Make Your Own Yogurt

(just so you know, there's another new post down there...)

I've got to admit, this post has nothing to do with Long Meadow Farm CSA and only a teeny-weenie bit to do with eating local. But since you're reading this blog, I'm pretty sure you'll be into this kind of thing.

In case you haven't heard about it, crock pot yogurt is the hippest thing on the block. If you want to up your cool factor, you should definitely give this a spin.

And it's easy, too.

1. Take a half gallon of milk and dump it into your crock pot. Any milk will do, except for ultra-pasteurized milk, and I've got to say, most of the organic milk you can buy at the grocery store is ultra-pasteurized, so pay attention. Also, you should start with whole milk, and once you get a hang of it, go for something less fattening--if you care about that kind of thing.

2. Turn your crock pot to low and let it sit for 2 1/2 hours.

3. Unplug your crock pot and let the milk sit for 3 hours.

4. Scoop a few cups of milk out of the crock pot, and whisk the warm milk together with a cup of live/active culture yogurt. You'll have to buy yogurt from the store the first time to get it started, but after your first batch is a raging success, you can use your own as a starter.

5. Dump the yogurt/milk mixture back into the crock pot.

6. Wrap the crock pot in 2 or 3 beach towels and let it sit for 12ish hours.

When all is said and done, you end up with this:

A giant vat of yogurt!

My friend gave me this jar of local vanilla peach sauce, so I added it to the yogurt to really up the kazaam factor:

And here it is in all it's glory:

And of course, to give you a better sense of the actual quantity, I give you my husband as a point of reference:

Hot damn! Now that's a lot of yogurt!