The Pro Of Making Yogurt

Pro-biotics (For-life) is an essential part of a healthy life. Probiotics, or the study of treatment through helpful bacteria, is gaining more attention as infections increase from overuse of antibiotics or a bad diet.

It may be startling, but according to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) of Maryland, we each house two to five pounds (1.0 to 2.26 kilograms) of live bacteria inside our bodies. Bacteria come in good and bad varieties, or more to the point, can be helpful or harmful. While the vast amount of attention is given to bad bacteria because of their potential for creating illness, humans share a necessary symbiotic relationship with many types of helpful bacteria. Some are crucial to our very survival.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) uses yogurt as one of the vehicles of introducing good bacteria back into the body.

(Read what Elaine Gottschall had to say about using yogurt.-click here)

It is also helpful to (find a practitioner-click here) who understand the importance of probiotics. So many times do I hear that doctors do not recommend probiotics when placing a patient onto antibiotics. Which is extraordinary considering all the research that goes into probiotics.

(Read some of the most recent article written on this subject-click here).

How to Make SCD Yogurt

I have recently discovered a great new kitchen gadget the Excalibur Food Dehydrator. Well, it’s more than a gadget it is a ‘power house for healthy food production’. You can make incredible dried snacks, but ALSO YOGURT! (Check it out in My Recommended Products)

In the beginning making yogurt can seem quite daunting, but after your first couple of batches it will become quite easy.

  1. Heat the milk to 80°C/180°F, which is about as hot as it would get before it starts to boil. Be careful not to boil the milk, especially goat’s milk.
  2. Let the milk cool to room or around 45°C/113°F temperature. I whisk it occasionally, which stops the skin from forming on top of the milk.
  3. Mix in the appropriate amount of yogurt, or yogurt starter. Rule of thumb for using a natural yogurt as a starter is 1/4 cup per liter.
  4. Place into the Excalibur Dehydrator and turn the thermometer to 115°F, making sure to place the door back onto the unit.
  5. Set the timer to 24 hours and leave the yogurt to ferment undisturbed. It is important to have the dehydrator in an area where there is no airflow and where the back of the unit is not against a wall, as this might interfere with the temperature settings.
  6. Remove the yogurt after 24 hours and place undisturbed into the refrigerator for at least 8 hours for it to set.

If you don’t have a yogurt maker or the excalibur check out this yogurt making tutorial using a small kitchen cupboard and a table lamp (until recently this is what I was using).