Making Yogurt with little external energy Part One, Using UHT Milk

For many years I have made yogurt at home utilising a Thermos style flask, namely an Easy-Yo yogurt making flask. This is the company that sells different flavoured yogurts in sachet form, which were about £3 a sachet and really are very good.    It is however worth buying the starter kit consisting of the Thermos style flask and the inner flask for making the yogurt. You can get replacements of these separate to the flask as well.

However, when you are watching the pennies, using the sachets on a regular basis, can be cost prohibitive.  You can though use the flask without the sachets and make a litre of natural plain yogurt from just approximately a litre of milk and a small carton of natural bio live yogurt, or similar yogurt.  It must be a live yogurt though.  

The yogurt is not difficult to make and is really energy efficient in that you only need a kettle of hot boiling water, and if you are using Standard Milk or Green Top milk, you have to heat the milk gently to scald it and then let it to cool before making the batch of yogurt. However, I can cover that in Part 2 of this post, so as to make it really clear.  In this post I am using UHT Milk, which is sterilised milk. This does not need heating; you can use it straight from the carton.  When I was a child Sterilised milk used to come in bottles with a crown cap on.  We only ever had this milk at my Nan's and as kids were not very keen on it.  It always had a funny taste.  However, UHT milk today is very different.

Essentially, the choice of natural live yogurt you use defines the character of the yogurt you produce.  If you use a Greek style yogurt as the donor, the yogurt you produce is going to be the same.

A tablespoon of this donor yogurt is the starter you use to activate your yogurt.  From every batch of yogurt thereafter you need to keep one tablespoon of yogurt back from the batch that becomes your starter for the next batch of yogurt.  Make about six batches before buying in a new small yogurt costs about 65p to 70p.  This keeps the yogurt live and the bacteria more efficient.

Let me introduce you to the Starter kit:

This is the complete Thermos flask complete with its lid.

Inside there is a Baffle, which is the plate that the inner flask sits on. It fits inside the Thermos and should be placed in this way round.

This is the inner flask complete with lid.

I completely sterilise the flask, the inner flask, the baffle and the lid in baby sterilising tablets before making a batch of yogurt.  Keep everything spotless and you should not have any problems.

You use just under a litre of UHT milk.  This is the one that I used, and it cost me I think about £1.25.  I think you can buy it cheaper.

I tend to use this brand of Yogurt as it is a very good one.  I had to buy a larger pot, as they did not have the small ones available.  I normally buy the small one.

You then place one tablespoon of the yogurt into the inner flask.

Then you fill up with the UHT milk, just to below the screw line on the inner flask and stir the mixture together well.  You then screw the lid on.

The baffle is in the flask, there is a line to stop it going down the flask and it is fitted this way up.  Fill up to the central hole in the baffle with hot water.

You then place the inner flask on the baffle and then fill up with the rest of the boiling water.

You pop the lid on and then leave the Thermos overnight to turn the mixture into yogurt. Just make sure it is safe on a worktop out of the way so that it cannot be knocked over.

In the morning, check the yogurt and it should have thickened overnight. Sometimes there is liquid on top (this is whey and will not hurt you), you can either drain it off and use it in baking, like scones or pancakes or you can mix it in, or you can use it to start off a fermented lemonade.  Then pop into the fridge in the inner flask as it now needs chilling.  Once chilled you can then use as you would any other yogurt.

I get a litre each time I make some.  I generally serve it plain, but then add a coulis of mixed fruits (buy a frozen bag of mixed fruits add a little water, add a little sweetener if required, simmer and then decant into a jar and store it in the fridge.  Just add how much you want each day to a dish or glass and then cover it with the homemade yogurt. Equally you can add Apple or Pear Butters, a little homemade jam, tinned fruit, Granola, Muesli. If using for packed lunches, use some of the mini glass jam jars and put some fruit or flavouring in the bottom of the jar and cover it with the yogurt. Put the lid on and put in the pack-up box.

You can make your own stewed fruit or use tinned fruit to go with it.  The only thing you have to do is reserve a tablespoon of the yogurt for starting off the next batch.  Every five to six batches or so, refresh with a new pot of bought plain live active yogurt.  A much cheaper and more sustainable way of making a litre of yogurt.  Very useful if you have children in the house or a large family.  Very little external energy is used to make this.  

I shall update this post with some more photos tomorrow, when I take the yogurt out of the Thermos flask to show you what it looks like when it is ready.

It is a very good system of making yogurt most of all because it does not rely on electricity to make it apart from either heating the milk (if not using UHT) and a kettle of hot water. It works for me, and I hope it works for you. It keeps in the fridge for a week to ten days.

Will post Part 2 shortly, just to make it clear the procedure to follow when using other milks.

Oh you say, it makes a litre of yogurt I will never use that much in a week. You will; I often when the kids were home would buy in a sachet of flavoured, and then make a batch of natural using the above method.  You can make Labnah (a yogurt cheese), it can be used in drinks and dips, it can be used in cakes.  There are lots of ways to use up yogurt there is no need for waste.

Catch up shortly.

Pattypan

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