The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: Rosemary on July 20, 2011, 02:19:44 pm
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I thought I'd get the yogurt maker out - just using shop milk though. Does anyone know where I can get starter culture? I know I can use shop yogurt but it gets diluted and I'd like to get a proper culture.
Also, should I bring the milk to boiling point before I put it in the yogurt maker? We've lost the instructions.
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Ascott do a starter cuture. I think you can also get them from health food shops.
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I've been making yoghurt recently using the Yeo Valley yoghurt as the starter - and its worked really well :o)
I do bring the milk 'just' to the boil, I wait until the little bubbles are all up on the surface of the milk and as the whole lot of milk starts to move up the sides of the pan I remoe it from the heat and then stick it in a sink of cold water to get the temp dwn to 40C ish.
I've made it with semi-skimmed and full fat milk -the full fat is definitely creamier (duh!)
Tish
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I've just made up a batch of the Ascott one. It's nice but quite mild. I think I will mix it with my own 'home-grown' culture to get a bit more bite.
I've posted on another thread that I have been told that one should not boil as boiling denatures the proteins. But Delia amongst others recommends holding it quite hot (68 to 80 deg C would do it) for 30 mins or so to make the end result thicker and creamier. I don't do this but I do get a rather whey-ey result and usually strain it quite hard and then beat it before potting up for other-than-immediate use.
If I am pasteurising (I don't always unless I am making a batch of starter to freeze) I just do the 72 deg C for 30 seconds one.
My 'yoghurt-maker' is an insulated box that I got some internet meat delivered in and an old coke bottle filled with very hot water! ;D (I used a fleece hat and the welly-warmer in winter but we don't have that on now :D)
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Hi Rosemary
We heat a litre of milk to 82 degrees C then cool as quickly as possible to 43 degrees c. Add 2 Tbsp of yogurt and put into a vacuum Flask overnight. In the morning pour the yogurt into a bowl and chill it (it will still be warm).
You can make up a starter batch from the powdered starter or use Yeo Valley, then put any surplus into ice cube trays and freeze it. Next time you make yogurt just add 2 of the "ice" cubes as the starter. :)
Dave
Oh... you can get starter from Ascott or Goat Nutrition.
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Crofter that sounds like even I could make it :o I used to have a wee yogurt maker but that was about 20 years ago and it's long gone.. strangely I assumed you needed "kit" cos I never really understood how the kit worked ::)
Thermos and milk and 2 spoons of yogurt I reckon I might have a go - thanks ;D
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It really is that easy. If you're using shop bought milk it's pasteurised, so you only have to warm it to 43 degrees, add 2 tbsp of Yeo Valley and pop it in a flask overnight. The heating to 82 degrees is only needed if you're using "raw" milk.
Dave
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I have a yoghurt maker but to be honest I've not bothered with it for ages because the yoghurt always came out too thin - like a yoghurt drink. Might try the flask method too. Can you use Greek Yoghurt to start it?
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I use plain Yeo Valley as a starter aswell. Haven't found anything to beat it.
Ideally boil the milk and then cool before adding the starter but you can get away with heating it to 86deg c.
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HELP!
My yoghurt has separated (goats milk, starter culture and a tiny sprinkling of powdered milk - cos the last batch was really thin so thought I'd try it) .
I've used an EasyO thermos for the first time, could have got this wrong too - how hot should the water be in it? My other one just plugs in - thought we'd save on the electric this time!
The culture is within date, but abit old,
the milk was a mixture of the last couple of days so not the freshest
Any ideas which of these (many!) reasons could have made it separate?
thanks
:)
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Doganjo,
You can use any live yogurt to start it with, but greek yougurt is strained to make it thicker so don't expect the result to be as thick unless you strain it too.
Little Blue
I've never had it seperate.
The age of the milk should not be too important if it was not going "off". We often use milk a couple of days old.
The culture is either alive or it's not so I don't think that is the problem either.
That leaves the temperature or contamination from somewhere. I don't know what an EasyO is but we put it in a normal vacuum flask at 43 degrees and leave it overnight and it's always been fine.
Could there have been traces of some other dairy product somewhere? Perhaps some cheese starter on something?
Try it again :) and see!
I always put a 170g tin of evaporated milk in a litre of goats milk to thicken it for yogurt, lovely and creamy.
Do try Yeo Valley as a starter too.
Dave
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ooh, I'll try Evaporated (that'll please hubby - he loves the stuff!)
It's probably the temperature then, there's unlikely to have been contamination from cheese etc.
cheers Dave
:)
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I've been using starter culture to make my goats milk yoghurt for a couple of years. However the last batch was not really nice, sort of gloopy. After reading various things on TAS I tried Yeo yoghurt instead. YUMMY!!! I admit to using 1 mug of milk powder to make it thicker but I have to say that it was the nicest yoghurt I have ever made and so much easier than faffing about with making starter (lazy or what) I realise that if there is a cows milk allergy problem it wouldn't be viable, but I have to say it's the best I've tried
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I've always made it with evaporated milk. The recipe is just one tin of evaporated, one tin-full of water (boiled first and then allowed to cool to tepid, so as not to kill the starter), and a couple of spoonfulls of plain live supermarket yoghurt. It was one of the first things I learned to make as a child, and I've been doing it ever since!
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I've always made it with evaporated milk. The recipe is just one tin of evaporated, one tin-full of water (boiled first and then allowed to cool to tepid, so as not to kill the starter), and a couple of spoonfulls of plain live supermarket yoghurt. It was one of the first things I learned to make as a child, and I've been doing it ever since!
I love evaporated milk but my cows can't produce it ;D I'm going to try Crofter's but use the yogurt maker as well, since I've got it. Wonder if we've got a thermometer.
The Yeo Valley is £1.59 for 500ml in our local Co-op - a bit cheaper in Tesco (spit) so I'll give homemade a go.
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Ideally boil the milk and then cool before adding the starter but you can get away with heating it to 86deg c.
VSS, what is the purpose of boiling / heating to 86C if the milk is pasteurised? Is this important to the yogurt making process or only required with raw milk to pasteurise?
Anyway, made yogurt - 1 litre of whole milk from the Co-op, 4 tablespoons Yeo Valley yogurt, milk heated to 43C and all put in the yogurt maker for 12 hours. It was like, well, milk. I put orange juice in mine and drank it.
Tried again, this time substituting some of the milk with a big can of Carnation (not really in the spirit of self sufficiency, I know) - it's fabulous. I'd call it a dessert yogurt - although we did have it for breakfast this morning over fresh raspberries and blueberries.
The Carnation option isn't really a go-er on a daily basis, so why was my yogurt so thin and what can I do? Add cream? Our Shetland milk should be creamier that shop bought whole milk.
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I wonder whether the homogenisation has an effect? Perhaps somehow stops the coagulation / setting?
Can you get unhomogenised (cream rises to the top) milk? Good deli's and supermarkets around here sell Gold Top, it's Channel Islands milk and although it is pasteurised it is not homogenised. There's also an organic milk, Acorn, we can get which is not homogenised. I think Acorn is from Yorkshire but maybe there's a Scottish equivalent you can get hold of to try.
Has anyone tried adding rennet to yoghurt?
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If you're using shop milk you don't have to pasteurise it's already done. We never had any bother using co-op organic whole milk for yogurt when the goats were dry. Added 2 tbsp of yeo valley to a litre at 43 degrees C and popped in a thermos flask overnight.
Did you use organic? Maybe there are traces of something in the non organic milk.
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Can't get organic whole milk here. Now I didn't heat the starter, just poured the milk over it. Next time, I'll warm the starter and the milk. Thanks all.
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Now I didn't heat the starter, just poured the milk over it. Next time, I'll warm the starter and the milk. Thanks all.
The recommended practice is to first mix the starter and some of the warmed milk, then mix that back into the body of the milk. I get my starter out and let it warm up to room temperature while I'm heating up the milk. A friend always did the 'pre-mix' in a jam jar, giving it a jolly good shake, then stirring it into the pan of warm milk.
Mind you, my yoghurt nearly always takes more than 24 hours to set, no matter what starter I use (Yeo Valley, Ascott, or my own home-grown one), how I incubate it (airing cupboard, slow pot, thermos flask, insulated box with hot water bottles) or whether I use skimmed or full milk, or pasteurise or not. It's worth the wait, though! :yum:
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my first attempt making it with goat's milk failed...
I don't use a yogurt maker, just keep all the temperatures observed for 8 hours. This normally works fine with cow's milk but this time it seperated. strained it made nice cream cheese ;D Might have to invest in another appliance. Do you all use electric ones? :&>
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Must be something in the air ::)- mine was separated this morning too. I'm sure everything was sterile before I started - scalded the wee glass jars and washed out the plastic container with dettox. I'm off out to buy more milk, bio yoghurt, and carnation to try it again.
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I've also had hit and miss attempts with goats yogurt, sometimes its lovely and thick other times its watery, all the times keeping to the same technique, just a quick question, what time of milk powder would you use when using goats milk, do you have to use evaporated goats milk powder or will any type do?
Brid
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I didn't add anything else - milk and yogurt only. will be more experimental now ;D :&>
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Hi Brid
I usually put a small tin of carnation evaporated milk in a litre of goats milk for yogurt. You can use powdered cows milk too. Powdered goats milk is available but it's a ridiculous price!
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Hi Crofter,
thanks for that, go raibh maith agat, tapadh leat :goat:
Ill try that out tomorrow
Brid
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My curdled yoghurt just turned into a really nice mild cream cheese! Strained it all evening while I was at dog training. Had some on toast with a lovely cup of tea. Feeding my cold.