Making My Own Yoghurt, Who Would Have Thought!

For Christmas last year I was given a Easi-Yo kit. If you haven't heard of Easi-Yo before I'll explain. Easi-yo is a yoghurt making kit using pre prepared sachets of powdered yoghurt. You tip the sachet of powdered yoghurt into a container and add water. This mix is then placed in the Easi-Yo thermos and 6-12 hours later, you have yoghurt. Bonza!

This gift started something for me, the realisation that I can make things (like yoghurt) that I always assumed were too hard to be made at home. The Easi-Yo system is amazingly easy however the one down side, the sachets of powdered yoghurt aren't much cheaper than buying a litre of already made yoghurt from the supermarket (most sachets are $3.60-$4 each).

After some research on the internet, I realised that still using my Easi-Yo kit, I could actually make yoghurt out of fresh milk instead of the store bought sachets. With this discovery I have not looked back. I can make a litre of yoghurt for a little over $1. Yes you heard it, $1!!!!

If you have an Easi-Yo kit and would like to know how I do this, the recipe is as follows:

1 litre of milk (full cream or skim, whichever you prefer)
2-3 Tbs Powdered milk
3 Tbs of a Greek or Natural sachet of Easi-Yo or Hansells powdered yoghurt. HOWEVER, after you have made your first batch of yoghurt, set aside 3 Tbs of yoghurt and so long as you make your next batch of yoghurt within 5 days (or so), you can use these 3 Tbs of fresh yoghurt instead of the 3 Tbs Easi-Yo/Hansells powdered yoghurt sachet.

Method:

1 - Heat milk in a saucepan but don't let it boil. A good sign of this (if you don't have a cooking thermometer) is the point where the milk starts to froth a bit. You do this to kill off any cultures/bacteria that will compete with the yoghurt cultures (which you don't want to die otherwise the yoghurt won't work).
2 - Cool your milk to room temp or colder. I put the heated milk in a jug in the fridge for an hour or two.
3 - When your milk is ready, put your milk powder and yoghurt/powdered yoghurt in the Easi-Yo container and half fill with milk. Put the lid on and shake, making sure all the dry ingredient mixes through evenly. Add the last of the milk up to the top rim, shake again and put the lid on tightly.
4 - Boil the jug. Fill up the Easi-Yo thermos to the recommended point and submerge your yoghurt mix.
5 - Leave the yoghurt mix for minimum 6 hours. When you are ready, remove the yoghurt from the thermos and check that it has worked. You should have lovely creamy yoghurt.
6 - At this point you can decide what to do with your yoghurt. Eat as it is or add other flavours. I have been adding equal parts of stewed/pureed fruit (slightly sweetened) and a tsp of vanilla paste to make the most delightful sweet yoghurt. Ewan calls this "Mummy's special yoghurt"!

Pureed fruit, vanilla paste and home made natural yoghurt. A beautiful combo.

Having little people in my life has made me so much more conscious about being educated on what I'm putting into their bodies. Making my own yoghurt is just another product that I can feel good about giving to them as I know it's simply milk, fruit and no preservatives. That's worth it alone but knowing that it's only costing me a fraction of the price of store bought yoghurt is a bonus.

So if you have a Easi-Yo kit hiding in the back of your cupboard or know someone who isn't using theirs, I'd highly recommend giving yoghurt making a go yourself. Even if you want to buy one (they can be purchased from the major supermarkets in Australia), they aren't very expensive and it is super easy. Who would have thought?!

Keep an eye out for some of the OTHER things I've discovered I can make myself (which I assumed I never could) in the following blog posts.