Organic Cultures
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Buckley, MI 49620
United States
ph: 1+ 231.631.1012
How to Make Yogurt with Live Cultures...
All of our yogurt type cultures are mesophilic heirloom yogurt starters and can be cultured right on your counter at room temperature, so it’s easy to make these re-usable varieties. Mesophilic dairy yogurt pro-biotic starters are room temperature starters that require no additional heating source/surface!
(Note: If you keep your house cold in the winter time, you may need additional heating source to bring the yogurt culture into the proper range. These cultures set best at a temperature of 70 - 78 deg F.)
As a mesophilic yogurt culture, this yogurt starter cultures at room temperature. To make a batch of homemade yogurt, the yogurt culture is simply added to milk, stirred, and then allowed to culture on the counter before being placed in the refrigerator.
These yogurt cultures are a serial cultured: a small amount of homemade yogurt from the current batch is reserved to inoculate the next batch of homemade yogurt. With proper care, the yogurt culture can be used to make homemade yogurt indefinitely. Just save some of the last batch as a starter for the next batch. This means no added cost to maintain a healthy culture starter. Unlike kefir grains, which grow in size and have
a defined structure, these
yogurt type milk cultures grow within
the culturing substrate(milk).
See more on Milk Kefir here.
These yogurt dairy starters can be maintained on any type a mammal’s milk, including cow, goat, sheep, or horse. You can also use soy milk, however we recommend maintaining a pure culture on dairy food source.
The word yogurt comes from Turkey and refers to a tart, thick milk. However,
the origin of yogurt is not singular.
Yogurt type cultures can be found in nearly every culture that has kept animals for milk and it was likely discovered in similar ways
in each region.
When fresh milk is left in a container with friendly bacteria, the milk thickens and develops a delicious, sour taste.
The lactic acid produced by the fermentation process also acts as a preservative, helping the cultured
milk stay fresh longer.
In the past, warmer regions favored thermophilic bacteria, while cooler areas favored mesophilic bacteria. Our Greek & Bulgarian yogurt starter culture is an example of a heat-loving (thermophilic) cultures, while our Heirloom Yogurt Starter Cultures are examples of cooler temperature (mesophilic) cultures.
These milk cultures, like buttermilk, piima, and viili, are very easy to maintain.
All yogurt culture starters
have the same basic recipe, which is very easy to follow:
- Once you receive your starter package, simply add the contents of your starter packet into a clean container
- Add 1 pint of fresh raw or pasteurized milk. This will make the initial yogurt starter.
- Cover the container with the lid slightly cracked or with linen type cloth, to keep insects at bay.
- Let your homemade pro-biotic set in a warm place for around 24 hours, at 70 – 78 deg F.
- After the culturing time, place the cultured yogurt in the refrigerator to slow down the process and stop the yogurt from going to 'curds & whey'
Just like milk kefir grains, the cultures will need time to inoculate the food source. You may stir the culture throughout the day to speed up culturing time. After 12 hours, start checking to see if the milk is ‘setting’ this can vary greatly due to temperature and the amount of milk used. Once 'set' the thickened milk will pull away from the side of the jar.
Once the culture has set, it should be moved it to the refrigerator to slow the culturing process.
Once you have made your initial starter, you will have enough to make larger batches in the future rounds. You’ll want to save from 5 to 10% of the cultured milk for your next batch, or around a teaspoon per pint.
Do not try to make a large batch the first time because you will not have enough cultured dairy to inoculate a large quantity of milk.
We recommend making smaller batches that will be used within a day to two than trying to make a large batch for the week. This insures
that the culture is feed and maintained correctly.
Yogurt Culturing
Tips & Tricks
1. Make smaller batches to use within a day or two vs. making a large batch for the whole week. This insures the yogurt culture is feed and maintained correctly.
2. Clean all cultures utensils before use; however, there is not a need to sanitize them.
3. If working with more than one strain of yogurt make sure to keep the cultures away from each other and use different utensils/sanitize them for each strain.
Got Culture Questions? Call the Culture Hotline...
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Organic Cultures
General Delivery
Buckley, MI 49620
United States
ph: 1+ 231.631.1012