My grandmother, a health foodie well before it was en vogue, made yogurt at home back in the 1950’s. She had to send away for the culture since there was no yogurt for miles around the rural New Mexican town where she lived. When I was a child and she was helping raise me, she introduced me to the delightful combination of yogurt, molasses, and wheat germ. Needless to say, this was as much of an oddity in Georgia as it had been 30 years before in New Mexico.
Recently, I came across a simple recipe in Ready Made Magazine for growing your own yogurt. All you need is 2 qts. of milk and a tablespoon and a half of a delicious yogurt with live cultures. You bring the milk to a boil slowly over medium low heat, stirring frequently, simmer for a couple of minutes, cool to 115 degrees and add 1/2 cup of the milk to the yogurt in a small bowl. After that, stir the yogurt mixture back into the rest of the milk and divide between two bowls. Cover the bowls first with plastic wrap and then with a kitchen towel, and leave in a warm spot for 6-13 hours till it sets. Chill in your fridge till cold enough for your taste. Then take a tablespoon and a half from what you made and use it to make your next batch.
That’s it. Lickety split you have your very own yogurt, and you don’t have to throw away yet another plastic container each week. Ahhhhh, YEAH!
