I dusted down my yoghurt maker today as I am fed up of the high sugar content of the bought organic yoghurts. I added 8 teaspoons of honey, cinnamon and ginger to a litre of skimmed milk before making it. Has anyone got any other suggestions for homemade yoghurt, including ideas for children?

Jaki

skimmed milk might make your Yoghurt to watery. It's better to use semi-skimmed and less honey. Try some variety of fruit to sweeten it up, that might include some dry (sultanas) or fresh. It is good to use food blender to smooth everything down, unless you prefer fruit chunks.
cheers
Jo

What sort of calories per portion is that?

My homemade yoghurt is always too runny for my liking. I've started to add some skimmed milk powder as well.

If I'm feeling flush I buy some vanilla pods and boil the milk with them, then let the milk cool and make the yoghurt. I don't like to sweeten it myself.

I quite fancy some lemon flavour ones but I'm afraid the milk will curdle. Hmm, might hunt out some online recipes.

Thanks for your replies. I'll work out the calories and get back to you also trying it for semi-skimmed milk. My machine has 8 pots rather than one big one. I love the idea of vanilla pods and lemon too. Keep passing on the recipes. I did forget to say that I too add 4 spoonfuls of dried skimmed milk powder to thicken it up but they're still quite watery. The sultanas sound good but do they sink to the bottom of the pots? I quite fancy dried apricots too - I suppose you could boil them, liquidise them and then add to the yoghurt mix before putting the machine on. I'll still got 6 left from this lot at the moment as my husband seems to prefer the children's fromage frais!! Maybe cocoa powder would be good but I've given up chocolate for Lent!

Jaki

i used to have one of these, but gave up there are such lovely flavours - low fat etc out there. maybe i am just getting lazy.

tesco healthy eating nat yog is very low in cals/fat you could always use that and just add some extras of your choosing. be careful with the dried fruit etc as it is very high in sugar.

i used to give it to my kids instead of sweets but the dentist told me to stop as there was so much sugar in it!!

i am currently on a baked apple/cinnamon and natural yoghurt fest it is absolutely lovely!!

Yes, but all those 'healthy eating' yoghurts are full of additives, chemicals and goodness knows what - locust beangum? euk! I used to make yoghurt in big jam jars and leave in on the rayburn or in the airing cupboard overnight - always boiled milk first, then added dried skimmed milk for extra body.
would make it again, but don't have a Rayburn or airing cupboard anymore.

Just made some yummy yoghurt. 1 litre semi skimmed milk, couple of spoons of milk powder, brought to the boil with a vanilla pod and seeds. Left to cool, then mixed with 1 pot of sheeps milk bio yoghurt. Then bunged in the incubator overnight.

It's dead nice. It has the crumbly texture of the sheeps milk yoghurt, and the bite of the vanilla seeds. I'm trying to resist eating them all!

That sounds great Liv, I've got my starter ready in the fridge. Just got to find the vanilla pod/seeds. Are they quite easy to buy?

Yep I think most large supermarkets have them. I bought some vanilla extract as well as the pods are pretty expensive.

Hi Liv,

Have finally managed to get some vanilla pods. Being ignorant, I'm presuming one pod is one of the long black things. Just gotta get the sheep's yoghurt now, not as easy as I thought. Perhaps I'll try just the normal yog starter for this time.

Has anyone tried the EasiYo maker and sachets? I have seen good reviews, but wondering about the calories/health benefits.

Liv, I've made the yogs (vanilla & sheeps yog) at long last and they are very nice indeed. Are you meant to get a little crust on the top? As I have 8 individual pots, I cut the vanilla pod into 8 pieces so not sure if it had the desired effect? Think I'll put in more vanilla next time.

Lovely on top of strawberries!

I'm feeling inspired by this thread - how easy is it to make your own yogurt, and how does it compare to the stuff you buy (cost wise). I generally eat Activia low fat, or Muller Vitality. I find many of the low fat yogurts are too runny.

I've used the EasiYo yoghurt maker and it is really easy to use. You have to buy sachets of powder which you add to water. The yoghurt is usually fairly thick and you can get lots of different varieties, but I only really like the plain ones. I add frozen mixed berries, but my children don't think it is sweet enough and always add sugar. Its much cheaper than buying ready made, but probably not as cheap as making it from scratch - easier though!

Teresa, try Total 0% fat yogurt - it's very thick and tasty. I posted somewhere a couple of weeks ago that I used it as topping for a lasagne with some low-fat feta crumbled on top.

I also used it yesterday with grated cucumber, garlic and mint to make delicious tzatziki. Of course, you may be tempted to eat it straight from the tub!

I do!! Got 3 tubs in the supermarket today!! Have to resist daughter's full fat Greek yoghurt with honey!

Thanks for the responses - I will have a look at the Total 0% fat and I might check out the make it yourself stuff too!

I've made Total - style yoghurt recently. I used whole milk and a few tbs of plain yogurt to start, and strained it afterwards (through a muslin cloth).

Hi

I have an easy yo and you can use this with normal milk and a starter as with normall yogurt making! a bit thin though so I might start adding some milk powder as well

Total do a 2% fat Greek yogurt with honey (not quite so bad as the full fat greek but just as tasty)

I'll have to look out for that - sounds delicious!

For a change (and much cheaper than Total 0%) I tried the Sainsbury's Fat Free Normandy Fromage Frais and that is also very creamy without the cals. It is about 49cals for 100g, pretty low. I topped with the crumbs from my kids' flapjacks (see flapjack thread) - sounds crazy but is delicious without too many cals.

... haven't noticed that Jaki - I usually zoom past the dairy section! Having said that, I buy the Be Good To Yourself very low fat cream cheese. If you mix it with hot pasta and a tiny bit of water, it makes a lovely creamy sauce.

I tried the Total 0% greek style yogurt on my strawberries last night, and it was delicious - I don't normally go for the Greek style anyway, but it was lovely and creamy instead of thin and runny.

I'll def get this again, and the calorie content is great too!

Result! Another convert. I wish I were on commission here

Got my daughter Total 3% yog with strawberry dip (like Muller Fruit Corner) but I didn't hide it in fridge well enough and hubby ate it!! My daughter loves strawberries.