I made the most delicious tropical smoothies today and I wanted to come and post about them, but then I realized that I used my home made yogurt in them... and I've been promising a yogurt post for some time.
Yogurt is actually a lot easier than you would think. I never would have suspected. By far the most valuable informational resource I've found is here. The author is a biology/chemistry professor and has essentially put a cheese making primer up on the web. It has everything, start to finish, from basic culturing (yogurt) on up. The method I use is basically his, with some slight modifications that work for me. A lot of what follows here is just a restatement of what's on his site.
If you're consistent about the basics, you can fiddle with the process a bit and still get good results.
Fundamentally, making yogurt consists of three steps:
1. Scald the milk - this kills off any microbes already present and makes sure you're not starting with any organisms that'll interfere (compete) with your culture.
2. Cool and inoculate the milk - bring it down to your intended incubation temp and mix in your culture.
3. Incubate - maintain a constant temperature that your culture likes for a few hours until the pH drops enough for the yogurt to gel.
Basic Yogurt
1/2 or 1 gal whole milk. You can process whatever amount you choose, I just find that it's more trouble than it's worth for less than a half gallon. USE WHOLE MILK. Reduced fat milk just isn't as good. You'll get flavor that is less rich and tends to be more astringent than pleasantly tart.
Large, non-reactive pot. Enamel or stainless steel.
Food thermometer. You can try to wing it, but I wouldn't recommend it. There are signs you can use to gauge when the milk's at the proper temperature, but they tend to rely a lot on long experience, and are otherwise too subjective. Without precise temperature data, it becomes much more difficult to achieve the desired sterilization and incubation temperatures, and thus much more likely that your yogurt will fail.
1 cup very fresh yogurt per gallon of milk. Oddly enough, you don't have to be too picky. Any brand of store-bought yogurt will do. You should use plain, but even the flavored kind if that's all you can get (though there will be a hint of that flavor in your finished yogurt. I suggest you avoid artificial sweeteners). It just has to be fresh, live-culture yogurt. Check the date. I like Nancy's Organic if I have to replace my own culture for some reason, and I like to add a little bit of Kefir if I can.
Very clean containers. These will be the containers you'll store your yogurt in. I like to reuse store-bought dairy containers (from yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, that sort of thing) or else canning jars. You don't necessarily have to sterilize these, just wash them well with soap and hot water (and rinse thoroughly).
Something to use as a water bath. Something that will fit in the oven. I use a deep roasting pan.
1. Pour the milk into the pot. Over medium to medium-high, heat the milk, stirring frequently and checking temperature, until it reaches 185-195 degrees F. Remove from heat and cover. From here on out, you want to avoid introducing any microbes except the ones you intend to add.
2. Place the pot in a sinkful of cold water. Monitor the temperature of the milk until it drops to 125. Remove from cooling bath.
3. In large liquid measure, mix hot milk and yogurt 1:1. Pour back into pot and stir thoroughly to inoculate. Pour the inoculated milk mixture carefully into your prepared containers.
4. Place containers in water bath. The temperature of the water should be as close to 125 as you can get it. In most homes, that's about the temperature at which the water leaves the hot tap, but use your thermometer. The thermophilic bacteria in your yogurt culture work best between 115-125 degrees. At about 122 putrefactive (spoilage) bacteria are inhibited. The guys in your yogurt die at 130, though, so you're a little on the high side of their preferred environment, but they'll work fast at these temps.
5. Place the water bath in an unheated oven and close it to hold in the warmth. Dr. Fankhauser uses a tightly closed picnic cooler for his water bath. You can turn on the oven light to help maintain temp, but leave the thermometer in the bath and watch the temp. I haven't always used a water bath, and at least once, the oven light alone produced enough heat to overheat my yogurt and about half of that batch didn't set up.
6. Check the yogurt in about 3 hours. It should have gelled/set. It won't be quite as firm as store-bought yogurt, because we haven't used any chemical stabilizers. Remove it from the bath and store the containers in your fridge. I highly recommend trying a little of your fresh, warm yogurt first, though. It's a unique and pleasant experience.
Give Dr. Fankhauser's labneh recipe a try, too, or just try a greek-style yogurt (stir the yogurt to break the matrix and strain off some of the whey to thicken it). Good stuff.
Tropical Smoothies - serves 3-4
~1/4 of a fresh pineapple, prepared (about 3/4 - 1 c)
1 c plain yogurt
3 ripe mangoes, peeled and pitted
~2 tbsp fresh lime juice (about half a lime or two mini-limes)
1/2 tsp vanilla
6-8 frozen strawberries
1/2 - 1 c white grape juice or non-concentrate orange juice
optional - 2 tbsp toasted wheat germ
Place all ingredients except fruit juice in blender. Blend, starting on low and increasing speed until all ingredients well-blended. Add juice as necessary to thin.
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