I’ve been making my own yogurt for awhile–from my own cow’s milk, to boot! I love it. I started making yogurt in a crock pot and now I use this yogurt maker
My favorite way to make yogurt is to put about two tablespoons of whatever my latest favorite jam is in the bottom of each 6-ounce cup. After I’ve prepared the milk by adding the yogurt culture, I pour the milk mixture into the jars, over the jam, then set in my yogurt maker. After the yogurt is finished, I have individual cups of fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt. Sometimes I eat it with a spoon right out of the jar, but most often I dump my fruity yogurt into a bowl and top it with several scoops of my homemade cereal mix.
But enough about me! I’m perfectly satisfied with my yogurt experience. But Morgan…. She loves yogurt, but she doesn’t like texture. NO TEXTURE for her! NONE. It bothered me to buy yogurt at the store for her when I had milk and could make yogurt at home. I set about trying to figure out how to make her favorite yogurt–blueberry–with NO TEXTURE. I have a stash of blueberry jam, but I knew that wouldn’t do. Jam has the dreaded texture. I tried different experiments with blueberry syrup. I tried adding the syrup to the yogurt mixture before setting the yogurt. I tried putting blueberry syrup at the bottom of jars, where I would usually put jam. I tried putting syrup at the top of the jar! No matter what I tried, it didn’t work to Morgan’s satisfaction. Once the yogurt is set, stirring it in–either from on top of the jar or the bottom of the jar–results in an imperfect consistency. Adding the syrup before setting the yogurt results in a thin yogurt.
And then there was this intriguing little discussion on the CITR forum about making yogurt with flavored Jell-O. Aha! Could this be the ticket to perfectly smooth, fruit-flavored yogurt for Morgan? Only Sheryl-Runningtrails, who had started the discussion, had had a failure in her attempt. To unlock the secrets of Jell-O and yogurt, I would have to conduct my own trials.
I girded my loins and secured the CITR laboratory for experimentation.
I consulted with the chickens.
I meditated on the hills.
I bought a couple packages of Berry Blue Jell-O and also some Tropical Fusion Jell-O, two flavors Morgan deemed acceptable.
I also consulted the internet, and found a discussion on a forum somewhere about dissolving Jell-O in a cup of boiling water then adding it to yogurt after the yogurt is set then resetting the mixture together. I attempted this experiment, and it resulted in a lumpy consistency that was thoroughly enjoyed by the dogs since no human would touch it.
The Jell-O would have to be dissolved directly in the milk in order to achieve the consistency I was looking for. Adding gelatin to yogurt is a common practice, of course–but not flavored gelatin. Gelatin, if added to yogurt, is recommended in most recipes to be added while heating the milk to 180-degrees. For some reason, I decided to make my first experiment with adding the Jell-O directly to the yogurt at 116 degrees, just before adding the yogurt culture.
This actually worked really well, except not enough of the Jell-O dissolved for full flavor.
By the next attempt, I realized I should have followed instructions for using plain gelatin, adding the Jell-O as I heated the milk to 180. This gives the Jell-O plenty of heat and time to dissolve. By the time the mixture is down to 116 and ready for the yogurt culture, the Jell-O is almost completely dissolved. To ensure a perfect consistency with no potential for graininess (that would add TEXTURE!), I strained the milk mixture then added the culture. (You may or may not need to strain it.) Whatever you do, don’t bring your milk to a boil. 180 and no more.
Because Morgan had also complained about “froth” interfering with her perfectly smooth non-texture experience, I also dabbed off every last bit of frothy bubble I could from the top of the jars then set the yogurt.
Morgan said, “It tastes like Go-Gurt.”
I have created homemade Go-Gurt! And she loves it, so from that standpoint, it’s a success. As far as I’m concerned, this is a complete abomination. I’ll take my plain yogurt with fruit on the bottom (homemade jam) any day. But if you’ve got kids, this might help you get homemade yogurt in them, too. Works for me!
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Darlene in North GA says:
Great job! It’s always thrilling to get our picky kids to eat something we’ve made. lol
This might work for my grown daughter and grandson.
On September 29, 2011 at 1:23 am
Darlene in North GA says:
P.S.
Have you seen a post, don’t remember if it was on this blog or another, about how to use a “Food Saver” type sealing machine and making the little tubes of “go-gurt”? It’s EASY!!
Stir your yogurt up so it’s creamy, seal one side of plastic roll. Seal the other side of the plastic roll, seal on end. Put in your yogurt and then seal the other end. To make the next “tube”, move the plastic down about 1/2″ – 3/4″ and seal the next side and continue on. When done, cut between the sealed sections and you have tubes of your own yogurt. Toss in freezer, put in kid’s lunch. hth
On September 29, 2011 at 1:26 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
Thanks, Darlene! I have seen the food sealer idea somewhere, can’t remember where, thanks for mentioning it! I bet little kids would like that. Morgan is a teenager so she is fine with eating it out of the cup so I didn’t do that.
On September 29, 2011 at 6:42 am
Darlene in North GA says:
Oh, and you can do the same thing with fruit juice or a pitcher of Kool-aid and have “freezer pops”.
On September 29, 2011 at 1:27 am
Kenya Cook says:
I recently made the frozen yogurt pops by this recipe from Tina Butler: http://farmbellrecipes.com/strawberry-yogurt-popsicles/.
I had some mixture left after pouring into my popsicle molds so I just stuck it in the fridge. It set up, of course and man, is it delicious! I used peach jello and pureed some drained, canned peaches (about a cup) into the mixture. Yes, it has a bit of texture from the peaches, but mine aren’t texture-phobic so it’s a winner!
On September 29, 2011 at 6:32 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
oh–I like Tina’s method, too. I had forgotten about that recipe. Thanks, Kenya Cook! That would work great, too, only Morgan wouldn’t like the pureed fruit. I think the recipe would probably work without the pureed fruit, too, though. Only thing with that one, I think because the Jell-O is dissolved in water then the mixture is whisked together with (already set) yogurt, you would HAVE to do a frozen treat out of it, it wouldn’t set up firm enough to just refrigerate, but if you want to do that with pops or with the food sealer idea to make the tubes, that would be a good way to do it!
On September 29, 2011 at 6:55 am
Sheryl - Runningtrails says:
OK, so that was my problem, boiling it! Good to know! Thank you, Suzanne, for doing this and making it work.
On September 29, 2011 at 6:42 am
Darlene says:
I haven’t been able to eat regula r yogurt or frozen yogurt in years. It really bothers my stomach with painns. I can’t figure out why it is the only dairy product that bothers me. I am a lover of it but don’t to be bad just because I ate some o fit.
On September 29, 2011 at 7:28 am
Deb says:
Ewwwww, jello? I think I’ll stick with jam on the bottom of my homemade yogurt too!
On September 29, 2011 at 8:39 am
DancesInGarden says:
Oh. Em. Gee! This will be PERFECT for my husband and daughter, who love yogurt but gag if there are any lumps! They like the home made yogurt, but not plain.
On September 29, 2011 at 9:35 am
Country Girl @ Heart says:
I have had some grainy issues with my homemade yogurt and discovered that my hand blender will work it all in so it is creamy. I also strain mine to acheive the thicker set because adding fruit with syrup or just syrup tends to make it too thin.
On September 29, 2011 at 10:27 am
carriej says:
Ummmm…no offense, but that looks gross. Your’s sounds better!! Regular white yogurt on top, yummy fruit on the bottom, few scoops of grape nuts for crunch.
On September 29, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Elizabeth Stallions says:
Suzanne, this sounds yummy, I will have to try it for my boy’s, I have been making yogurt with the raw milk that I buy and my kid’s don’t like the taste of it, they say it’s “Cheesy” I cannot tell a difference, but you know how KID’S are!!
On September 29, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Kimberly in NC says:
Not related to yogurt at all, but I love Morgan’s glasses! They look great on her.
On September 29, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Kenya Cook says:
Suzanne, the yogurt re-sets fine after putting it in the fridge. I was surprised that it did, but apparently the jello is enough. Made with just the jello, water and yogurt (i.e. without the fruit puree) it is VERY smooth textured and well set. I think we finally discovered the secret to replicating that store bought fruit flavored yogurt. For the kids, you know.
On September 30, 2011 at 6:02 am