Making your own yoghurt at home is super easy with the use of a dehydrator!

Yogurt is a super food, rich in protein, calcium and probiotics. There are many benefits that come with eating this creamy treat. Yoghurt can help to maintain a healthy digestive tract as well as reduce high blood pressure and promote heart health.

Benefits of Making your own Yoghurt

Yoghurt is so simple to make at home in your Dehydrator - and its nice to know that you and your family are eating whole foods with no added preservatives! Home made yoghurt is high quality whole food and low in cost to make. Freshly-made yoghurt is filled with countless numbers of beneficial bacteria that will help aid digestion and the probiotics will assist in boosting your immune system!

The secret to good yoghurt is that it contains live cultures. There are four major strains of bacteria to look for: L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus, and bifidobacteria.

Homemade Yoghurt Recipe

1. Pour 1L of milk into a saucepan and stir constantly over a medium heat until it reaches 85°c, make sure the milk does not boil and that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

2. Once this temperature has been reached remove from heat and let cool until it is about 35 - 40ºc

3. Whisk in a small tub of yoghurt (this will introduce the active cultures into the milk to enable the fermentation process to begin) Make sure yogurt is mixed in well with milk

4. Transfer mixture into glass jars with lids (mason jars are perfect for this)

5. Remove all trays from dehydrator and place jars inside.

6. Dehydrate for 8 to 10 hours. Do not stir or check yogurt during this time.

7. Once finished, place in fridge. Yoghurt will thicken as it cools.

Sweetening Your Homemade Yoghurt

Yogurt is basically cultured milk to which you can add natural sweeteners, like honey or fresh fruit. When you make your own yogurt at home, you have complete control over the ingredients, which means you can adjust the sweetness to your liking, using honey, maple syrup or any other sweetener of your choice or you can keep it completely natural, some people quite enjoy the tart flavour of yoghurt in it’s raw, natural state.

Now that you know how EASY it is to make yoghurt there will be no stopping you! It’s great for kids lunches, a healthy dessert alternative or you can simply add it to your smoothies for some luxurious creaminess! As a cute idea you could also make individual pots of yoghurt by using smaller jars with lids!