Easy Homemade Yogurt and Then Super Easy Yogurt Cheese

With a good source of raw milk I now have lots to play with and I love making my own yogurt.  I use it in lots of cooking recipes as it can be used as a substitute for sour cream.  Then I like to make yogurt cheese because it's delicious and somewhat like cream cheese.  I eat it on crackers, celery sticks, bagels, and in recipes.  It's so easy you can make it at home in a snap.  First I make the yogurt in my roaster oven by filling the roaster with warm water and turning it barely on.  You can also use a crockpot set on the "warm" setting.  The roaster is bigger for me though so I can make more yogurt at one time.  To make the yogurt you simply warm a gallon store bought milk till just warm and then mix in a cup of store bought plain yogurt with a whisk until fully dissolved into the milk.  Then pour into sterilized glass jars.  I like using half gallon mason jars but other sizes of mason jars would work.  Cover top with plastic wrap and set into your crockpot or roaster filled with warm water.  The key is to not let it get too hot because it will kill the culture.  Depending on several factors your yogurt will be done in 2 to 8 hours.  Try not to disturb it or jiggle it.  I test mine by using a spoon and when I get to the desired thickness I pull the jars out and put them right in the fridge to cool.

 

To make yogurt cheese simply pour your yogurt into a cheesecloth bag or a colander lined with cheesecloth and suspend above a container to catch the whey that will separate out.  I put mine into a cheesecloth bag and then suspend it on a sturdy spoon in a gallon glass jar.   The gravity pulls the whey out and in about a day you have the finished yogurt cheese.  I always keep it in the fridge to keep it cold as the whey strains out.

 

You can see the whey here dripping down.  After the cheese is ready I store it in Tupperware in the fridge.  You can mix in all sorts of things like lemon juice and chives, garlic, mint, tarragon.  Or whatever seasoning please you.