Does anyone make yogurt? A question.

MsJeshka

DH and I eat a lot of yogurt - we bring it daily for lunch and have yogurt/fruit smoothies for breakfast most weekends. It's ridiculous how much yogurt we go through. So I thought it'd be cheaper/less wasteful to make yogurt. I bought a yogurt machine (this one). We have made yogurt twice now and it's very bitter. The first time we didn't add anything and it turned out but was butter, plain yogurt...which I don't like. We made it again and added some vanilla extract to the milk mixture but that didn't turn out either.

If you make yogurt, what do you use to sweeten it (and how much do you add)? I'm looking for a basic sweetener to add to the milk mix before pouring it into the containers.

TIA!

Mrs_Liberto

You don't really need a yogurt maker/ I've never used one, but I make my own yogurt all the time.

Fresh yogurt is definitely more "sour" than the stuff from the store bc the store stuff is loaded with sweeteners.

You can add any sort of syrup (agave, maple, etc) to the finished product or just add fruit/granola, but you shouldn't add stuff to your starter.

MsJeshka

I know you can make it without a yogurt maker - but I just figured that it would be easier and I couldn't find small glass containers anywhere (like the ones that came with the yogurt maker).

I didn't even think of using agave or maple syrup - thanks!

CDMay2006

It sounds like you are adding sweeteners, etc. before cooking... make the plain yogurt and then add flavors/sweeteners to the final prodcut.  Higher fat content milk makes for better tasting yogurt (less sour; i'm guessing that's the same taste you are encountering).

MsJeshka

We've been using 1% milk because that's what we normally drink - I'll get higher fat milk for the next batch. Thanks!

ksdk

I am supposed to be making my own but haven?t yet. I read that whole milk is best for a newbie, as you?ll be most satisfied with the finished product. I hope to add honey to the finished product, like I would to sweeten plain greek yogurt.

Alisha_A

I haven't yet because it seems like so much yogurt!!

Does it still seem bitter if you are used to eating plain yogurt?

WendyGR

what are you using as a starter? sometimes that will make a difference.

heliocentric

We've never had any that I would describe as bitter, so that sounds odd. We do sweeten ours. After heating and cooling the yogurt, we add the starter and whatever else we want in it. Mostly that's all-fruit jam or fresh fruit that's been cooked down or macerated with some sugar and water. Vanilla by itself won't sweeten it, you'll need sugar (or another sweetener) along with the extract. Once we've added the fruit/jam, etc. we start the yogurt maker.

You can also just make plain and add stuff at the end. Honey and agave nectar are good drizzled over the yogurt with fruit or granola.

MsJeshka

WendyGR:

what are you using as a starter? sometimes that will make a difference.

As a starter I used plain, organic yogurt that I bought at Trader Joe's.