Champion’s Breakfast - Healthy Choices for a great start to your day
Friday July 30th, 2010
Introduction – Home Made Yoghurt
Yogurt making is relatively easy for cooks with a good eye for temperatures and infection control, and the flavor of homemade yogurt can be easily adjusted to meet various tastes.
The easiest type of homemade yogurt to create is plain, unflavored yogurt, although flavors can be mixed in after the yogurt is made, or the yogurt can be served with fresh fruit, granola, or other nutritional additions.
Homemade yogurt can be made with any type of milk with any fat percentage, although full fat milk will create a richer, thick final product.
Yogurt has been made for centuries in Turkey and Greece.
It is made by mixing Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus with warmed and cooled milk, held at a temperature to promote growth of these organisms, but not harmful bacteria.
The mixture is incubated for eight to 12 hours, and the two organisms digest the lactose in the milk, thickening the milk proteins and producing tangy lactic acid as a byproduct.
The end result is yogurt, which can be eaten in a myriad of dishes as well as on its own.
You can consider purchasing a yogurt incubator which is available in major department stores and that includes usually also the cups etc. so you won’t have to worry about temperatures etc.
Otherwise you can use the oven, a cooler filled with warm water, or your car on a warm day, but be aware that holding the right temperature can be challenging, and will require monitoring.
It is also crucial to acquire an accurate thermometer, as you will need to check temperatures frequently.
First step add the culture to the milk.
The best culture for homemade yogurt is a batch of plain store bought yogurt, as long as the container says “active cultures” or “live cultures.” Add two tablespoons of yogurt for every quart of milk, stirring the mixture evenly and then pouring it into sterilized containers. Incubate the yogurt containers, holding the temperature between 41-49 degrees Celsius, and do not disturb them.
The longer the yogurt incubates, the thicker and tangier it will be.
After approximately eight hours of incubation, the homemade yogurt will be finished, and can be refrigerated for up to two weeks before use. Make sure to set aside a jar to use as a starter for another batch, and use a fresh container of commercial yogurt every five or six batches so that you do not exhaust your culture.
Nutrition
With protein, calcium, magnesium, riboflavin, vitamins B-6 and B-12, and more, plain low-fat or non-fat yogurt is as nutritious as skim milk.
In fact, yogurt has one benefit over milk because its active cultures help digest the naturally occurring sugar (lactose) in milk that can cause bloating and diarrhea in some people.
Recipe –Peaches and Cherries with home made Natural Yogurt
Ingredients
1 Tub of Natural Yogurt (Home made or Ready made)
½ peach washed and diced
4 nice and ripe cherries with out stones and cut in ¼
On or two spoons of mixed crushed nuts (Cashew nuts, Pistachios, Walnuts)
1 spoon full of good quality Honey
Directions
In a bowl mix the fruits, the nuts and the honey
Mix the Yogurt to the mixture, Stir well and enjoy
You can sprinkle some Granola over the yogurt which will give it some extra goodness.
