So, there’s a few reasons why I decided to start making my own yogurt. 1. Yogurt is cultured in the cup, which means it’s cooked in a plastic cup for at least 5 hours at 110º. mmmm, that plastic infused yogurt has GOT to be good for you. 2. I can make it with local milk which helps the local economy, saves on transportation costs and is organic. 3. Less waste – we’re not going through 10-15 plastic cups a week that we can’t recycle.

So here’s the basic recipe I’ve been using.

8 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup plain yogurt, first time I used organic greek yogurt, second time I used brown cow cream top which isn’t organic
crockpot

*The recipe says to use full fat yogurt and milk but I’ve had good luck with 2% and lowfat yogurt.

Place 8 cups of milk in crockpot for 2.5 hours on low. After the time has elapsed, turn off the heat, leaving the lid on and let set for 3 hours.
At this point, if any skin has formed on the top of the milk, carefully skim it off. Next take about a cup of the warm milk out of the crockpot and mix thoroughly with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. Return the mixture to the crockpot and mix well. Wrap the entire crockpot up with a towel or two and let sit for about 8 hours. (My last batch was 6 hours and it wasn’t quite thick enough for me. The first batch, I let sit overnight.) Make sure your crockpot is in a warmish place, so it can maintain it’s temperature for the 8 hours.

Homemade yogurt will be a little thinner than store bought because most store bought will have a thickener in it. So after the yogurt has cultured, I like to drain out some of the whey and make greek yogurt which is a thicker, creamier version of yogurt. I line a colander with a clean linen napkin, pour the yogurt in the colander, set the whole thing inside a big bowl to catch the whey. Cover the entire thing with plastic wrap so the yogurt doesn’t take on the flavor of the fridge as it sets. 3 hours of draining in the fridge will make greek yogurt, 18-24hrs will make sour cream. I’m letting my batch go 48hrs to try to make a soft yogurt cheese. If you find your yogurt gets too thick, just mix back in some of the whey.

And voila! you have yogurt! I like to store mine in a mason jar and sweeten it with honey or fruit as we eat it (I actually prefer plain anyway.) I think it’s so easy to make! More than anything making yogurt is a waiting game, rather than time consuming.