Making Yogurt

INGREDIENTS
milk (as much as desired)
yogurt starter (at least 1/2 c store bought, plain yogurt for a half gallon of milk...

(I have yet to experiment in making my own yogurt starter. You can check out the web for more info. I've seen chilies with stems intact or tamarind pods or lemon juice used to sit overnight in a little milk. Next morning the starter is used for a bigger amount of milk and so on.)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bring the milk to a full boil, stirring as needed. If it is fresh from mother cow, be sure to bring it to a boil at least three times.
2. Cool the milk. One method is to stop up a sink and fill it with cold water and then immerse the pot of milk into the water to cool it down. Stir occasionally. When the water in the sink is heated up, drain the sink and refill it again with cool water, setting the milk pot into the sink once more. This method helps the milk cool down fairly quick.

A smaller pot can be cooled in a larger pan of water.

You can use an inexpensive cooking thermometer to get the milk cooled down to around 122-125 degrees F. If no thermometer is available, you should be able to hold the clean knuckle of your little finger in the center of the yogurt long enough to chant one Hare Krsna mantra. Keep in mind that if the yogurt starter you will add is yogurt from the refrigerator, this will cool the milk down a bit further.
3. Add the yogurt starter and stir well. I add a scoop of starter first in case yogurt is accidentally too hot, stir in in, and then add another dose for good measure.
4. There are various ways to keep yogurt warm so the bacteria within can do its job. One way is to use an oven with a pilot light, setting the pot next to it and closing the oven door. Better than that is to place a cast iron skillet or two (or three) into the bottom half of the oven with the pot of yogurt above. After warming the oven 10-15 minutes, the cast iron will retain heat to keep yogurt warm. 

Another idea is to keep the oven on a very low setting and set the pot of yogurt on top of the stove, covered with a kitchen towel. Or wrap the entire pot of covered milk with a blanket for insulation and leave it on a chair in the kitchen near a sunny window. Or outside where you have hot sunny weather. No oven is needed!
5. Set a timer for checking the yogurt 4-5 hours later. As soon as the yogurt has sufficiently thickened, refrigerate it. Keep in mind that the longer the yogurt sits unrefrigerated, the more sour it may become in taste. 

There is much to learn about this amazing food that is very dear to Lord Krishna. In India they store milk without refrigeration by turning it into yogurt.

MORE TIPS:
For good tasting yogurt, cleanliness is essential. It helps, therefore, to keep the yogurt in the same pot it was boiled in a d use the same spoon the yogurt was cooked with to stir it as it cools and to stir in the starter, making sure not to set it down somewhere unclean in the meantime.

For thicker yogurt, continuously pour off the whey that naturally collects at the top after each use. Use the whey in baking and beverages. The yogurt will get thicker and thicker. Or simply pour it through a sieve lined with thin cotton cloth or cheesecloth. Let it drain over a bowl until a desired thickness is reached. Save store bought yogurt containers or similar containers with a lid to store it in the refrigerator. 

But be on your guard, because two beautiful boys may creep into your kitchen to steal it.

LATER NOTE : Good, strong, direct sunlight during the summer seasons, on a covered pot, turns the milk into yogurt, too!