Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with yoghurt

Yoghurt incubation at home

bingoes — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:15:17 -0800

Please help make yoghurt at home now that all the light bulbs have gone For the last few months I’ve been making large amounts of yoghurt in 2 litre glass jars. I’ve been incubating for a full 24 hours to ensure that all the lactose is converted into lactic acid. I’ve also been using UHT shelf stable milk and not bothering to heat it up to near boiling before adding the culture. I just pour the carton of milk into the jar, add in some starter culture and keep the jars in a box with a light bulb for 24 hours. It works like a treat.
However, due to the recent phase out of incandescent light bulbs in Australia, I can’t get my home made incubator up to the right temperature with one or two fluorescent light bulbs. Plus, I would like to start using goat’s milk or other varieties of fresh milk and don’t like the thought of fussing about with saucepans full of large quantities of near boiling milk on the stove top.
What I would love, is some type of vessel that allows me to heat up a glass jar full of milk to 180F (85C), then bring it down to 100F (38C) then maintain it at 100-110F (38-43C) for 24 hours without danger of burning the house down. I’ve looked for heat pads and beer brewing belt heaters and haven’t found anything that I think I could use.
A simple yoghurt maker is my plan B. There are not many models available in Australia and they don’t have much thermostat control, and they mostly use strange little plastic containers. Ideally I’d like to be able to stick to glass jars.
I'd be prepared to spend up to $200 maybe if I could buy/build the 'ultimate yoghurt solution'.
Thanks in advance.

Dial M for Acidophilus

boots — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:00:59 -0800

Has there ever been a documented case of death by drowning in yogurt?

For the love of Greek yogurt

cuddles.mcsnuggy — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:00:31 -0800

Anyone know where to find a very, very fine mesh chinois or strainer? I seek one that will hold about a half gallon of liquid with a mesh similar in "fine-ness" (is that a word?) to those metal coffee filters. I've been looking around for the perfect strainer to make Greek yogurt but am coming up empty. I usually make 1/2 gallon at a time. After my milk is cultured & set I will strain away the whey to thicken the end product -- which is fantastic btw and I will never go back to "yoplait" type grocery store yogurt -- but I digress. I've been using paper coffee filters and the old fashioned muslin-in-a-sieve method. They work okay, but are very messy. I'd rather not have to sanitize & re-wash fabric every time or tear open & overlap the paper filters (so they fit that much volume). Both methods seem wasteful of paper, time, and/or energy. I hope to find a large strainer/chinois with a superfine mesh that I don't need to line with anything. The standard mesh I've found on products on amazon, cooking.com, williams-sonoma etc. is too "loose" to work for straining dairy without being lined. I think a mesh that's just like what's used in metal coffee filters like this would be perfect. There's a "yogurt strainer" gadget out there but it only makes 1 cup & isn't what I'm seeking. FWIW I don't have a southeast Asian/Indian or Greek grocery store in my town which might carry such a device and I've looked in all department stores to no avail. An online vendor would be ideal. Many thanks in advance for suggestions!

Indian yoghurt dumpling dish thing

Mossy — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 12:12:59 -0800

Dey bareh (sp?). My Kashmiri wife is looking for a restaurant in London that serves this dish - basically cornflour/chickpea-flour dumplings in yoghurt. Any ideas? We live in Bloomsbury, so anywhere near there would be good.

Probiotics vs Prebiotics

rhodri — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 13:06:43 -0800

We've seen adverts extolling the virtues of probiotics for years, now. On the TV a few minutes ago I was informed that Weetaflakes contain prebiotics. What's the difference? Should I care?