Making yogurt with homogenized milk??

[Mama Poot]

Is this possible? I'd love to try making yogurt because me and the kids eat a lot of it!!! But I do not currently have a raw milk source right now. And since the milk I would be using is also pasteurized, do I need to add some kind of starter?

[dogmom327]

The starters I have on my website (see siggy) work with raw, pasteurized, homogenized or non-homogenized

[bremen]

i make yogurt with regular grocery store milk, and greek yogurt. it works jsut fine

[Rainbow2911]

Homogenised milk works perfectly well. I've only just managed to find some non homogenised for yogurt making so I've been using it for a while. It does have a slightly different consistancy but nothing bad.
You can use shop bought live yogurt as a starter. No idea what brands are good in other countries (i'm sure others can tell you) but I used yeo valley yogurt to start mine off and have been recultureing it for a few months. Some people find that they need to use shop bought yogurt to start thiers off regularly but mine has been fine with just being recultured so far.

[mama-aya]

I just made my first batch of yogurt in the crockpot with a gallon of Organic Valley whole milk (pasteurized and homgenized) and a cup of Nancy's organic plain yogurt. It came out great, was super easy, though I strained it so it would be thick like greek yogurt and I'd have lots of whey for bread and such. Half of it I sweetened with honey after I made it, mixed it in with the hand mixer, and then strained it.
Bremen- how do you make Greek Yogurt? That's what we really like, but I just guessed about straining it so it would be thick.

[Mama Poot]

Stonyfield Farms is a good yogurt, and the one I always buy anyway so I'll just use that. Thanks everyone!!!

[MadameXCupcake]

Pasteurized and homogenized milk are DIFFERENT.
Homogenization is potentially dangerous. Here is a good overview of why..

'Milk Homogenization and Heart Disease'
http://www.realmilk.com/homogenization.html

[pixiepunk]

agreed. however, if her choice is making yogurt from scratch with homogenized milk or buying commercially produced yogurt from homogenized milk, i would think it would be better for her to make it from scratch.

[MadameXCupcake]

Originally Posted by pixiepunk

agreed. however, if her choice is making yogurt from scratch with homogenized milk or buying commercially produced yogurt from homogenized milk, i would think it would be better for her to make it from scratch.

But maybe the OP didn't know there was a difference or one was more harmful than the other. So now if possible she knows to looks for just pasteurized. I know there are just pasteurized milks.

[bremen]

mama-aya,
i meant that i used greek yogurt as the starter.
but straining yogurt through cheesecloth is how greek yogurt is made.
i usually strain mine about 2 hours and it is nice and thick.
leaving it overnight makes a lovely spreadable "cheese" that i mix with garlic and herbs, and is great to spread on crispbread or crackers (especially ryvita)

[motherbirth]

Originally Posted by MadameXCupcake

But maybe the OP didn't know there was a difference or one was more harmful than the other. So now if possible she knows to looks for just pasteurized. I know there are just pasteurized milks.

True, but at least around me, the only non-homogenized milk you can buy is from a farm. May be true of the OP too.

That aside, any milk will culture other than ULTRA pasteurized. Make sure not to buy that, it won't culture at all. It's horrible stuff.

[taygirl]

I just made my first batch of homemade yogurt-- some thick, yummy stuff! I used regular pasteurized, homogenized whole milk. I added a wee bit of heavy cream. I used Dannon's plain yogurt as a starter. I do not have a yogurt maker, so I just used a Walgreen's brand heating pad (their cheapest one-- the medium setting kept it right around 110 degrees-- perfect! I took a large plastic drink pitcher, placed my 1 quart mason jar of yogurt into the pitcher, and wrapped the heating pad around it. Worked perfectly-- thick, rich, and creamy-- I'm so excited! :