Last month Yoko posted a story on a homemade yogurt she made from Bulgarian cultures, which I found really interesting because the method employed was totally different from the way I remembered my mother and grandmother used to make it. That prompted me to pay a quick visit to the internet to check the “official” word on the how-to of yogurt. What I found were a number of sites that described the process in very technically precise terms, and thereby requiring various forms of gadgetry (from thermometers to beakers to incubation bulbs and so on), all of which I regarded as completely unnecessary when compared to my childhood memories of the way it was done.

I decided to check back with my mom to see if my memory was in fact serving me correctly, since I don’t recall them using anything more complicated than a pot and a blanket (I’ll explain in a minute). It turns out I was right. Moreover, it made me really proud that they were able to make such wonderful yogurt that served as the sensorial reference point for so many wonderful childhood memories, all without the insane gadgetry and obsession with precision that too often replaces the necessary soulfulness and love in the kitchen. Armed with my enthusiasm and renewed pride in family and culture (no pun intended), I set out to make yogurt myself the way my ancestors did. Well almost, since I’ll be using a stove and electric blanket. But you get the point.

First grab a pot and fill it with milk, any kind of milk you prefer; lowfat, nonfat, and whole milk will all produce yogurt, though flavor and body will of course vary depending on which milk you use. I used a 2% lowfat in this case, because that’s what I had around at the time. The amount of milk you use is up to you, as it will correspond with the amount of yogurt you’ll end up with.

Bring the pot just to a boil, and when you see it’s starting to boil, turn if off and allow it cool just enough so that when you stick a finger in it your finger won’t burn. The process of bringing it just to a boil will kill any unwanted bacteria in the milk that could potentially interfere with the work of cultures you’ll introduce to it. And of course you’ll want to keep your finger impeccably clean so that you won’t undo the process by contaminating the milk. Eventually you’ll get a sense of how long it takes without using your finger, so your finger can resume its dirty duties.

Once the milk has cooled a bit (but still warm), pour a little (like half cup or so) into a small bowl, and add a spoonful or two of store bought yogurt and mix it in until smooth. This yogurt that you’ll be mixing is your starter culture. You can buy any type you like, so long as it’s unflavored and contains live active cultures–this should be indicated on the packaging.

Therefore beware of pasteurized yogurt that doesn’t have live cultures, as you’ll definitely fail. Pour the mini mixture back into the pot and gently stir it around so that it mixes with the rest of the milk. You’re dealing with live organisms here, so you want to be gentle so you don’t destabilize the mix.

Place the lid on the pot, or pour it into a container with a tight lid. Wrap the pot or container with a blanket and place it in a warm corner of the house, and leave it there undisturbed for about 4 to 5 hours. I used an electric blanket so I could maintain a steady level of heat, but you can also use a regular blanket and place it near a heater. The whole purpose of this is to maintain the warmth (generally between 78-110 degrees) for a long enough time that will enable the cultures to do their work, and thereby coagulate the milk into yogurt.

After 4 or 5 hrs, the yogurt should be done, and at this point you can refrigerate it. It should yield a slightly tangy yogurt with a thick consistency almost like that of sour cream. If however after this time it seems like it’s not yet coagulated (and assuming heat maintenance wasn’t too much of an issue), you can leave it for a few more hours, as it may just need a little more time.

An alternative to the blanket technique is to preheat the oven to its lowest setting, and once the oven has preheated, turn it off and place the covered pot in the oven for several hours, the whole purpose still being to maintain a warm environment for the bacteria. The yogurt came out great the very first time, turning out exactly as I remembered it, without any thermometers or the like; the wisdom of the ages was my only guide.

The most technologically advanced tool I used was my stove top to heat the milk, and perhaps the electric blanket. Of course you can get as technical as you like and can control the outcome with greater precision, but personally I prefer the old school way, as it takes me back to my childhood. It’s also quite in keeping with the more soulful ethos of cooking that encourages us to interact with the food we eat. Plus it’s pretty darn cute to look at it all wrapped up in a blanket in the corner of the room.

This further proved to me how much my elders, and by extension the elders of other non-Western cultures, have been not simply practicing but in fact living by the principles of the “Slow Food” movement before anyone knew to even call it that! What has become a recent revolutionary idea in the Western culinary world has been a way of life for thousands of years for many of us. It’s nice to sometimes slow down in such a fast paced city.