Home-made yogurt and saving the planet 🌎

Sep 04, 2018

So saving the planet is an overstatement, but we began making home-made yogurt to avoid purchasing yogurts at the super-market. Yogurts, nearly all, come in plastics, and we eat a lot of yogurt. Not to mention, the home-made variety is tastier and healthier and best of all, does not require ANY plastic!

What we found interesting, was how easy it is to make yogurt. It takes no more than 10 minutes (and 12 hours of waiting). The supplies are equally simple - yogurt maker, bowl, whisk or fork, and something to help pour (we use a small stove-top Milk Foaming Pitcher or kettle).

How we came to find the yogurt maker is another story... We know an older German couple who've been here for a long time. They have built an amazing garden with irrigation system and make jellies, jams, compotes, marmalades - I still don't know the difference between them all, but they do. Running into them at the village cafe, we asked them how to make yogurt, because we figured if anyone knew, they would. They replied simply - "with a yogurt maker". Then they offered to give us their spare. We offered to buy it, but they wouldn't have it. This attitude is representative of the island. The giving and helping. Everyone, and I mean everyone does so willingly.

Back to yogurt - here is the "recipe" (if you can call it that). The simple instructions:

1. buy a yogurt machine. ours is from Germany, but cost less than Eu.50

2. get a stainless steel bowl, whisk and something to help pour.

3. buy one small yogurt (100g-125g) - any type of whole (not non-fat) yogurt pretty much will do, but ones without flavors and no sugar added are best. This "starter" yogurt must have "Live Active Yogurt Cultures", at least one (many yogurts have multiple ones). This is your bacteria, needed to make yogurt.

4. buy 1L of milk. we use homogenized milk. otherwise you have to heat the milk

5. mix the 1L of milk with the 125g of yogurt from the store. whisk it until you feel it's all mixed together.

6. pour into the individual containers.

7. plug in the yogurt maker. place the containers (we have six).

8. turn on the machine and set for 12 hours (anywhere between 10-14 hours depending on machine and yogurt consistency preference).

9. 12 hours later, when finished, put in fridge for a few hours.

10. eat your yogurt and dance!!

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Home-made yogurt and saving the planet 🌎

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