I thought I hated yogurt...

Here’s another unlikely topic for me. I always hated yogurt (or thought I did). I acquired a large jar of honey (to replace the evil aspartame sweetners), and wanted something to use it in that was kind of healthy. One of my daughters (Stef) suggested yogurt. I had a lot of honey, so I thought why not see what I could do by making some? I did my research online and found that it wasn’t that hard at all. Basically, you need to (slowly) heat a quart (32 oz) of milk with 1/3 cup of dry milk added for texture to 170 degrees to kill any bad bacteria, and then let it cool to about 115 degrees. I found a handy thermometer at Big Lots for $6 that works great. Then mix in a couple of tablespoons of yogurt as a starter (must have active cultures, such as Stoneybrook). Put this in a very clean glass quart container. Then you have to maintain the 105 – 115 degree temperature for 5 – 6 hours until it begins to solidify. I tried a few things, but I ended up finding that my wooden bread box worked great when I put a little utility light in with a 25W bulb. You just have to experiment until you find a safe heat source that will maintain that temperature range. When it’s done, you can let it cool a bit and put it in smaller plastic storage containers if you want.

It should keep in the fridge about 2 weeks. The odd thing is, when you put in some fruit (blueberries are great!) and a little honey, it is really a great tasting snack. Save a little of the batch as the starter for the next one, and you don’t have to buy any more small containers of yogurt! And it costs about ¼ what it would at the store. Enjoy!