Heirloom Greek Yogurt
This culture is a heirloom variety of yogurt. If properly cared for, it will last for years! Heirloom cultures are adaptable to home culturing conditions and will stay strong and true. Commercial cultures like you purchase pre-made at the store will lose their strength after making a few batches and have to be purchased over and over.
Making your own Greek yogurt at home is simple, tasty, and inexpensive!
This post will be updated with more details in the next week, but the short version of yogurt culturing is.....
1) Keep it clean to avoid contaminating your culture. Scrub and thoroughly rinse everything that will come in contact with your culture.
2) In a pot on the stove, slowly heat raw or pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) milk to 160 - 180 degrees. Stir while heating and carefully monitor the temperature. Avoid burning milk on bottom of pan!
3) Once milk reaches desired temperature, remove from heat and cool to approximately 110 - 115 degrees.
4) Stir in yogurt culture from the previous batch. You need approximately 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons of yogurt per cup of milk you wish to culture. Be sure to thoroughly combine yogurt with milk.
5) Place a lid on top of your yogurt-to-be and place in a yogurt maker or a cooler with hot water from the tap or a jug of hot water.
6) Incubate yogurt 5-12 hrs. Start checking hourly to see if yogurt is set after 5 hrs. Yogurt is done when it pulls away from the side in a jelled mass when tipped to the side.
7) Once yogurt is set, place in fridge for a few hours to allow it to finish culturing.
8) Store prepared yogurt in fridge. Eat and enjoy, but remember to save enough starter to make your next batch!
9) Re-culture your yogurt every 7 - 10 days so that the culture stays strong. If you need a break from making yogurt, freeze some culture or dry some in a thin layer on waxed paper.
