# Strawberry Yogurt Recipe



## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I want to make some strawberry yogurt. I would like to make a quart of it. I want it kind of thick so I thought I would use a sugar free strawberry Jello and some diced up fresh strawberries in it. I can also use the heating pad in the cooler idea.

Can somebody give me a recipe where my ideas above would work in it. I have never made yogurt before. I have some plain Dannon Yogurt I think I can use for a culture?? But how much for a quart of yogurt?

:help


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

I always flavor my yoghurt after it's done and then you can use whatever you want, I guess. A quart of yoghurt isn't much...... The Dannon plain (it's plain right? That's crucial!!) yoghurt will be fine as a culture, that's what I use most of the time, too, if I don't have my own yoghurt.

For a quart, you probably won't need more than 1/4 to 1/2 cup of yoghurt, mix in well. It's a bit tricky to get thick, flavored yoghurt, since 'goat' yoghurt tends to be a bit thinner than 'cow' yoghurt already, and it thins up when you stir flavoring in it after it's been standing for a day. So I add dry milk powder at the same time as I add the yoghurt (culture) to thicken up my yoghurt. 

I always use fresh strawberries, pureed, but again: that does thin up your yoghurt. What you could do, is make your strawberry mixture and keep it separate, then scoop and stir it in when you're ready to eat a bowl of yoghurt. 

Hopefully there's more people with good ideas! Can't wait to read them myself!


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

The unflavored gelatin works well at one packet per quart. I use the Knox brand. Two to four tablespoons of your Dannon or better yet some Redwood Hills Goat Yogurt would do the trick. After you have warmed your milk, added your gelatin and culture add your flavoring be it fruit sauce, cut fruit and sugar or maple syrup and cinnimon. Pour your yogurt into the jar, wrap in the heating pad (set on low) and towels, place in the cooler for 8 to 12 hrs. It will firm even more once cooled in the fridge. Allow to cool for a half day then eat it!


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

This is the recipe I came up with that worked. 


1 quart of goat milk
2 tablespoons of plain Dannon yogurt
1 package of sugar free strawberry jello
2 heaping tablespoons of Splenda

Place a heating pad in a cooler, lay a couple of towels on top of the heating pad. Turn the heating pad on to low. OR use a chick hatching incubator set to about 93-95 degrees. 

Warm milk to 110 degrees. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into clean jars. Set jars in the cooler and close the lid or put them in the clean chick incubator. Leave the yogurt undisturbed for 12 hours to 24 hours. Refrigerate promptly. Yogurt will thicken after it has been in the fridge for a day. You can chop up some fresh strawberries and serve over the yogurt and/or top with bran buds, grape nuts or granola.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Can you use store bought milk to make yogurt?


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

If you will use a Bulgarian culture and ripen it slowly at lower temps and then hang it in butter muslin to drain a bit of liquid off you will not have to add the industrial waste of Jello to your wholesome milk :biggrin
I can't see ruining a great food like whole fresh cultured yogurt with so many chemicals and over-processed products that are known to be harmful and are also questionably produced. Now I know...granny ate jello and she lived to 130 and many little kids grew up on powdered milk but really...don't you go to the expense and labor of keeping dairy goats to have wholesome food?
Jello does not qualify.
Powdered milk is beyond unqualified...

It is just so much nicer to have the knowledge that the whole product is good for you.
It is best when making a fully cultured milk product to add the fruit after the culturing is complete so as not to interfere with or skew the work of the bacteria.

Lee


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

You bring out such good points. I never even really thought about those things being unhealthy additions to the yogurt. So it may not set up if I put the strawberries in at the beginning. Maybe that is the best idea, to just make a strawberry slurry and stir some into the yogurt when ready to eat. What do you think about the Splenda. Think that could mess it up too?


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Strawberries are very 'wet' and lend their moisture to most anything they are included in.
If you want to use fresh berries just steep them with a drizzle of honey to get some sweet juice and add as you serve your yogurt or if you want thicker more syrupy- make stovetop jam- just reduce the liquid the berries give up with a bit of honey on medium heat until it is clarified and a thickness you like and serve cold with the yogurt. The flavor will be intense that way and the yogurt will still be firm.

We kept a Bulgarian yogurt culture going for a couple of years and it got thicker an more wonderfully flavored -not just tart-used it as a mother culture after making a half gallon the first time. You can find the culture several places- and there are other cultures too that are more interesting than what happens with a store bought culture or those horrid slimy granule things ....ewwwwww :ick
Try good stout yogurt on your homemade Mexican food too- great sub for sour cream. Try making a yogurt that has been drained- most storebought makes you pay for the whey! They get to sell you water they have thickened with junk! You can make a far nicer product :biggrin

Lee


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

> Try making a yogurt that has been drained


<--- secretly hides away from the world in the morning with drained yogurt, homemade apple butter-5 grain granola, and fresh blackberries on top. Yogurt, take me away!


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I am using my chicken egg incubator to make my yogurt in. I set 3 wide mouth pint jars of my mixture in there. We shall see if it works. Don't know why it wouldn't. It has a temperature adjustment knob. It normally stays at 99.5 to hatch chicks, but I have turned it down some. I have it fixed where the egg turner is not rotating. What I decided to try is fresh milk, plain dannon yogurt, 1 envelope of sugar free strawberry jello, 2 heaping tablespoons of Splenda. Mixed it up well and poured it into my jars. I'll dice up some strawberries and splenda and cook that down to add into the yogurt when we get ready to eat it. 

Hey Pav, I like to put Bran Buds on mine.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Can you use store bought milk to make yogurt? Just wondering when we get hooked on homemade yogurt and my girls are dry.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

I think you can. Never did it though.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

It's not very thick this morning. I'll leave it til about noon and then put it in the fridge to see if it thickens up any more. The chick incubator is working just fine. It is keeping the temp at about 93 degrees.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Wanted to let you all know that the chicken incubator worked perfectly. The yogurt turned out wonderful. It is nice and thick. It tastes so good I didn't even chop up the strawberries in it. 

How long does it keep in the fridge? I made 3 pint jars, but I only eat about 1/2 cup a day. I am on a low carb diet. 

Thanks for your help and ideas.


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## Trysta (Apr 5, 2011)

Yoghurt keeps very long! Enjoy!


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