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Proper yoghurt

(48 Posts)
Anya Thu 16-Oct-14 14:30:39

baubles I make thick yoghurt and drinking yoghurt. I play around with different ideas. To thicken it add dried milk to the mix. To make it taste of strawberries, coconut, etc add an actimel.
My basic recipe is left over milk, a couple of spoons of live yoghurt and a bit of sugar.
I've never tried Lakeland's Easiyo sachets but you make them sound tempting Elegran and I might have a go.
I buy shop yoghurt in various flavours and textures too. But it's when I get a surplus of milk that I use it up this way.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 16-Oct-14 14:28:43

Love those corner pots. #soddingdiet

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 16-Oct-14 14:28:08

Oh yes Elegran. I've done that. grin

Elegran Thu 16-Oct-14 12:35:00

Yes, the Greek /honey one is lovely and thick.

baubles Thu 16-Oct-14 11:37:38

Elegran & Anya do yours make thick yoghurt?

Mamie I have tendency to burn milk blush

Grannyknot Thu 16-Oct-14 10:51:59

I eat my natural yoghurt with granola and honey.

jingle the plain/natural/Greek whatever yoghurt on the shelves is often runny. Not like proper yoghurt!

Elegran Thu 16-Oct-14 10:32:51

Jings Strawberry jam with natural yoghurt is good - just like the corner pots.

Elegran Thu 16-Oct-14 10:32:03

Baubles The Easiyo Greek Yoghurt with Honey sachets are about £13 for a pack of 5 in Lakeland. Each sachet makes a litre, which lasts me about a week. That is one of the more expensive packs, some of them are less than £12 a pack

There are various fruit flavours, low fat ones etc etc

Thay can also be bought online, from Easiyo itself or from various other sellers.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 16-Oct-14 10:30:22

I don't think it would be quite the same.

Marmite indeed! hmm

Anya Thu 16-Oct-14 10:24:55

You can add flavour jingl - anything you have to hand, fruit, cereal, marmite.

Anya Thu 16-Oct-14 10:23:36

baubles I'd recommend mine. I've had it at least 10 years. Lakeland still sell them for about £20. I turn mine on at night when I go to bed and tne yoghurt's ready in the morning.

I have tried your saucepan method too Mamie and it worked well but I had a tendency to wander off and forget it which resulted in lots to burn pans blush

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 16-Oct-14 10:21:59

Plain natural yogurt tastes of nothing but - yogurt. Boring really. It is something that cries out for flavouring.

Mamie Thu 16-Oct-14 10:10:25

I think it is the simmering and reducing the milk by a third that gives you the Greek style yoghurt. At the risk of repeating myself; you really don't need to buy a yoghurt maker. A saucepan, a finger and a warm place in the house is enough.

henetha Thu 16-Oct-14 10:06:44

Years ago when I worked for a dairy company, back in the 1950's, we sold yoghurt, the only sort available in those days. So it was natural and unadulterated. But it tasted absolutely horrible! Does natural yoghurt still taste foul these days? Must admit I like modern fruity yoghurt very much even if it's not entirely healthy.

baubles Thu 16-Oct-14 10:06:11

I haven't made yoghurt but I've been wondering if it would be cost effective.

I eat the Fage natural full fat Greek yoghurt every day. The 500g pot costs £2.39 and lasts 3/4 days depending on how greedy I'm being and if I have any double cream in the house.

The other question is of course how the taste of home made greek style yoghurt would compare to the one I love.

I must have a look at yoghurt makers.

jinglbellsfrocks Thu 16-Oct-14 10:02:29

I like the "the watery, over-sugared, flavoured rubbish". Especially when it's got huge lumps of fruit in it. smile

Plenty of plain/natural/Greek/whatever on the shelves of Waitrose. Can't imagine faffing around making it.

Mamie Thu 16-Oct-14 08:49:09

I have GK, but not for years. Must be on a YouTube video!
Sauerkraut sounds interesting; have never tried that.

Elegran Thu 16-Oct-14 08:44:25

You don't even need power - Easyyo have one with an outer container that you part fill with boiling water, and an inner for cold water and a sachet of starter/milk powder.

Grannyknot Thu 16-Oct-14 08:43:50

Anya not me.

But I have made cottage cheese or cream cheese, the smooth variety, not the lumpy one, by hanging yoghurt tied in a clean muslin cloth over the kitchen tap (so it can drain into the sink). I'm going to try that again, haven't done it for yonks. Do you know how to do that Mamie? Have I got it right?

Anya Thu 16-Oct-14 08:11:50

I'm going to make sauerkraut this weekend. Anyone eise tried to make that?

Anya Thu 16-Oct-14 08:09:54

I have a cheap yoghurt maker I bought from Lakeland eons ago. It's just a tub inside anothef plastic tube that plugs into the socket and gets just warm enough to start fermentation.
Whenever I have left over milk I make yoghurt. It's very easy and you know what's gone into it.

Mamie Thu 16-Oct-14 08:09:36

We have always loved proper full-fat yoghurt. In the UK we buy Yeo Valley or Rachel's. Here in France we buy Deux Vaches and OH gets a Bifidis one from the organic supermarket for his IBS. We used to make it a lot and I never understood the need for fussy yoghurt makers. We boil the milk to reduce it by a third, put it in a clean bowl, leave it to cool until you can stick your finger in and count to ten, add the live culture and stick it by the woodburner (or in the airing cupboard) overnight.

Grannyknot Thu 16-Oct-14 07:59:32

For a long time when my children were small, I used to make yoghurt. At one time I had a yoghurt maker with glass pots for filling, or I'd just make it in a container by the litre. Then of course yoghurt became something that was advertised by women wearing lots of make up with a Greek island as backdrop, coyly putting spoonfuls of flavoured "yogurt" into their mouths whilst looking at the camera. Never saw any adverts with men eating it! The other big consumer group the adverts seem to be aimed at is children.

Lately proper plain yoghurt has crept back onto the shelves in one litre containers - Lidl has a great Turkish one, and of course other supermarkets have woken up and this week I bought the most delicious whole milk yoghurt from a UK farm supplier at Tesco. Plain white container, no frills, so solid you can stand a spoon up in it.

It just makes me cross with myself for all the money that I wasted being sucked into buying the watery, over-sugared, flavoured rubbish that has been passed off as yoghurt. I'm so pleased the real contender is back. Long may it last.