Review of Homemade Crock Pot Yogurt

This week I decided to try this.  My friend Kara has told me a few times that she makes Homemade Yogurt in her oven and it intrigued me, but not enough to try it.
A couple of weeks ago I found on Moneysavingmom.com a recipe for Yogurt made in the crock pot.  The directions looked simple enough so I gave it a whirl.

Oh, my word!  So easy!


Homemade Yogurt in the Crock Pot Recipe

• 1/2 gallon milk (Whole milk will make the yogurt thicker, but any milk will work.)
• 1/2 cup plain unflavored yogurt (Any kind with live active cultures will work. Be sure to save a half cup of this batch of homemade yogurt to use as a starter next time!)
  

Pour the half gallon of milk into your crock pot and turn it on low. Cook it for 2 hours and 45 minutes (set the timer to remember to turn it off!) After 2 hours and 45 minutes, turn the crock pot off and let it sit down 3 hours. Spoon a small amount of the milk into a small bowl and add the half cup of yogurt to it. Mix together thoroughly.

 Dump this mixture back into the milk in the crock pot and mix it around well. Put the lid back on your crock pot and wrap the crock pot with a large beach towel or blanket (make sure the crock pot is unplugged and turned off!). Yes, I know, it sounds a little ridiculous to wrap a crock pot with a beach towel, but I did some research online and it seems that the experts recommend this step as it helps keep the heat in the crock pot and allows it to cool more slowly.

 Let the beach-towel-wrapped crock pot sit for 8-12 hours (or overnight). After 8-12 hours, it should be thickened. Spoon yogurt into jars or plastic containers and refrigerate a few hours before eating. This will keep for one to two weeks in the refrigerator. Be sure to save a half cup to use as a starter for your next batch of homemade yogurt.

   I do agree that it is pretty thin.  But I normally use it for smoothies, so it works great for that. I did see somewhere that you can add Powdered milk to the initial mixture and it makes it thicker.  You can also strain it with a cheese cloth, as they do with Greek yogurt.

  Today, my daughter added some homemade strawberry jam to the yogurt and she really liked it and it tasted good. One tip after you wrap it up put it in a place that you will see first thing in the morning.  I woke up and almost forgot that I had done it.  This was so easy I hope some of you try it out. 

  Jeannie