Homemade Yogurt

Bam!!! That JUST happened!!

Did you see the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby? If you did then you know what I'm saying. If you didn't well, then never mind. Its not really relevant. A funny movie for sure, but not relevant to this particular post.
I do find myself thanking the baby Jesus a lot after seeing that movie. Again, sorry for the reference if you haven't seen it. So just go see it already. In fact....don't go see it. Its not at the movies anymore. Go rent it or better still, download it from Netflix and watch it right now. Then, come back and read this post about yogurt.

Okay. So you're back! Funny movie, huh?

I made my own yogurt!!!

It worked!!!

Okay, so here's how I did it so you can make your own yogurt too. I bought some raw milk from a local dairy. Let me send a shout out to ma homies at the Dry Valley Dairy in Forestburg, TX. Their milk is from Jersey cows so its full of grass fed, fatty goodness. And they're great people too. And the milk is only $4/gallon. Can you believe it?? There is another dairy in town too. They're closer to me and also great people but their cows are Holstein and not quite as fatty and its $6/gallon. Its called the Neu Dairy. I like me some fatty milk, yo.

 Sorry, Robbie and I have been watching Breaking Bad on Netflix and I find myself talking like a Madskills Drug Dealer. I can't help it. A drug dealer that likes raw dairy...without drugs in it...whatever.

Anyway, I also have some yogurt starter that I got from our local co-op. Its called Yogourmet. I also have a kefir starter. In each box there are 6 packets of probiotics ready to be made into yogurt. When I ordered it, I said "I want one of each yogurt and kefir starter" thinking I was going to get a box of each. But, no....I got a CASE of each!

So, if you want some, leave a comment with your email. I will email you to get your mailing address and send it to you for FREE!!! Then, you can make your own yogurt or kefir if you'd rather. I'll tell you that kefir making is much easier. I'll share later in another post.

Okay, so here's how it works. I took a quart of milk and heated it up to about 150 degrees F over a medium, low heat stirring occasionally. Then, I filled my sink about halfway with ice water and carefully lowered the pan into the sink to cool it off. Once it reaches about 78 degrees F, remove about 1 cup. Mix in the yogurt starter (you can also use yogurt you have on hand as a starter. I wouldn't use any yogurt thats full of sugar and junk. Kind of defeats the purpose I think.) Mix it in really well and add it back into the pot.
Then, pour your yogurt into clean jars.

This is the cool part. I got this idea from laurelofleaves. She's right. Its almost so easy its scary.
I filled up a hot water bottle, put it on the bottom of a regular, old Igloo cooler (any insulated cooler will do.) placed my yogurt on top of it. I wrapped a couple of big towels around them to keep them from tipping off  the water bottle. I placed an old pillow on top of them, tucked them all in, shut the cooler and went about the rest of my day. You can let it stay there as long as you want. I started mine at about noon yesterday and pulled it out this morning at about 8:00. I put two of them back in, because they seemed a little too liquidy.

I put this little jar of awesomeness in the fridge to stop the process. You have to do that. But, before I did, I took a teeny, tiny, little taste of it. Guess what it tastes like.

Go on, guess!

It tastes like YOGURT!!! Yay!!!

Go try it. Its fun!

This post is linked to Barn Hop and Monday Mania