Monday Health Tip - How to Choose a Good Yogurt or Make Your Own!

The benefits of yogurt are well-known and it is used by people of all cultures to maintain digestive health. Yogurt is traditionally prepared at home in Indian households. However, due to fast-paced life, many people are finding it convenient to buy yogurt from their local supermarkets. Supermarket yogurts are even available in a myriad of flavors so that one doesn't get bored of the same plain taste (though how anyone can get bored of good ol' yogurt is beyond me! Can you tell how much I love yogurt?). In today's health tip, let's learn how to choose a good yogurt at the supermarket, and better still, how to make yogurt at home!

How to Choose a Healthy Yogurt

• As with anything else, read the label! The label will tell you what the yogurt really contains. Good yogurt should contain only milk or cream and bacterial cultures and nothing else.
• Many times yogurts contain fillers like corn starch, gelatin, pectin, or inulin. These fillers are nothing but thickening agents, but that means you are not getting what you are paying for - real yogurt! 
• Also, if you are consuming yogurt as part of a special diet, then bear in mind that these fillers add extra carbohydrates to your diet, apart from those already provided by the dairy constituents of the yogurt.
• Additionally, flavored yogurts usually contain added flavors and colors, preservatives, as well as sugar, or some sort of sweetener. 
• Real yogurt is not meant to be sweet, but slightly tangy or creamy. If you like sweet yogurt, buy (or make) plain yogurt and add the sugar (or fruit) at home, at least you can control the amount of added sugar and eliminate other unnecessary ingredients.

Even some kinds of Greek yogurt contain the fillers mentioned above, and that, in my opinion, is not real Greek yogurt. So what's the difference between Greek yogurt and regular yogurt? Greek yogurt has about 9% more fat than regular yogurt, but it also has up to 3 times more protein and about half the carbohydrates of regular yogurt. Greek yogurt is made by straining the whey from the yogurt, resulting in a thick creamy product. It is high in fat because it uses 3 times more milk to produce the same amount of Greek yogurt as regular yogurt. If 1 cup milk makes 1 cup regular yogurt, it takes 4 cups milk to make the same amount of Greek yogurt.

How to Make Yogurt at Home

There are lots of websites on the internet that give instructions on making yogurt at home. I'll just describe how I do it at home, and I use home-made yogurt 99% of the time. I have always used yogurt itself as a starter. You can also buy starters online and I've heard that dry active cultures make the best yogurt, but I haven't tried any myself. Dannon All Natural plain yogurt makes  for a good starter, as well as the Desi yogurt I get from the Indian grocery store. (It seems they're both from the same source, I'm not surprised since I find their taste very similar.) The main reason I prefer these brands is because they don't contain gelatin (I'm a vegetarian).

The method: Heat milk in a stainless steel vessel on low until it is slightly warm. Remove from heat and if it is too warm, let it cool until it is lukewarm (or just warm enough for you to dip your fingers in comfortably). When you feel it is the right temperature, add 1 tablespoon starter to the milk and stir once. Cover the container and keep in a warm place. In summers, I just let this sit on the stove top or the kitchen counter at room temperature. In winter, I warm the oven at 200F for 10 minutes, turn it off, and then keep the milk in it overnight. Sometimes, I also leave the cultured milk in the microwave with the light on. If you have an oven that has a light switch, you could keep the cultured milk in the oven with the light turned on.

Let the cultured milk set for 8-12 hours. Once the yogurt is set, it will separate from the whey and you will see the whey on top. 

To make Greek yogurt, you need to strain this whey by taking the yogurt in a cheesecloth and suspending it from a height so that every drop of liquid drops away. Whey is extremely rich in nutrients, so don't throw it away! Use it to cook rice, or make smoothies. When all the whey is removed, then remove the yogurt from the cheesecloth, beat well, and store in a container inside the fridge.

Do's and don'ts

1. Do cover the vessel! This saves the warmth from escaping and also prevents other bacteria from entering your milk culture.

2. Do test the temperature of the milk before adding the culture. If it is too hot, the culture will die. If it is too cold, the culture won't multiply.

3. Don't stir or move the container while it is setting. Yogurt does not set if it is disturbed, so just let it be!

4. Do not add salt to the milk until yogurt has set. Salt prevents fermentation so the yogurt won't set. You can add sugar if you like but again, it's best to let the yogurt set and then add whatever you like.

5. Do use a metal or glass or terracotta container to set yogurt. Yogurt does not set well in plastic containers.

6. Do store yogurt in the fridge after it has set, or it will turn sour. You can make buttermilk from sour yogurt.


Tips: 

1. If the cultured milk has been sitting for more than 8 hours and has not set, then add some warm milk to the mixture (not too hot, not too cold but warmer than lukewarm). The quantity of warm milk will depend on the quantity of cultured milk that you have. As a general rule, add about 1/2 cup warm milk for every 4 cups of cultured milk. Do not stir. Just add the milk and let it set on its own. You could also keep the container in some warm water so that it absorbs the heat, but adding warm milk has worked for me every time. Do not heat the container or the milk will curdle and you'll get cheese, not yogurt!

2. You can use your own yogurt as a starter every time you make yogurt. This starter can be used forever, but I like to use a new starter every few months for freshness.

3. Use your fingers to gauge the temperature of the milk and mix in the culture. It will help you determine the correct temperature of the milk. I have experienced a difference in the way yogurt sets when I use a spoon versus using my hands. If it's too hot for your fingers, it's too hot for the culture.

4. If your yogurt has turned bitter, it can still be consumed if you can tolerate the bitter taste or mask it in smoothies, but it is not good to use as a starter. Make yogurt again with a fresh starter.

5. Whole milk makes the best yogurt. If you prefer to use skim milk and would like thick yogurt, then reduce it to half by boiling it, cool it to lukewarm and add the culture; or make the yogurt with skim milk and then strain the whey for thicker yogurt. 

6. Some people use yogurt makers to make consistently good yogurt at home. Yogurt-making involves a lot of variables like temperature of the milk, activity of the starter, weather, etc. so if you don't like to think about all the things that can go wrong with making yogurt, buy a yogurt maker!