Yoghurt – How to Make it in Your hostel/home.
Yoghurt is milk that has been fermented. It’s prepared by boiling milk and adding two live cultures: Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Warm milk provides the ideal environment for bacteria to flourish, thickening the milk and resulting in yoghurt.
The word “yoghurt” is derived from the Turkish word “yogurmak,” which means “thickening.” Herders in Central Asia made it for the first time thousands of years ago by mistake. Milk was stored in sheep stomachs. Bacteria from the gut lining thickened the milk, transforming it into yoghurt.
How is it Made?
Plain yoghurt is prepared by heating milk and mixing it with a starter yoghurt culture, which is usually spoonful from a previously made batch of yoghurt. The milk combination is kept warm for at least eight hours, allowing the cultures to bloom and yield creamy yoghurt.
The yoghurt literally comes to life during the incubation stage. Because the milk and culture mixture must be kept at or near 45 degrees Celsius for at least eight to ten hours, you’ll need an insulated location. You can use kitchen towels to wrap around the containers for extra insulation.
The 7 easy steps
- Preparation of ingredients – Raw milk or reconstituted milk may be used in the preparation. You may use 12-13% of dry milk powder to reconstituted milk. Weigh 120-130g of milk powder for every litre of yoghurt, dissolve with a little water and top up with more water to the one litre mark of the measuring jug.
- Pasteurize Milk – The milk mixture may be heated to 85°C for 30 minutes or 95°C for 10minutes.The high heat treatment denatures the whey(serum) proteins, causing the proteins to form a more stable gel which prevents whey separation during storage. The number of spoilage organisms in the milk is also reduced by high heat treatment, creating a more conducive environment for the starter cultures to grow. Reconstituted milk ( with milk powder ) may be pasteurized at 72°C for 15-20 seconds.
- Cool Milk – Cool the milk to 42-45°C to bring the yoghurt to the ideal growth temperature for the starter culture.
- Inoculate with starter culture – Mix 2-3% (20-30ml/litre) of the starter cultures thoroughly into the cooled milk.
- Incubate – Incubate the milk at 42°C. This process can take 4-8hrs and allows the fermentation to progress to form a soft gel and the characteristic yoghurt flavor. See above for how to incubate at home.
- Cool – Stir the milk mix and cool to 5°C to stop the fermentation process.
7.Add sweeteners/Fruits & Flavors – Sweeteners, fruits and flavors may be added to the yoghurt at this stage. Sugar may be added at the rate of 7-10% so you may add 70-100g of sugar to one litre. Refrigerate. They will last for up to two weeks. Put some music on and dance when you’re ready to enjoy it!
Now go gather all of the necessary components and materials and give it a shot. You can contact us through e-mail if you require assistance.
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