Yonne thats alol the videos I'll put up for now. I like the idea of using nuts if I can't find milk. I can grow p-nuts here. They did really well last we tried which was a while ago.
Thanks. I ordered some starter from Amazon but I haven't tried it yet. I recently watched a video on yogurt making using mason jars and an insulated cooler that was interesting. I have a yogurt maker so I might as well do it the easy way.
Interesting. I have never made Kefir. I have always made yogurt and set it in the oven, using the oven light.
This is the video I watched where she uses a cooler and warm water to make yogurt. I like her videos but she's "talky". Also, a couple of her recipes I made were less than thrilling. (16 min.)
I'll have to rewatch the video again. And you are right, she is "talky". While she was going on about friends and homemade gifts, and yada yada, I got distracted by all the stuff on her kitchen counter and on top of the cabinets, ha!
I also thought she was very chatty; but I just kept creeping the video forward until she actually was doing something about making the yogurt. I didn’t even notice her kitchen counter. However, I did notice that she makes her yogurt with a whole lot of sugar in it. The kefir healing book that I have been reading says that the bad yeast (think candida) love sugar, and the good yeast grow when there is not any sugar present except what is naturally in the milk. Since I only make a quart at a time, I do not want to make a whole cooler full , but I like the idea. My kitchen is so cold this time of year that it can take days before my kefir actually thickens properly, which is why I had tried making it in the yogurt maker. I have a small insulated lunchbox that looks to me like it will perfectly fit a quart jar; so the next batch, I will warm the milk, mix in the kefir starter, and then put it in the insulated lunchbox and see how that works.
Yes, all the sugar. It kind of defeats the purpose of a healthy food. When I make yogurt, I don't use any sugar or vanilla. It is plain. I do use whole fat milk because I don't like skim, fat free, or 2 percent. After it is deemed yogurt, I strain mine because I like thick yogurt; greek. I scoop it into those little 1 cup containers, and I usually have enough for a week. Sometimes I save the leftover whey and use it when I make bread, and sometimes it goes down the drain.
Here's the "original" recipe for the yogurt made in the cooler; this woman doesn't use any sugar or vanilla... https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-2/ I would probably like the sugar and vanilla in mine; I'm not a big fan of plain yogurt.
I'm finally planning to make milk kefir tomorrow. I got the starter from Amazon (not grains) and I'll just make a quart to start with. Our house is usually around 72 degrees so I expect that will be OK for fermenting, though I do have a quart size yogurt maker if I need to drag it out.
I just thought I'd throw this out there for those who are unaware. Greek yogurt has a higher percentage of protein because the whey has been strained out, leaving the protein behind. But what you lose with the whey is the anti-carcinogenic benefit of yogurt. Or so I read some time ago. So it's a tradeoff. I'm with @Beth Gallagher. I cannot tolerate the acidic bite of unsweetened yogurt. But the sweetened stuff has as much sugar in it as ice cream. Even vanilla flavored store-bought yogurt has the same amount of sugar in a like-kind amount of Breyers. And I won't do artificial sweeteners.
This is my favorite Greek yogurt... Fabulous with fresh berries and a spoonful of GrapeNuts stirred in. I can't deal with unsweetened Greek yogurt at all, and I love most dairy products (sour cream, cottage cheese, etc.)
I believe that Greek Gods is Greek style yogurt; that is, it is not thicker because the whey has been strained out, it is thicker because of added pectin (other brands use different thickeners.) This is not necessarily a bad thing if you want the anti-carcinogenic benefits of whey retained and just like your yogurt thicker. It is a bad thing if you think you're paying a premium for real Greek yogurt that's the high-protein concentrated reduction of regular yogurt.
I'm not concerned with whey/health benefits/any of that. I just like the yogurt. When I consider healthy options, I choose regular plain yogurt with live cultures.
I wish I could develop a taste for the plain stuff. I've tried, but it's not gonna happen. But I think calling something Greek "style" is sneaky.