Iron is PEEING ON EVERYTHING!

Yes, thank you. I'm going to try the mix that Anton Brown suggested, and use my oven instead of a wine bucket / heating pad. My kids have been wanting to try it - they'll be thrilled.

Kathleen wrote in news:MIOTe.30484$ snipped-for-privacy@fe05.lga:

the top of a refrigerator is also good.

or cherries & almond extract...

goat's milk makes pretty good yogurt too. lee

especially

culturing

When making a "starter" you can use store bought yoghurt, but make sure it is "plain" and has lots of active cultures. A quick check of the label will tell you this information. Personally prefer to make "organic" home yoghurt by using organic yoghurt for starter and organic milk.

Take a tip from me, once you get the children started on this you they will be hooked, and you will be getting quite a work out!

Previous advice about sanitary is worth repeating. Run everything thought the dishwasher (if you have one), or wash/scrub with hot water and good detergent,rinse well. I give everything a 4 minute soak in a bleach and water solution (rinsing well), before starting. It is almost like canning and as the previous poster stated you will be creating conditions for bugs to grow, what you want is only the good yoghurt buggies, not the bad ones.

Once your yoghurt has set, it will look just like the store stuff; firm with a watery layer on top.

Candide

My husband does beer so we do sterile every 6 months or so. Alton Brown started the same way you did. Store-bought yogurt with live cultures. He also strained some of his finished product to make yogurt cheese.

Thanks for your tips - I set up a special "yogurt" folder just for this thread.

You don't need a heat source if you have a good insulator. I used to make it in a set of tapered canning jars in the original box, set inside a larger box with newspaper in between the boxes. Pour milk a bit warmer than is wanted into the "snug nest", wait a while for it to warm up the insulation and cool to incubation temperature, stir in the starter.

If I recall correctly, I learned this method from the Rombauer-Becker edition of The Joy of Cooking.

But for at least five years, I've been able to buy perfectly-good "plain natural" yogurt at the grocery store. I prefer whole-milk yogurt to 2%, but not strongly enough to bother making my own.

I used to wonder what had happened to buttermilk -- one day I read the label, and discovered that "buttermilk", like most yogurts, is now cornstarch pudding lightly seasoned with cultured milk.

Joy Beeson

IIRC real buttermilk has become a casualty of mass dairy production these days. Think you can still get it and "clabber" from local farms though.

I use powdered buttermilk for baking and cooking (pancakes, waffles). It is the real thing according to the label and keeps better than real buttermilk.

Candide

It keeps *forever* if you store it in the freezer, and allows you to make your own pancake mix, which also keeps well in an air-tight container in the freezer.

Joy Beeson