I've talked about gut health and it's importance in my Kombucha blog but truly we can't talk about it enough. So much happens in the gut and anything and everything we can do to support it is important.

Prior to our Instant Pot we weren't big yogurt eaters. There's just so much sugar in them and so, we opted to forgo eating it. Now because we make it ourselves, we eat yogurt every day.

Yogurt is a great source of probiotics. Probiotic means 'for life'. Is that cool or what?

We do our best to eat 'healthy'er but our gut needs all the help it can get so we take Life 9 daily as well.

Life 9™ is a proprietary, high-potency probiotic that combines 17 billion live cultures from 9 beneficial bacteria strains that promotes healthy digestion, supports gut health, and helps maintain normal intestinal function for overall support of a healthy immune system.

So on to the yogurt.

Yogurt is super easy to make but it is a bit time consuming. Yogurt literally takes 2 ingredients to make; Milk and starter yogurt

I use whole milk. You can use others but this is what I've used so far.

Pour 1 gallon of milk into IP and set to 'boil' setting. Bring milk to 180 degrees.

Once the temperature has reached 180, put the pot in a sink of cold water and bring it back down to 120 degrees.

When the temperature has reached 120 degrees you will add the starter yogurt (be sure to get plain yogurt with live cultures, later you can use your own as starter) Use a whisk and mix the starter yogurt into the milk.

Place the inner pot into the IP, cover with a lid and hit the yogurt setting. That's it, well kinda.

Once the yogurt has come together (6-8 hours), remove inner pot from IP and put in the fridge to cool for a few hours (I cool overnight).

When yogurt is cool, use a large serving spoon to spoon into very fine strainer to allow whey to strain. I use cheese cloth with my standard strainer and allow it to strain for a couple hours. The longer it strains the thicker it will become.

Transfer strained yogurt to clean bowl and save 2 Tbsp aside for next batch. I then add 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla and honey to taste.

I like to top my yogurt with fruit compote and granola. It tastes oh so good and makes the perfect breakfast. (I will be posting these recipes soon so check back)

It also tastes fabulous with just the yogurt and a drop or two of Lime, Citrus Fresh or Orange Vitality oils

FAQ

Why do I need to heat the milk to 180 degrees?
- It is important to scald (heat to just under boiling) the milk to kill of any wild bacteria, yeast or mold spores that may have fallen into the milk. This step is important as you want the lactic-acid bacteria to culture the yogurt and not be over run by the wild bacteria. As the lactic acid builds up in the milk, the pH drops until eventually the milk proteins coagulate into soft, tangy yogurt. Another advantage is, the most abundant protein is in the whey of the milk and it fully breaks down and releases at about 172 degrees. This allows those proteins to bind to some of the other proteins in the milk and results in a firmer, thicker yogurt.
What temperature do I use if I don’t have an Instant Pot?
- To make nice thick yogurt you must incubate it, maintaining it in a temperature range between 110° and 115°F/43° and 46°C.