making your own yoghurt

[CarolinaMooncup]

Where can I get properly live yoghurt to start it off? And does it work well enough to bother with? I've tried with bio-live yoghurts but have had no luck as they are not quite live enough I think.

bump

Try regular organic live natural yoghurt. My mum used to make yoghurt for us as kids and just used regular natural yoghurt as a starter. TBH I'm not sure whether it is worth the effort.

doesn't it work very well, Carmenere?

Can't find any live yoghurt in Tesco - is it only health food shops that sell them?

Iirc most natural yoghurts are live so they should work. The less processed the better so a health food shop is probably the best place. I think it can work well and I think it's quite easy if you have a maker. But the thing is is that if you are going to the health food shop anyway why not just buy it there? Iyswim

What method are you using Carolina? I have a yoghurt maker (electric) from Lakeland and it is pretty foolproof. I use the natural bio yogs as a starter and they are fine. Once you have made your first batch you can use a spoonful of that as the next starter.

I'm using the "recipe" from a Jamie Oliver book - you scald the milk, add some live yoghurt, wait a few hours and hey presto, you'll have a bowlful of yoghurt. Except it just doesn't work.

If it isn't the bio-live yoghurt that's the problem I guess it must be the temperature.

Carmenere, I fancied it because I liked the way you just need milk and then you can make as much or as little as you like. Not sure if it works out much cheaper really though.

my MIL makes this yoghurt all the time.tastes great for the first 2 days, but after that turns really sour..

cuz she uses this cycle of own yoghurt making she gets a small pot ful..and mixes it into approx. 2 pints of recently cooled boiled milk..she then wraps it in what i would call a duvet (exaggeration) to keep it warm and leaves either in the oven or microwave for a couple of hours, until the youghurt is set..i would get the exact instructions for you, but she's away on her hols at the moment..and I'm using onken bio pot yog..

Does Jamie recommend using a thermos to keep the temperature warm enough for the bacteria to work?

Jamie says cool the milk to body temp, add the yoghurt and then just leave at room temp for 6-8 hrs.

I spose the problem is I did this in winter and my house isn't v warm

Will try again with a thermos flask, much more sensible, thanks.