Making Piima Yogurt is so easy and is saving our family so much money by not having to buy yogurt at the store! Several years ago in our favorite magazine, The Backwoodsman, there was a how to article on making yogurt. I was intrigued but the process seemed fairly intensive with the need to have a yogurt maker machine and at the time I was not consuming enough yogurt to make it seem worth all that effort. For me it was more about the adventure of being able to make something on my own at home.
Fast forward several years. I now eat yogurt almost everyday; it is a quick easy snack for me to make by mixing in some fruit and granola. Every time I go grocery shopping, I buy one or two 32oz containers of plain yogurt (typically organic) so the cost can add up.
Last week as I was perusing our local Craigslist, I happened to see an ad for Piima yogurt culture and Kifer grains. I immediately responded to the ad and a few days later embarked on my first adventure in making yogurt and water kefir (stay tuned another day for a blog post on making water kefir!)
The local gal I got the yogurt and kefir from also emailed me a great step by step instruction guide she created for folks who got yogurt culture and kefir grains from her. I am amazed at how easy it is! It reminds me of sourdough starter where you always have to reserve some of your original product to grow your next round and continue that cycle. The gal I got the piima yogurt from said she has had hers going for about two years.
I had never heard of Piima yogurt so did a quick google search to find out more about it. Basically it is a strong yogurt culture with origins in Scandinavia. The instructions I have from the local gal even list how to strain the yogurt for a thicker consistency and how to make it into butter, sour cream and cream cheese- how fun is that?! There are also recipes on the internet for using it to make salad dressing, sauces, etc . For now I’m just focusing on making yogurt but in the future when I have time I plan to try out the butter, sour cream, cream cheese, salad dressing recipes (again more future blog posts to look forward to!)
So here’s how it works:
Step 1: in a glass jar (canning jars work great) place 1 TBS of piima yogurt culture in 1 cup of whole milk (preferably organic). The milk we use is pasteurized, there is a separate set of instructions on how to make the yogurt if your milk is not pasteurized. For more yogurt, increase the ratio (2 TBS culture for 2 cups of milk).
Step 2: Stir with a non-metal utensil since metal breaks down the yogurt culture.
Step 3: Place a breathable piece of cloth on top and put a rubber band around the neck of the jar to secure the cloth.
Step 4: Sit the covered jar in a room temperature location out of direct sunlight for 18-24 hours. When you tip the jar slightly and the yogurt pulls away from the side it is finished. At this point, I make my next batch and either eat what is left or stick it in the fridge to be eaten in the next day or two.
This is the final product. It can be strained for a thicker consistency and the whey strained off can be used when making your own bread. For now I’m making 1 cup of yogurt at a time since I’m the only one in the family eating yogurt right now. Once our little nugget starts eating yogurt (I’m waiting until she’s about 12 months old to introduce dairy) I will start making bigger batches.
If you plan to be away from home for a few days, you can put your piima yogurt culture in the fridge in fresh milk and it will not kill off the culture.
Remember I said it was super easy? I wasn’t stretching the truth. I am able to whip up the next round of yogurt faster than I can finish eating my piece of toast for breakfast!
In addition to this being super easy to make, it also saves me money in purchasing organic yogurt at the store. I can buy a 1/2 gallon carton of whole organic milk to make numerous batches of yogurt for a fraction of the price I pay for my 32 oz container of organic yogurt.
If you don’t know someone who has Piima yogurt culture to pass on to you, there are stores you can buy it from on the internet to get your own culture started and then you can start passing it on to your friends and the cycle continues!
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Sounds interesting - I make yoghurt every week, but haven’t heard of this type or method before. Will have to look into it!
I’ve been learning more about Piima yogurt and from what I’ve read it makes a thinner yogurt than some cultures so it is really good for making dressings and sauces. I used to strain it more often for a thicker yogurt to eat with fruit but now rarely strain it so we get all the healthy goodness in the whey instead of straining it out!