Do a dance for yogurt that isn't in plastic tubs

What do you get when you combine no throwaway packaging with local food only? Not too many tasty treats, I can tell you.

So the other night, I trundled along to a party thrown by the environmental magazine Plenty and bumped into David Kistner, founder of the Green Apple Cleaners, which uses CO2 instead of the highly-toxic perc to dry clean clothes. David introduced me to his wife Effie, and she happened to tell me that her mother, who immigrated from Greece, makes yogurt nearly every day. Why I jumped with joy to hear this news is that, on this damn regime, I haven't been able to get yogurt or just about any other snack food because it always comes in some sort of throwaway plastic packaging which would break the no trash rule. 

So Effie emailed me her Mom's recipe, I made it last night, and it's the best. Mix with honey. Yum. Just to have--at last!--some sort of food that I don't have to cook. I mean, I making my own bread every day, for crying out loud. So having yogurt in the fridge is crazy good. Anyway, in case you're interested, here is Effie's Mom's incredibly easy recipe for homemade yogurt:

1) Boil whole milk (for some reason it doesn't come out right with less than whole milk) in a large pot until it boils and foams at the top.  Shut if off before it spills over.

2) Let the milk cool off until you can keep your pinky finger in the milk for 10 seconds without burning it (a temperature reading would have been great for this step but I don't think they had these back in Greece 70 years ago), so this will be the most difficult step.

3) In a small bowl (that holds about 2 cups) add one tablespoon of live yogurt and beat it until smooth.  Slowly add to this starter one cup of the milk from the pot stirring slowly until combined.

4) Transfer this mixture (in #3 above) to the pot of boiled milk slowly pouring it in the pot while mixing the pot of milk the whole time to combine thoroughly (with a spatula or long spoon).

5) Pour into glass or plastic containers and seal them.

6) Arrange the containers together and cover with 2 to 3 towels keeping them in a warm place of the house (and no, you don't need some sort of a yogurt maker gadget to keep them warm). Let them sit overnight.

7) In the morning place them in the refrigerator and they will get cold.  Yogurt is done.

8) Do a dance!

 

Comments

[sarah]

My yogurt-making method is similar, but slightly different. I scald the milk (I have a thermometer for beer-brewing that I can use) by heating it to 180 and then cool it to 120 (I cool it more quickly but putting it in a sinkfull of cold water). Instead of fussing about getting the starter mixed with all the milk homogenously, I put a teaspoon or so of starter into each of the glass jars that I'll use for storage. Then I pour the milk in, and put it in a cooler to incubate.

[donna]

I tried your recipe and it worked. I found that 10mins was long enough cooling time. I also tried with a low fat milk (not skim)and it worked just as well.
I also tried putting the mixture in a thermos overnight to keep warm (suggested on another website) which seems to help. Apparently cow's milk makes more watery yoghurt. You can strain the whey off by tipping the set mixture into a clean tea towel and straining over a bowl.

[kristina]

my beau and i have been doing this for a few months, although in the Chicago cold, it was hard to find an evenly warm place in these old row houses, so we warmed the oven, turned it off and kept the pot in there overnight with the door closed. It took a few tries, but eventually the consistency has come out to our liking.
My question about the starter though - don't you have to buy one container (yes, the plastic too) to get started the very first time?

[katie]

what is the starter? is that regular yogurt, so don't you still have to buy it?
why does only whole milk work?

[James]

I tried your recipe too and the yogurt came out great. It was really creamy and smooth. I used a thermometer to monitor the cooling. I stopped at around 115 F (as suggested by another source.) I filled the glass jar with the mixture, wrapped it in a towel as per your recipe and put it in my closet. I think the next time I'll make a bigger batch. The one I just made is going fast!

[Natalie]

No really, what IS the starter? I'd like to try making this!

[Zack]

All this talk of yogurt making is making me hungry. ;-p

[crystal]

starter is regular yogurt w/live bacteria in in (on the yogurt container it will say something about live cultures)

[Amber]

But was the yoghurt culture made locally? (or did you get it from Effie's mum?)