How to make yogurt at home

In dietary nutrition, yogurt is often mentioned. This product on the shelves of our stores is more than enough, but if we take the packaging and read the composition, we will see that there is little useful for our body: emulsifiers, dyes, preservatives and taste substitutes "close to natural". Therefore, many people are wondering how to make yogurt themselves. Moreover, sometimes we need a natural product without fruit or berry additives (for example, as a dressing for salads).

Do not assume that without yogurtnitsy you will not succeed. This device is more convenient, because it keeps and maintains the desired temperature for a long time. Many brands have a timer that turns off the heating, so you do not need to set the alarm to stop the fermentation process. But this device is not indispensable. How to cook yogurt without it? Enough good thermos or just a warm blanket.

To prepare a quality product, we need to have at least a general idea of what the yogurt is made of, and what makes it so useful for our health. The main ingredients are whole milk. But the main secret of the product is not in it, but in two forms of beneficial bacteria - the Bulgarian bacillus and thermophilic lactic acid streptococcus. It is these tiny creatures that destroy the pathogenic and putrefactive microflora, and also stimulate the assimilation of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Therefore, we need to buy these bacteria. They are sold in pharmacies and are called "starter for yogurt." They can be liquid and in powder form.

In the starter, bacteria "doze", but getting into a favorable environment - whole milk temperature +40 C - begin to multiply rapidly. Thus, the process of fermentation occurs. To stop it, you just put the jar in the refrigerator. Having set a task to understand how to make yogurt, it is necessary to take a responsible attitude to the choice of milk. Sterilized product of long shelf life is not good! It contains salt and stabilizers, which are detrimental to starter bacteria. You can take 10% cream, and melted milk will give the finished product a gentle taste of caramel.

So, we acquired milk and leaven. How to make yogurt at home? Boil a liter of milk, we cool it to +45 C. How to check the temperature - because too hot milk bacteria will simply die, but in too cold will not multiply? You do not need to try it with a finger-bring in microbes that are not useful at all. Press the vessel with milk to the cheek: if the skin feels hot, but tolerable, then this is what you need. Pour in the leaven. If you have it powdery, pour a little milk into the glass, pour the ferment in, mix well until the lumps dissolve and mix with the rest of the milk.

If you are a lucky owner of yogurt, spill the product in jars, close the lid and put the timer for 5-8 hours. How to make yogurt without this useful device? But do you have a thermos in the farm? Pour the milk with the leaven into it, close the lid tightly and leave it to ripen. No thermos? It does not matter: wrap a saucepan with a warm blanket or cover it with pillows to keep the desired temperature longer.

Do not think that the longer our fermented milk product remains, the better it will come out. An overabundance of bacteria is also useless. Therefore, after this period, stop the ripening process and pour the product over the banks. Avoid plastic containers - it emits phenol-formaldehyde resins in milk that contain carcinogens. You can add berries, fruit, jam to the resulting yogurt.