Milk+yogurt=yogurt!

Experiment time!

I’ve always loved yogurt, but as time went by the price has only gone one direction: up. So as much as I want it daily, it’s too costly. Then after learning that it could be homemade, I wanted to make my own! A little internet search and grocery shopping later (and a little discovery about a certain thermometer), it’s yogurt making time!

Yogurt recipe, more or less… haha. I used about half a liter of Cowhead full cream milk, a cup of Nestle plain yogurt, and about 2 spoonfuls of Nido powdered milk. The amounts were all guesswork, really. The recipes I took off from are linked at the end of this post.

This is a big-ass mercury thermometer, usually found in science laboratories. But according to my mom, I could use it in place of a candy thermometer. Yay! I don’t have to buy one anymore! Then again, it did have its disadvantages. Unlike a candy thermometer, it doesn’t have the clip so I can’t attach it to the edge of the pot. Therefore I had to hold the pot handle, the mixing spoon and the thermometer all at the same time, and I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the cooking process. meh. 😐

So here’s the next picture, the heated milk+yogurt mixture in a styrofoam cooler with a few bottles of hot water and towels to keep it warm throughout the incubation period.

After 7 hours, here’s the result! It holds its shape just as it’s supposed to, and it smells like yogurt as well! Success! It tastes like yogurt, although a bit on the sour side. Hmm or maybe it’s because I’ve just brushed my teeth before I checked on it.

Here’s my produce chilling out. I mixed them up well and covered them tightly before placing inside the refrigerator, as an internet source instructed. One thing they didn’t mention was if I should let it cool off properly before placing in the ref. The mixture was still warm and I was worried it would spoil, but what the heck.

The next morning…

It really is sour. Haha! So I found some honey and mixed in about three teaspoons for the small bottle. That amount was also guesswork so I was constantly tasting the stuff until it approximated the taste of yogurt of my liking.

Now I’ve mixed honey in all of them. I had my mom do a taste test, and it passed! Woohoo!

But of course I wasn’t contented with just plain ol’ yogurt. I wanted Frozen yogurt! Since I didn’t have an ice cream or sorbet making machine, I had to use the old fashioned method: freeze and mix.

I transferred the contents of one bottle to a bowl then placed it in the freezer. After about an hour I took it out and mixed it, breaking up the forming ice crystals. Then it’s back inside the freezer.

After thirty more minutes, I took it out and mixed it again. It’s much firmer now. Back to the freezer with ‘ya!

After 3o more minutes, I mixed it up again for the last time. It looks a lot like ice cream. Then it’s back in the freezer until after lunch. I’m having frozen yogurt for dessert! Yum yum!

Frozen yogurt with sliced bananas and crushed granola bar FTW!

Here’s another variation: frozen yogurt with minatamis na saging.

I guess that wraps up my experiment with yogurt so far. We don’t have any other fruits at the moment so I’m stuck with bananas. Well, not that it’s a bad thing. :p haha

For my next experiment, I’ll try to make yogurt out of powdered milk! So watch out for that! whee!

Source recipes: [1] [2]