Yogurt is made by adding live bacterial cultures to boiled milk.
In Ayurveda, yogurt is considered a very healthy and healing food because of its nourishing and digesting qualities.
However to receive the benefits, your yogurt has to be both fresh and “live.”
Yogurt has natural pro-biotics which can increase all the “good” bacteria in your gut helping you to digest and assimilate the food you eat.
Here is a fresh Ayurvedic yogurt recipe that I found to be simple, effective and of course tastes great.
According to Ayurveda, you can also add powdered herbs such as Turmeric to your finished product to increase the health and healing benefits.
Ingredients & Materials:
2 cups of fresh, whole organic milk (Use raw unpasteurized milk from a dairy farm if available)
½ tsp of powdered yogurt starter (live culture)
a heavy-bottomed pan and a whisk
a clean dish towel, a clean bowl and a clean glass jar with a lid.
Note: For thicker yogurt, substitute some cream for part of the milk
Method & Procedure
1. Bring your milk to a boil in the heavy-bottomed pan, stirring occasionally to ensure that it does not burn or form a skin.
2. Turn down the heat and simmer your milk gently for 5 to 10 ten minutes (Optional but makes thicker yogurt)
3. Remove your milk from the heat and pour it into a clean bowl. Add the yogurt starter and stir briskly with the whisk.
4. Pour the milk into the glass jar. Cover the jar with a lid. Wrap one or two dish towels around the jar for insulation.
5. Place the jar in a warm place (little warmer than body temperature – between 100 and 110 ‘F) away from draughts and cool air for 6 – 8 hours. A great place is your electric oven with the oven off but the oven light turned on.
When yogurt’s done, place it in the fridge and you will have delicious organic homemade yogurt that should last you up to 2 weeks.
An alternative method would be to use a couple of tablespoons of organic store-bought yogurt in your milk in place of powered starter culture and continue with the recipe above.
However, if you are using raw milk then using pasteurized yogurt will not make it raw anymore.
The culture starter is probably much better because you make it from scratch and know all the ingredients are good and wholesome.
Too make it sweet tasting, you can add some honey or maple syrup in the stirring process. If you like it less thick or with less fat, use low fat or 2% milk.
Note: Yogurt is best made and eaten fresh so you can make it before you go to bed and leave it to set overnight and consume the following day.