Make Fresh, Healthy Yogurt at Home

Eat healthier, save money, and have fun by making your own yogurt.

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by AdobeStock/tashka2000
Homemade yogurt gives you the freedom to use quality ingredients and get the most out of this nutritious, fermented food.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 gallon milk (not ultrapasteurized)
  • 1/8 teaspoon powdered yogurt culture or 1/8 cup fresh plain yogurt with active cultures
  • 1 drop (0.005 ml) double- or single-strength rennet diluted just before use in 4 tablespoons cool, nonchlorinated water

Directions

  • Heat milk to 180 degrees Fahrenheit and hold it there for 10 minutes. Then, remove from heat and let cool to 115 degrees.
  • Add culture. If you’re using powdered culture, sprinkle it on top of milk and let sit for 1 minute, then whisk it in. If you’re using fresh yogurt, combine yogurt and 1⁄4 cup of warm milk in a small bowl and whisk until smooth, and then add mixture to remaining milk.
  • Stir in 1 tablespoon of rennet and water mixture, if you’re using double-strength rennet, or 2 tablespoons mixture if you’re using single-strength rennet.
  • Incubate at 110 degrees for 8 to 12 hours.
  • Chill and store in the refrigerator.
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Icelandic Skyr

This traditional Icelandic yogurt is distinctive in using a touch of rennet to help coagulate the milk. Don’t use ultra-pasteurized milk in this recipe, as it’ll negatively affect rennet coagulation. Yield: 1⁄2 gallon.


My husband and I eat yogurt mixed with granola or whole-grain cereal most days for breakfast. A quality yogurt contains protein, vitamins, and minerals, and is an excellent source of probiotics. Many store-bought traditional yogurts are too sweet and taste artificial. My favorite is skyr (pronounced SKEER) — a high-protein, Icelandic dairy product that’s thick like Greek yogurt, but not as tangy. Some say that skyr is actually a cheese, because the process for making it has historically involved adding rennet to milk, as one would do when making mozzarella. The brand I prefer doesn’t use artificial preservatives, thickeners, sweeteners, flavors, or colors, but it’s nearly twice as expensive as other varieties.

Making yogurt is a simple process: Heat up the milk, let it cool, add a starter, and then incubate the batch by maintaining a set temperature for 8 to 12 hours. A few years ago, I tried to make yogurt at home for the first time. The result tasted fine, but the consistency was uneven and thin. I wanted to master this skill, so I set out to make another batch. My second attempt wasn’t as good as my first, and was quite like cottage cheese.

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