Seraph

Adi’s super-consolidated Yoghourt

For this you need to have a wide necked vacuum flask. Mine holds 1.8 lt.
This recipe makes a thick creamy yoghourt. It works fine without the addition of the skimmed milk, the product is simply more runny.

1.2 lt Whole milk
60 gms Skimmed milk dried powder
30 ml cold water
30 ml Live Natural Yoghourt (I originally used Glenisk whole milk Yoghourt now I use some of the last batch)

Scald the flask with boiling water and leave the water in the flask to heat it.
Bring half the whole milk to the boil (I use a microwave that way it does not burn) while mixing the milk powder with 30 ml cold water into a thick cream consistency.
Empty the hot water from the flask (save it to use for washing the dishes).
Pour the boiling milk into the warm flask, add the reconstituted milk, almost fill with the rest of the cold whole milk but ensure that there is enough room left to add the yoghurt culture last.

Close the lid on the flask and leave for 8 to 20 hours, then decant into glass jars (if possible, I use some retro 1960’s coffee jars that ‘dropped’ through a time warp) and refrigerate before use.
I am not too accurate with measurements or lapsed time, and seem to get away with it. Less than 5 hrs though and you just won’t have yoghourt.

If it is not working for you check these possibilities;

• The milk was not fresh; in the summer here in Ireland milk can go off even in the fridge – I reckon that it gets warm during delivery, how’s that for a theory? Also it can go off during thundery weather... I’d love to know why if anyone can tell me.
• The batch was too hot when the culture was added and killed it or
• Too cold for the culture to grow
• Too little yoghourt culture
• The culture was too old (I find if it is more than 10 days old it is best to start again with a new culture)