I love yoghurt and always thought it was a healthy breakfast option for my kids and me. Because it is made using lactic acid bacteria, all-natural yoghurt has a lower sugar content than the milk from which it is made. The problem is that most commercially produced yoghurts contain excessive amounts of sugar, making them unhealthy in the end. This was discussed in detail by Choice in their article How to Choose a Healthy Yoghurt.

So, I decided to make my yoghurt to ensure that I could have all-natural yoghurt with no added sugar and that the bacteria are still alive and well when I eat it. I am looking for a yoghurt with a low sugar count and a high bacteria count, and to do this, I need to ferment my yoghurt for longer.

Long fermentation is recommended in the SCD and GAPS diets and is an excellent idea for people with digestive issues or for anyone wanting to improve the health of their microbiome. Your ‘gut microbiome‘ is made up of the trillions of microorganisms and their genetic material that live in your intestinal tract, mostly in the large intestine.

To do long fermentation, you will need a suitable yoghurt maker. I use an electric yoghurt maker that I designed especially for long fermentation. I found that the thermos-style makers, which require adding hot water, work great for about 8-10 hours at holding the temperature. This is great, as that is how long a standard fermentation would take. However, I wanted a longer fermentation of 24 hours, so that was not good enough for me.

So I looked at electric yoghurt makers and, after having a few issues, went ahead and designed my own. The first issue I had was with yoghurt makers that had timers that turned themselves off when the yoghurt was ‘done’, none of which were able to be set for 24 hours. The second issue I had was temperature creep, meaning that if they just stayed on till you turned them off, they seemed to slowly creep up in temperature and by the time you got to 24 hours, they were so hot that the bacteria had been killed.

So the yoghurt made in these makers looked great, tasted great, but was dead. I even called one company to complain and was told that this heating feature was beneficial because it allowed the bacteria to be killed at the end, which in turn gave the yoghurt a longer shelf life in my fridge. In frustration, I created my own, which is how the Green Living Australia Yoghurt Maker was created.

Now that you have a yoghurt maker, you need to obtain some culture and start making your own yoghurt. Here is my recipe for a great, thick, creamy Greek-style yoghurt that I’m sure you’ll love.

You Will Need The Following Items

• A yoghurt maker large enough to hold one litre of milk.
• A stainless steel pot.
• Dairy Thermometer
• Sealed Whisk

Your Ingredients

• One litre of full-cream milk
• 1/3 cup powdered milk (the powdered milk adds additional protein, and this is what makes it Greek Style)
• Two or three drops of calcium chloride — Optional (While this is optional, I always use it to improve my yoghurt’s thickness and also to increase my calcium intake.)
• One dose of yoghurt starter culture
  (Up to 100 doses per sachet culture)

Note: The amount of culture used for one litre is VERY SMALL.

Directions

• Add the milk powder to your milk and heat to 90 °C for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Calcium chloride can now be added.
• Allow the milk to cool to 40° C. Add your starter culture and mix well to ensure the culture is evenly distributed.
• Pour your milk into the yoghurt maker. Maintain the milk mixture at a temperature between 37° and 43° C for 8-12 hours. For long fermentation, leave for 24 hours.

If you are in a hurry and want to take a shortcut, you can use UHT, Long Life Milk. As a result, you will not have to heat the milk to 90° C and then cool it to 40° C. I usually warm the Long Life Milk to 40° by placing the unopened packet in a sink of hot water for a few minutes while I gather the rest of my supplies.

The culture I use comes in a packet that does 100 litres. I do two litres a week, so the packet lasts me a whole year. I appreciate the fact that it is a pure culture and that it costs me about twenty-five cents per batch, plus the cost of the milk. I hope that you can use this information to make yourself great yoghurt and save yourself some money at the same time.

As always, live well.

Valerie