Homemade GREEK Yogurt ~ 2 Ingredients!

Now that our cow is producing wonderful fresh milk, we can make our own Homemade Greek Yogurt! It is so simple and delicious! PLUS, today we also make Strawberry Yogurt Mousse as a simple and tasty dessert.

***Some of our MOST FAVORITE homestead products***

AMAZON STORE:
https://www.amazon.com/shop/livingtraditionshomestead

HARVEST RIGHT FREEZE DRYER: (Affiliate link)
https://affiliates.harvestright.com/881.html

Grower’s Solution:
Greenhouses, Weed Fabric, Gardening and Seed Starting Supplies
**Save 10% with code LTH10
https://www.growerssolution.com/LTH10

Vegega Raised bed gardens – Get 10% off your order check out Vegega at https://www.vegega.com/?ref=lth10. or use coupon code LTH10 at checkout.

Homestead Shop (formerly our Etsy Shop): Our Seed Starting Cheat Sheet, Rabbit Cookbook and more!
https://www.livingtraditionshomestead.com/shop

To learn more about the Bluetti AC 200 Max and B230 that we use to power our workshop follow this link. https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=1745428&u=1817411&m=108816&urllink=&afftrack=

SARAH’s SHIRTS from EllyAndGrace.com (Affiliate link)
**SAVE 10% off with code LTH10
https://ellyandgrace.com/LTH

AZURE STANDARD Bulk Organic Foods: (Affiliate link)
https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=566d73f0eb

Our RABBIT COOKBOOK on Amazon:
Kindle Version: http://amzn.to/2zelDTu

****** Connect with Us! We’d Love to get to know you! ******

WEBSITE: www.LivingTraditionsHomestead.com

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/livingtraditionshomestead

INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/living_traditions

PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/livingtraditionshomestead

Send Mail to:
Living Traditions Homestead
PO Box 323
Ava, MO 65608

****** About Living Traditions Homestead ******

Living Traditions Homestead is all about living a simple and sustainable way of life. We believe the world has gotten too “busy” and that people are missing out on many of the true blessings this world has to offer. We started as a small urban homestead in Gilbert, AZ and after the city grew up around us, decided it was time leave corporate America and take a big leap of faith by moving our family to the Missouri Ozarks.

We put out new videos every week! We hope you will become part of our homestead family by subscribing to our channel and watching as we give up the rat race and live simpler, more fulfilling life in the country.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

hi everybody Welcome Back To Living
Traditions Homestead well these days we
have been producing a lot of fresh milk
here on the homestead courtesy of our
cow babe we have been making so many
things it’s been so exciting and so
wonderful to have fresh milk in the
house again we’ve been making a lot of
Greek yogurt mozzarella lots of things
with cream especially in my coffee I
just started learning how to make aged
cheeses uh and so I’ve produced two 4
pound wheels of Colby cheese lots of
things to continue learning there but I
have been hearing from you all that you
would like me to share with you some of
the ways to use fresh milk or really
just milk in general so today I am going
to be sharing how we make Greek yogurt
but first we need to go outside and milk
babe bring in her wonderful
milk
[Music]
okay here we
[Music]
go
[Music]
good girl
babe good
girl out
ralie well today produced about the
average amount of milk that we bring
into the house on a daily basis we are
generally getting 1 to one and a half
gallons of milk a day uh so anywhere
from 7 to 10 gallons of milk a week now
that sounds like a lot of milk and if
you don’t know what to do with all that
milk it can be overwhelming but over the
past 5 years or so we have been learning
what to do with all of that milk from
either cows or goats so we are starting
to get a handle on what to do with it
all and even though we’re bringing in a
gallon to a gallon and a half of milk
every single day our calf Ralphie is
still drinking on babe um during the day
12 hours during the day 7:30 a.m. to
7:30 p.m. and we’re still getting a
gallon to a gallon and a half a day to
bring into the house for us so she is
doing a great job and we’re super happy
to have her as part of our Homestead so
today I told you that we’re going to be
making Greek yogurt we are going to be
using one gallon of milk to make yogurt
that might seem like a lot of yogurt but
you guys we go through a lot of yogurt
here in this house actually Kevin loves
Greek yogurt he eats it every single day
and I end up making Greek yogurt about
once a week from one gallon and that
generally lasts us or lasts him so today
we’re going to go ahead and make Greek
yogurt out of one gallon of milk now
Greek yogurt really is the only type of
yogurt that we make here on the
homestead and that’s really for two
primary reasons uh the first reason is
Greek yogurt is very very thick and that
is Kevin’s preference actually he
doesn’t like thinner yogurt at all so
Greek yogurt is what we make here on the
homestead the other primary reason is
that Greek yogurt is lower in carbs and
sugar than standard yogurt and that is
because it is drained long longer and so
more of the way is taken out of Greek
yogurt than like standard plain yogurt
in the grocery store it’s pretty
interesting actually regular yogurt has
about 17 gram of carbs whereas Greek
yogurt has only 10 regular yogurt has 17
gram of sugar whereas Greek yogurt has
nine and there’s actually a huge
difference between the two with protein
also regular yogurt has 13 G g of
protein and Greek yogurt has 24 gram of
protein and all of those are within an 8
O cup of yogurt so because Kevin and I
are eating a low carb or kind of Keto
lifestyle Greek yogurt makes a lot uh
more sense for us than standard yogurt
and because there are a lot of carbs and
kind of milk sugars within milk itself
that’s not something that we can drink
or use a whole lot of is you know milk
in its normal state so we need to use
the milk in other ways that takes out a
lot of the carbs and the sugar and Greek
yogurt is one fantastic way for us to
use some of this milk now the reason why
we make so much Greek yogurt really is
because we just have access to so much
milk but there is a really great reason
to make Greek yogurt at home and that is
cost honestly now when we are not in
milk the brand of Greek yogurt that we
always get because Kevin likes it the
best is this F brand and uh this is a
size container that we would buy from
Walmart this was from Walmart this is
from Costco this size container is
$6.75 at Walmart today who knows like
tomorrow uh but a gallon of milk from
the grocery store is about 375 right now
for whole milk is a cost savings by
making it at home and no you don’t have
to use fresh milk from your own cow to
make homemade Yol yogurt you can buy a
gallon of milk from the grocery store
and make homemade Greek yogurt okay you
guys let’s get started making the Greek
yogurt at the end when it’s all done
we’re going to make something yummy so
I’m super excited to get to that point
as well now because I am using fresh
milk and this is actually milk from
yesterday I’m going to be removing the
cream that has floated to the top when
you buy milk from the grocery store most
of the cream if not all the cream has
been t taken out of it but it’s also
been homogenized which means the milk
fats have been combined and almost like
emulsified in with the rest of the milk
so the cream doesn’t rise anymore but on
fresh milk from right from the cow it’s
not homogenized so all of the cream
Rises to the top now most people who
make yogurt at home they take the cream
off of the milk they save it to either
have their coffee or you know make
butter or cream cheese or something like
that
because when you’re making the yogurt
and when it sits for however many hours
you have it sit the cream Rises to the
top again and but it still becomes
cultured so it’s more like uh yogurt
cream not a lot of people enjoy that so
uh they take it off before they even
make yogurt and honestly I would rather
have the cream in my coffee because I
just love it so much so we’re going to
be starting off by removing the cream
from this fresh milk so you can see
maybe a little bit there is uh some
color different differentiation between
the milk and the cream so that’s how you
know uh what to skim off also the cream
is a lot thicker and heavier especially
right at the top so it’s easy to to tell
the difference when you’re skimming
[Music]
cream
[Music]
in my opinion the easiest way to make
yogurt is by using an instant pot and
some of the instant pots actually have a
yogurt button so that is what you’re
going to want to look for on your own
instant pot or if you are shopping for
one online or at Walmart or something I
really do think it is worth getting the
instant pot with the yogurt button and
if you’re just in the market for an
instant punt anyway might as well just
get one with the yogurt button I have
made yogurt in other ways and this by
far is the easiest and the most
hands-off process of them all so first
we’re going to open this up I don’t have
it plugged in
yet uh here is the bowl inside of here
we are going to just add one gallon of
milk to this instant pot now um these
directions are going to be for whether
you’re using fresh milk or milk from the
grocery store milk from the grocery
store is going to be pasteurized but
you’re still going to want to do all of
these
steps going to plug this
in now the first step here we need to do
is we need to scald the milk we prefer
drinking raw milk we don’t pasteurize
our fresh milk here on the homestead and
there are people who would say well why
am I going to scald this milk or
essentially pasturize this milk before I
make yogurt because there are so many
wonderful good uh bacteria and
probiotics and those kinds of things in
raw milk um which is very true I agree
with you but using raw milk to make
yogurt is kind of competing good
bacterias they’re kind of going to
compete with each other so basically
after we’re done heating this up we’re
going to cool it down we’re going to
introduce the live bacteria that is
going to incubate in this milk and turn
it into yogurt if we were to introduce
the live bacteria from the yogurt
culture into the live bacteria from the
raw milk they’re going to compete with
each other it isn’t a bad thing it’s not
going to ruin it or turn it into
anything bad or harmful it’s just going
to prevent your yogurt from setting very
well so it will make very runny yogurt
which isn’t bad make like a a yogurt
drink or uh something similar in
consistency to kefir if that’s what
you’d like to do go ahead and do it that
way but we we really like the thickness
of Greek yogurt so we are going to scald
this milk we’re going to bring it up to
180° before we move to the next step now
the nice thing about these instant pots
that have the yogurt button they do the
entire yogurt making process but in a
couple different steps so we’re going to
start with step
one our milk is in our lid is on and now
it’s time to do the first step within
the instant pot I know that this
lettering is flashing that’s just from
the camera mine is not flashing by the
normal naked eye so we we are going to
be doing is we’re going to press this
yogurt button until it says
boil okay so it says boil it’s flashing
right now it will stop flashing and it
will start heating
up now on its own this instant pot is
going to bring this milk up to 180° when
it’s done it will beep and then we’ll
come back at that next step now
depending on how much milk you have in
your instant pot will determine how long
it’s going to take uh it’s not super
quick so you’re able to go ahead and do
something else within the house you know
within earshot of your instant pot after
it beeps that it is hot enough we’ll
come back and move on to the next step
the instant pot beeped that the milk
inside of here um is up to temperature
so we’re going to take the lid off
here now the next step in making yogurt
is to introduce a culture into the milk
stirred around and then allow it to
incubate but right now the temperature
of this milk is so hot that it will kill
all of the wonderful live bacteria in
the culture so the first thing we need
to do before we can get it incubating
and introduce that culture is to cool
this milk milk down I am going to show
you the the fast way that I do it here
on the homestead I’m going to carefully
take this out of the instant pot itself
and transfer it over to near the
sink to cool this milk down rapidly I’m
going to float it in a sink of cold
water
now I like to float the bowl like this
so that as much surface area around the
bowl around it and underneath it come in
contact with that cold water so we can
really rapidly cool this down now I want
to show you that on the top of the milk
mixture there is a skin that is
developed on top of the milk really from
the difference between uh the heat of
the milk and the coolness of the air
while we are floating it the first thing
I’m going to do is I’m going to remove
that skin from the top of the milk
because this is not a really wonderful
texture to incorporate into your yogurt
so we’re going to skim this off um
before we start mixing around the milk
to get it to cool off quickly now there
isn’t really a magic way to do this you
just find something a way that works for
you over time and you stick with it oh
my gosh that was like the best I’ve ever
done in
one in one scoop I got it all down I’ll
just dispose of this
appropriately now that that skin has
been removed I want to start uh stirring
this pretty quickly so that another skin
cannot develop and I’m really just going
to mix this back and forth with a rubber
spatula allowing it to float on the cold
water and we’re going to cool this down
to uh between 100 110° and
115° that is the the best temperature
for us to introduce that culture now I’m
going to measure the temperature with
this electric U meat thermometer that we
use I did really clean this well so that
I’m not introducing um bad bacteria into
the uh the milk mixture right now so
we’re just going to keep doing this
until the temperature comes down to
115°
okay so our milk has cooled off to the
right temperature and the next thing
that we need to do is essentially
inoculate the milk with a yogurt culture
now there are several ways you can get
an a yogurt culture you can buy like a
powder y yogurt culture from different
companies online uh but there are easier
ways to do that and a lot cheaper so
this here is the yogurt that I’m made
last time for Kevin and what I’m going
to do is I’m going to use about a half a
cup of This Yogurt to inoculate the milk
but if I just put a big scoop of this
like right in this milk it’s just going
to kind of stay chunky and it’s not
going to mix very well with all of this
milk so first we’re going to thin this
out before we add it to the milk
mixture now this doesn’t have to be
complicated and you don’t really have to
worry that much about measurements okay
so I’m just going to pour some of this
warm milk into this
bowl and then I’m going to scoop up
about a half a cup of the previous
yogurt that I made now if you haven’t
already made yogurt and you’re starting
from the very first time I suggest that
you get a plain yogurt of whatever is
your favorite kind of yogurt so
originally when I started making this
you know these batches I started with
Kevin’s favorite plain fi Greek yogurt
from the containers that I showed you at
the beginning of this video that’s his
favorite kind of yogurt that’s what it
will end up tasting like and so that’s
what we should start with okay so now we
have about a half a cup of yogurt in
here and I’m just going to take a whisk
I’m going to break this up a little bit
like that and then I’m just going to mix
it
up pour it into the bowl of
milk going to take my rubber and then
I’m just going to mix it in really
well so our milk mixture is now
inoculated with the mother culture that
we started with and this should produce
yogurt that tastes just like what we
started
with okay this bowl goes back into the
instant pot the nice thing about the
instant pot is it can bring it up to the
high temperature that you need to scald
it and get it you know ready but we can
also use it it as basically an incubator
for This Yogurt so I’m going to put this
top back on
here plug it back in now we’re going to
tell the instant pot how long we want
for it to incubate this milk mixture
into yogurt and we’re going to do that
by pressing the yogurt button until it
says 12
hours there so this is going to incubate
for 12 hours and when it’s done it’s
going to beep a bunch of times and we’re
going to know that it is finished many
other types of yogurts have shorter
incubation time frame the reason why
Greek yogurt is incubated for so long is
to give it that Tangy flavor that Greek
yogurt always has so if you don’t like
it super Tangy then don’t let it
incubate as long generally you’ll want
it to incubate anywhere from 8 hours to
12 hours the longer it incubates the
Tangier it will be if you stop it at 8
hours and it won’t be so Tangy so it’s
really up to you our yogurt has finished
incubating in here and so now it is time
for the last step which is the straining
process now straining the yogurt is what
gives Greek yogurt that nice thick
consistency the longer you strain it the
thicker it
gets I’m going to show you the easy way
that I strain yogurt we prefer to strain
our yogurt for 8 hours at least 8 hours
I’d say 8 to 10 hours for that nice
thick consistency that we love so much
it’s a very easy process to do because I
am straining it for such a long time
period I actually have it strained in
the refrigerator if you were only going
to have it strained for a couple of
hours you could probably leave it out on
the counter to strain This Yogurt I’m
just going to be using some pretty
everyday basic things from around the
kitchen I’m going to start off using a
stock pot here and I’m going to put a a
one cup little storage Bowl on the
bottom and I’m going to put a nice
colander on top of it that little one
cup container is going to hold the
strainer up uh farther which will create
more space on the bottom to catch the
way there’s going to be quite a bit of
whe that’s going to come out of this
yogurt so I want to make sure that I
have quite a bit of room on the bottom
next I am going to put a piece of
cheesecloth down in here so that when I
dump the yogurt into the colander it
doesn’t just all go through the holes
now I have found that starting with a
piece of cheesecloth or like a tea towel
when you if you start with it damp it
will drain a lot easier than if you
start with a piece of cloth that is
still dry so I’m just going
to drape that over here and push it down
inside of there to get the yogurt into
the colander and the cheesecloth you
could just easily just scoop it with a
big spoon I actually prefer uh this
method is just really fast and easy I
just take a rubber spatula first and
just go around the edges and then I cut
it into kind of eths just like you would
um a pie or a pumpkin
pie into eight basic slices like
that and that allows for all of this to
dump out really
easily into my lined
colander now that all of the yogurt is
in there I’m just going to gather the
ends
together just like
this
I’m just going to twist this around just
to create some
tension inside of
there just going to twist this around
and leave it like that and we’re going
to have it strain in the refrigerator
for at least 8 hours 8 to 10 hours about
halfway through that time I’m going to
take it out of the refrigerator and
check the way level down here sometimes
this will really fill up quickly if I
check on it halfway through I have an
opportunity to dump out the way to give
enough room for more way to strain out
so about halfway through I may do that
but right now it’s going into the
refrigerator to
strain well the yogurt here ended up
straining for about 10 hours the cander
and the cheesecloth did exactly what it
was supposed to do I did end up dumping
out the way halfway through and there
was still quite a bit at the bottom when
we were all finished after the 10 hours
then it was just a matter of
transferring the yogurt from the
cheesecloth into this container here
sometimes it can be tricky because it is
pretty goopy so for one gallon of milk
you get seven cups of Greek yogurt and
that is pretty amazing now before we go
I have a really special little dessert
to share with you guys it comes together
really quickly and is just a wonderful
treat for our very quick and healthy
dessert that we are going to be making
today we are going to be making
strawberry yogurt mousse we’re going to
be using the yogurt that we made
together some heavy cream strawberries
vanilla and a sweetener I’m going to be
using Stevia drops you would use
whatever type of sweetener you enjoy the
most we are going to start off by using
one cup of the yogurt that we just made
together you can see how nice and thick
it is that ex that is exactly how we
like
it that’s about one cup we’re going to
go ahead and put that in a
bowl to the yogurt I am going to be
adding just a tiny splash of
vanilla 20 to 25 drops of
stevia and taking a whisk I’m just going
to mix that all around and get that
sweetener and the vanilla mixed in
really well and this will also make the
yogurt nice and smooth and
creamy next we are going to measure out
1/2 cup of cream now this is a cream
that we SK skimmed earlier in this
video we’re going to add that to this
bowl
here and using a beater we’re going to
beet this up until it is whipped cream
with some really nice heavy
Peaks we don’t quite need the whipped
cream yet so I’m going to put it in the
refrigerator to keep it nice and cold
next we have to deal with the
strawberries right now they are frozen
solid but we need to blend them up so
I’m just going to warm these up for a
few seconds in the microwave I know not
everybody likes a microwave just to make
them not so solid we still want them
super cold maybe even a little bit
Frosty but not frozen solid now that the
strawberries are just a little bit
thawed out I’m going to blend these into
just a nice puree just strawberries
nothing else and to do that I’m I am
just going to be using this mini food
processor this little thing comes in
handy when I have some a little bit to
uh blend up but I don’t want to get out
like my big blender and I don’t need my
big food
processor Perfect all righty we have all
three components to our strawberry
yogurt mousse we’re just going to
combine them all together and it will
make a really nice easy kind of light
and fluffy dessert so here is our yogurt
that we’ve sweetened and whipped up with
some vanilla this is our whipped cream
which I am going to pour on top of our
yogurt
here I’m going to very very gently fold
the whipped cream into the yogurt the
whipped cream combined with the yogurt
is what is going to make this just feel
so light and fluffy and elegant
an like a
mousse next I’m going to pour in the
strawberry
puree and we’re going to continue just
gently folding the strawberries in to
our
mousse you don’t have to blend this 100%
because it will look so beautiful in the
glass with some Swirls and ripples of
strawberries so I have some pretty
glasses
here I have three glasses one for me one
for Samantha one for Kevin and I’m just
going to add a nice amount of this
mousse to each
glass is so beautiful that white next to
that
red
look at how beautiful these are if it
were fresh strawberry season I would
slice up a few and just garnish the top
with a few fresh strawberries let’s give
it a quick taste I’m sure neither Kevin
or Samantha would mind if I took one
small bite of my dessert before
supper oh it’s so good light and fluffy
and actually it tastes like summer
because of the strawberries well that
was quite a wonderful time together
today we Milk The Cow we separated the
cream off of fresh milk and we turned
one gallon of fresh milk into 7even cups
of Greek yogurt then we made a really
nice light and fluffy strawberry yogurt
mousse we covered a lot in a short
amount of time I really do enjoy sharing
all of the things that I’ve learned here
on the homestead things that I’ve
learned to turn into food for my family
it’s one of the most favorite things
ever for me is to make and provide
really great healthy nutritious food for
for my family and I hope you enjoyed it
as much as I did you guys if you are
enjoying videos like this make sure that
you hit the Subscribe button also
remember that the best way you can help
us here on the homestead is just to
share our videos on your social media
until next time thank you so much for
stopping by our Homestead take care and
God bless