How and Why to Make Yogurt at Home
rePurpose inspires people to cut down on the amount of single use plastic items they buy at
the store. Plastics are bad for humans, other animals, and the environment.
Micro- and nanoplastics have been found in the human body (as well as in many other animals
and in other environments around the globe). They’ve even been found in the human brain,
human blood, human reproductive organs, including mothers’ placentas. Babies are now being
born with plastic inside of them!
(Definitions: Microplastics are shards of plastic that are between 1 micrometer and 5 millimeters.
Nanoplastics are shards of plastic smaller than 1 micron. These are the particles that can most
easily enter the brain. Biofilm is a community of organisms that forms around the surface area of micro- and
nanoplastics and can cause increased environmental risks and eco-toxicity.)
Why is this so bad?
Plastics are made of an assortment of toxic chemicals, many of which are known carcinogens to
humans. To have them breaking up into tiny bits small enough to infiltrate the blood-brain barrier
bodes very badly for long-term health of humankind. Microplastics inside human bodies also
pose the threat of causing inflammation, which can lead to an assortment of diseases including
cancer.
Additionally, scientists have found that “biofilms” can develop around the surfaces of
microplastics. Since they have such a high surface area, micro-and nanoplastics that develop a
biofilm can be hosts to deadly bacteria that introduce viruses and diseases into the human body.
Plastics in the brain have been found to kill brain cells, disrupt the bain’s immune system, and
promote the buildup of proteins that cause Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Contact between food and plastic packaging has been shown to increase the risk of
microplastics in our food.
An easy way to combat microplastics in our bodies is to make food at home using as little plastic
as possible. Yogurt is a delicious and easy place to start! Check out Beyond Plastics for more information.
How to make yogurt:
1. Vegan Coconut Milk Yogurt Recipe - Video
3. Vegan Coconut Milk Yogurt Recipe
4. Cow’s Milk Yogurt recipe - Video - easy to understand; also includes making Greek
Yogurt
5. Cow’s Milk Yogurt recipe - Video #2 - very simple and straightforward explanation
7. Making Yogurt in Instant Pot
Ingredients:
2-4 tbsp yogurt
½ gallon whole milk (or however much you want)
Step by step instructions:
1. In a sauce pot or dutch oven, heat milk over medium/medium high heat until about 180
degrees F, stirring gently the entire time. (The amount of milk depends on how much
yogurt you want to end up with.) Do not let milk boil over. Heating the milk is done to
ensure that the milk will set as a solid and not separate.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Cool the milk until it’s between 112°F and 115°F. If a skin appears, skim it off the top.
Scoop about ½ cup of warm milk into a bowl. Add 2-4 tbsp of yogurt to the warm milk.
Whisk until smooth.
Pour the thinned yogurt mixture into the warm milk and stir gently. This introduces the
culture to all of the milk.
Cover the pot and place it in the oven (turned off). Wrap the pot in towels to keep the pot
warm. Should remain at about 110 degrees F.
Set yogurt for between 4 and 8 hours. The longer you let the yogurt sit, the more thick
and tart it will become. If you don’t let it set enough it will be pretty runny. For your first
time, start gently tasting the yogurt at 4 hours to see how you like the flavor and
consistency. But, avoid jostling or stirring the yogurt until after it’s fully set.
After fully setting, remove the yogurt from the oven. Drain off extra whey or you can
whisk this back into the yogurt. Whisk your yogurt, transfer into storage containers,
cover, and refrigerate. Your yogurt will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Once you start making your own yogurt, you can use some of each batch to culture your
next batch. Just save 1/2 cup to use for this purpose. If after a few batches, you notice
some odd flavors in your yogurt or that it's not culturing quite as quickly, that means that
either some outside bacteria has taken up residence in your yogurt or that this strain is
becoming weak. As long as this batch still tastes good to you, it will be safe to eat, but go
back to using some store-bought commercial yogurt in your next batch.