Words To Live By - July 31/10

'A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.'

-Robert A. Heinlein

Yummy Yoghurt For the Frugally Inclined

I should start by making it clear that I love yoghurt.  I use it for Smoothies and Lhassis, I bake with it, I cook with it and sometimes I just like to roll around in it.  Okay, I was kidding with that last part.  Honest.  But I cannot emphasis how important Yoghurt is to this family. 

Decent Yoghurt around here starts at about $4 for 500 ml.  If I were to actually have to pay for decent quality yoghurt I’d be a lot poorer than I am now.  I probably average about a cup of the stuff a day for myself, and then as a treat the critters get some with their food now and then.  If it were up to Mau, the white cat, he’d subsist solely off of Yoghurt.  

Mau would kill you and everyone you love for Yoghurt.

In the spirit of being a huge cheapskate, yes I am playing the Scottish stereotype, I needed a way to keep Mau and I from going into Yoghurt withdrawal without also ending up in the poor(er) house.  And then I found a ridiculously easy recipe on the interwebs.  Since then I’ve altered it a bit and made it even easier.  Cheap and lazy, that’s me. 

Using this recipe I've avoided having to buy yoghurt for over a year now.  

Yaz's Yummy Yoghurt

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Bags    2% Milk (2 bags is about 3L)
• 1/3 - 2/3 cup    Sugar Depending on taste
• 6-8 oz pkg    Starter Yoghurt (must read "contains active cultures" if bought in store) or Active Bacterial Cultures.  Or you can use a cup of yoghurt from the last batch you made with this recipe.
• Flavour    If you desire you can add Vanilla Extract or such.  I like my Yoghurt plain. 

Also Needed:

Thermometer
Canning Jars or regular glass jars with lids.
Heat source for Incubation.  (Eg. Heating Pad, radiator, sunny windowsill)

DIRECTIONS

1.    Heat Milk to 180 F.  Add Sugar.  Stir until completely dissolved.

2.    Remove from heat.  Cover and allow milk  to cool to 115F.  Add starter yoghurt (And flavour if you desire) and stir well.

3.    Pour mixture into sanitized jars.  Set some aside as the next starter batch so you never have to buy yoghurt again.

4.    Incubate yoghurt at 115F for 6-12 hours.  Longer incubation results in a tarter yoghurt. I place a regular heating pad inside of a cooler and leave it on the low setting with the jars sitting on it.  But anywhere you can keep it nice and warm will do. 

5.    When you take it out it will probably look pretty gross.  The whey seperates from the yoghurt so you end up with a blob of yoghurt floating inside yellowy liquid.  You can drain it off if you like. I just stir it in for a slightly more liquidy yoghurt.  

6.     Allow yoghurt to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.  It's good for about a month.

Seriously, it's that easy.