Yogurt is one of the healthiest food products known to man. Regular dairy like milk was thought to be great for our health for a long time, but fermented dairy products like yogurt have all of the benefits of milk without the possible downsides.
You can always buy yogurt in stores, but you have no way of checking what went into the yogurt or how fresh it really is. Yogurt making at home will let your whole family enjoy the health benefits and delicate taste of yogurt. Find out how to make yogurt in Nigeria right now!
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1. Health benefits of yogurt
Before you learn how to make homemade yogurt, it’s important to know what makes this product such a valuable addition to anyone’s diet. Here are 5 of the most important health benefits of yogurt.
- Yogurt has an incredibly rich content of vitamins and nutrients that positively affect every part of your body.
- Snacking on yogurt between meals along with lowering a number of consumed calories will allow you to drop at least one size, especially in your belly area.
- Yogurt has a high content of calcium that is much better for your body than calcium from regular milk, which promotes healthier bones, teeth, hair, and nails.
- Yogurt is one of the most essential protein foods. Protein is indispensable for growing muscle mass and staying fit and healthy.
- Yogurt is loaded with probiotics, or live cultures that do wonders for your digestive tract and help your body function better.
2. Ingredients for homemade yogurt
The next step in learning how to make homemade yogurt is finding out what you need to make your first batch of the product. Here are the ingredients and equipment required for yogurt production at home.
- Milk: 2 liters
- Live yogurt or yogurt starter culture – 2 tbsp
- Saucepan
- Kitchen thermometer
- Sterilized glass containers with tight lids
3. How to make yogurt: step by step
This yogurt recipe is the most popular one online, and it’s perfect for beginners: even if you’ve never dealt with homemade dairy before, you’re guaranteed to ace this recipe from the first try. Follow these steps to make your own delicious and healthy yogurt.
- Pour your milk into a clean saucepan and put it on low heat. Heat the milk up until it starts boiling. Don’t forget to continuously stir the milk, so that it doesn’t burn around the bottom and the edges of the saucepan.
- Turn the heat off and leave the milk at room temperature until it cools down to 40°C. A kitchen thermometer will give you a clear idea whether the milk is cool enough, but you can also drop some milk on your elbow to confirm it’s not too hot.
- Add the live yogurt or starter culture to the milk and stir well for the yogurt to dissolve completely.
- Take clean glass containers and sterilize them by rinsing them with boiling water. When the containers are dry inside, fill them with yogurt and close the lids tightly.
- Place the containers in a spot in your home where you’ll be able to maintain the same temperature for up to 8 hours. We recommend doing it in the kitchen and covering the containers with a couple of blankets.
- After 6 hours, check the yogurt. If it became thick, your yogurt is done. If it’s still runny, leave it for several more hours and, possibly, cover with another blanket.
- When your yogurt has reached the desired consistency, it’s ready to be consumed!
Many Nigerians are wondering how to make yogurt with powdered milk since powdered milk is much easier to buy and store. You can achieve the same great result with powdered milk: simply mix the powdered milk with water according to the instruction, so that in the end you would get approximately 2 liters of water. Then continue preparing yogurt according to the recipe above!
To enjoy the health benefits of yogurt to the maximum, try to eat a serving of yogurt every day and offer it to your family. You can sweeten the yogurt with sweeteners, sugar, honey, jam, fresh fruits and berries, chocolate or caramel sauces, and any other sweet products.
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