I have made yogurt in the past a few times, but have never kept with it because my end product has always been a little disappointing. A major problem has been that I have frequently ended up with a grainy texture. So this time I wanted to do a little research before starting. That's when I learned about Mesophilic yogurts.
Unlike the thermophilic yogurts that you buy at the store, Mesophilic yogurts do not require an elevated temperature to culture milk. Instead, they culture at room temperature or between 70 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Also they do not require you to heat your milk first. Making Mesophilic yogurt is as easy as dumping milk in a jar adding in some yogurt starter and letting it sit on the counter for 12-48 hours. Nice! Why had no one told me about Mesophilic yogurt before?
I selected Matsoni as the Mesophilic yogurt that I would try. I ordered from Cultures for Health, which I highly recommend. My order came a day early and their customer support has been truly awesome.
I was so excited, I filled a quart mason jar with some organic whole milk and stirred in my freeze dried yogurt packet and even stuck the jar in an insulated cooler with a hot water bottle incase the nightime temperatures fell into the 60s. After a day, nothing had happened. I took comfort that at least it still smelled like milk and not rotten. After 34 hours it looked like it might actually be starting to change into yogurt, but it was still pretty sloppy. It most certainly was not pulling neatly away from the edge of the jar when tilted like in the video. It was also starting to smell like a pungent sheep cheese. I was a little alarmed. I contacted customer support through their live chat option and described the situation.
The chat representative said that the Matsoni culture could smell a little strong at first. She then asked me what milk I used. I told her whole organic, and she asked whether it was ultra-pasturized. I checked, and sure enough it was ultra-pasturized. She explained that ultra-pasturized milk was so "dead" that one would not be able to make yogurt with it, and if it actually did make yogurt that I should switch to just pasturized milk right away.
I hoped against hope that my yogurt would turn out. It did look kind of "yogurty". Maybe this would be a rare instance where it worked. I waited until it had been out 48 hours. It hadn't firmed up much in the 14 ensuing hours. I tasted it. It tasted like a mixture between strong sheep cheese and an old shoe. I put it in the fridge. The directions had recommended cooling in the fridge for 6 hours once the yogurt had set. I had no idea how it would work, but somehow I was hoping cooling in the fridge would improve the taste. I tried it again after it had been in the fridge a while. It still tasted like strong cheese and an old shoe and the texture was very clumpy. I decided I would strain it, now it was thick clumpy cheesy shoe yogurt - still not edible though. I stashed it in the fridge, just in case I could use it to culture new milk.
Luckily, they provide two packets of freeze-dried yogurt culture in each order, so I didn't have to resort to trying to use the cheesy shoe yogurt yet, but I was down to my last packet. I had to get things right this time, so I was back to customer support running my game plan by them. I would use organic whole pasturized milk, heat the milk to 165 degrees first, after it cooled to room temperature
I would add my starter packet and hope for the best. I also only used 2 cups of milk this time, in case things didn't work out.
This time, after 22.5 hours, I had yogurt. It pulled neatly away from the sides and didn't taste or smell at all like a shoe. This mother batch was still a bit cheesy tasting to me, and if you are expecting it to be exactly like the store bought yogurt, you will be disappointed. It is more mild tasting, lacking that characteristic sourness, and the texture is more loose and watery.
The Gen 1 batches which I made from my first batch tasted less cheesy, perhaps due to the shorter
culturing time. They only took 15 hours to set. Next, I am experimenting with using half whole milk and half cream. I also want to experiment with heating the milk for the future batches and see if this will affect the thickness.
I don't think this will be a good substitute for the yogurt we use in Indian recipes, but I have been making 2 cups of Matsoni daily and am enjoying the very simple process of filling my pint mason jar with milk, stirring in a couple tablespoons of yogurt, setting the jar on top of the refrigerator, and letting the magic happen.
I hoped against hope that my yogurt would turn out. It did look kind of "yogurty". Maybe this would be a rare instance where it worked. I waited until it had been out 48 hours. It hadn't firmed up much in the 14 ensuing hours. I tasted it. It tasted like a mixture between strong sheep cheese and an old shoe. I put it in the fridge. The directions had recommended cooling in the fridge for 6 hours once the yogurt had set. I had no idea how it would work, but somehow I was hoping cooling in the fridge would improve the taste. I tried it again after it had been in the fridge a while. It still tasted like strong cheese and an old shoe and the texture was very clumpy. I decided I would strain it, now it was thick clumpy cheesy shoe yogurt - still not edible though. I stashed it in the fridge, just in case I could use it to culture new milk.
Luckily, they provide two packets of freeze-dried yogurt culture in each order, so I didn't have to resort to trying to use the cheesy shoe yogurt yet, but I was down to my last packet. I had to get things right this time, so I was back to customer support running my game plan by them. I would use organic whole pasturized milk, heat the milk to 165 degrees first, after it cooled to room temperature
I would add my starter packet and hope for the best. I also only used 2 cups of milk this time, in case things didn't work out.
This time, after 22.5 hours, I had yogurt. It pulled neatly away from the sides and didn't taste or smell at all like a shoe. This mother batch was still a bit cheesy tasting to me, and if you are expecting it to be exactly like the store bought yogurt, you will be disappointed. It is more mild tasting, lacking that characteristic sourness, and the texture is more loose and watery.
The Gen 1 batches which I made from my first batch tasted less cheesy, perhaps due to the shorter
culturing time. They only took 15 hours to set. Next, I am experimenting with using half whole milk and half cream. I also want to experiment with heating the milk for the future batches and see if this will affect the thickness.
I don't think this will be a good substitute for the yogurt we use in Indian recipes, but I have been making 2 cups of Matsoni daily and am enjoying the very simple process of filling my pint mason jar with milk, stirring in a couple tablespoons of yogurt, setting the jar on top of the refrigerator, and letting the magic happen.
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