Yogurt makers again

[acnebride]

Sorry to resurrect this, i did read the August thread about them but just wanted a bit more info. Could someone describe what making yogurt in a maker actually involves, and rough time it takes? Also, what sort of texture is the yogurt you get? Can you use low-fat milk for low-fat yogurt?

We are currently spending about 10% of our food budget on yogurt, not to mention chucking out loads of plastic.

bulk yoghurt maker from Lakeland .. it makes scrummy yoghurt.

You put 2 tbsp of live yoghurt (from a pot, or from your last batch of yoghurt as long as it's still pretty fresh), gently mix with 1 ltr of UHT milk, switch on and leave for 8-10 hrs = lovely, tasty yoghurt.

You can use semi-skimmed or whole milk, and the resulting yoghurt comes out. But generally the whole milk yoghurt is thicker, creamier, nicer (and more fattening!) I tend to use s/s yoghurt for making smoothies and sauces etc., the whole yoghurt for normal yoghurt eating.

s/s yoghurt does tend to be fairly runny - certainly runnier than the shop-bought stuff.

My boys love the yoghurt mixed with fruit purees, or the Lakeland concentrated yoghurt flavourings.

If you are not sure about it, why not try as an interim measure, just buying the litre pots of natural yoghurt and flavouring it yourself, and see if the family take to it? It's much cheaper than individual pots, less packaging, and you get to control what goes in it.

HTH

Roisin to the rescue again - thank you, this is ideal!

We go through masses of natural yogurt in the week in the sort of medium large pots - can't think why I never bought the litre pots, maybe I'm kidding myself that we don't really eat that much of it. Ds will eat straight natural yogurt, which i must say surprised me.

Do you have to use UHT milk?

Avalon, you don't have to use UHT milk, but if you don't you have to heat treat it yourself. (i.e. heat it to boiling point, then let it cool - which I find is a faff.) There is something in milk (a bacteria?) which can interfere with the yoghurt bacteria, and stop it working properly ... I think, that's why you have to boil the milk to kill it. Sorry, this is a bit vague, my brain's turned to mush again. There are some science teachers on here who will be able to give you a more concise and precise reason.

Thanks roisin.