An abundance of yoghurt

Life is returning to some sort of routine after the excitement of the last week or so. Dear daughter and her prince are adjusting to life with a little one who loves to sleep all day and party all night!

Term 1 is underway so that always keeps us in a routine. Teaching is very rewarding, and my darling and I both enjoy our 'work'. Being part-time, I try to keep a balance in life, not only for me but for our family.

The weather is stunning at the moment - mild and sunny, and we have some frangipani blossoms in the garden (as you can see above). We planted a cutting in September and so, far so good. The winter months will be the testing time though.

Something else I have been doing of late is making yoghurt. Our household consumes copious quantities of this health food - with fruit and muesli at breakfast, with desserts at night and for snacks during the day. I use it in baking instead of milk, we eat it to settle a tummy and add it to fruit smoothies. We were eating a bio-dynamic variety but recently our doctor told my darling he had to have 'unhomogenised' yoghurt (don't ask me why, obviously it is better for you for some reason). Now yoghurt of this type is very hard to come by and I actually haven't noticed it for sale so I decided to make my own.

After investigating commercial yoghurt makers and keeping in mind 'celebrating a year of abundance', I had a brainwave - why not try our crock pot (slow cooker) and use my abundance of fruit bottling jars? The photo above shows some early attempts which were a little like 'curds and whey', but still delicious, I have refined the process now to produce a delicate, natural, yummy, set yoghurt which we far prefer to commercial varieties. Here's how:

Heat 2 litres of unhomogenised, organic or bio-dynamic whole milk until bubbles start to appear. Turn off heat and leave for 45 minutes.
Mix in 5 tablespoons of natural yoghurt and pour into jars. Seal.
Place in crockpot which is about half full of lukewarm water. Put lid on.
Turn onto LOW and leave until it reaches about 40 degrees (feels warm/hot and takes about 45 minutes).
Turn off and cover the crockpot with a folded towel to keep the heat in.
The yoghurt takes about 5 hours in total in the crockpot - remove and refrigerate.

Easy and delicious!