC before (again you must be able to put your hand in the oven).
• Wait one night.
• Put the yogurts in the fridge.

Remarks:

• The more you put yogurt in the milk and the longer you let the yogurts in a warm environment, the more you will get bacterias, and the more the yogurt will be acid. So try a few times to choose the parameters since every one likes them differently.
• You get some liquid in the yogurts (the quantity will depend on the milk, and how long you boiled it). It’s normal and you can eat (drink) it.