UHT Milk and Yoghurt

[Sue]

I wrote on another thread that I had been using my Easiyo container to make yoghurt and very good it is too, but why am I using UHT milk? Because it was in the "instructions" is the answer - but why not fresh milk.
This is in the mixing starter, dried milk in with the milk and putting container into boiling water method.
Is it a problem with nasties? but in pasturised milk?? I just know I won't bother if I have to mess around with thermometres and milk heating etc.

I am trying to persuade a local dairy farmer to provide me with unpasturised, unhomogenised milk and would eventually like to use that as it is locally produced. Would that be a problem? (get my cheese and butter from him at farmer's market, prize-winning stuff!)

And re milk - apparently there is no set-up for dairy farmers in Kent, our milk gets sent elsewhere to process, organic milk comes either via supermarkets labelled British or from Devon. The UHT is organic and from a named farm near Bristol via Sainsburys but that means using supermarkets and having to dispose of at least 2 tetrapacks a week and it costs 99p a litre.

Sue

[Capsid]

I use UHT milk for yoghurt making. The only difference with normal milk is that it has not been heat treated to a higher temperature which almost sterilises it and therefore precludes the need to boil it like ordinary milk.

I would not recommend using unpasteurised milk, you may get exposed to nasty pathogens.

[Alison]

A farmer friend of ours sells unpasturised milk and he was laughing the other day that people spend money buying those fancy yoghurt drinks to put back the good bugs that were taken out during the pasturisation phase. There's nothing the matter with good quality unpasturised milk (although it does taste different and is foul when still warm from the cow!) so long as the herd have been tested for nasties then you'll be fine.

By the way, to reduce your tetrapak useage, can't you get milk delivered and thereby be able to reuse the glass bottles?

[OverWyreGrower]

Can't you use normal milk in an EasiYo?

[Hilary B]

I can't think of any reason (apart from fear of pathogens) NOT to use fresh milk.

[Rossa]

We get unpasturised "green top" milk from our local milk delivery lady. Nothing wrong with it at all. There was a scare about tuberculosis in cows and it getting into the milk but then what about all the calves? Do you think a farmer is going to sell contaminated milk when his/her livelihood depends on it? Like unpasturised cheese it's fine to use unless you're in a vunerable group like the elderly or pregnant.

My uncle was a dairy farmer in Somerset and we had milk fresh from the cow every morning on the table in a big jug. Great stuff and my Aunt made yoghurt, butter and cheese with it. Never had any problems. Probably why I won't eat margarine or semi skimmed or skimmed milk. Can't see the point of bu66ering about with something natural and for those who are worried about fat, there is less than 4% fat in milk, it is mainly water and if you take the fat out the sugar content goes up (lactose sugar that is) which means there is more carbs in skimmed milk than in full fat and the same goes for cream. Check out the carbs level in single cream (18% fat) as opposed to double cream (up to 48% fat)

If you want really creamy yoghurt then try channel island milk if you can find it. Or try half and half milk and single cream.
___________
"..I went from adolescence to senility, trying to bypass maturity.." Tom Lehrer

[Sue]

Rossa
Milk deliveries! - If only, I've checked this out and made many phone calls, there are a few local suppliers but no-one who delivers in Tunbridge Wells. This is why said farmer is my only hope, I know he has won some of the top Food prizes with his cheese and the butter his wife makes by hand is wonderful so fingers crossed re the milk.
I'll give it a go with the ordinary milk I have at the moment.
And yes, have given up listening to food "advice". I try to eat the best, local if poss, foods available and not dicker around with reduced this and supplemented that anymore.
best wishes
Sue

[Alison]

I found my milkman through this webiste - Find Me A Milkman which says that Dairy Crest delivery in the Tunbridge area although quite possibly not your postcode or at a handy time of day - we have an independant guy who delivers at about 5ish but the Dairy Crest lot don't come buy until after I've left for work which would be no use at all.

[Sue]

Alison
Yes, knew about Dairy Crest and can get them to deliver but not glass bottles for organic milk that's in tetra packs and also wanted to use a local farmer, trying to be local, sustainable etc can be hard work sometimes!
but thanks anyway
Sue

[Alison]

No probs, didn't realise they only did tetrapaks, we went with the independant guy round here and he's a glass bottle man through and through! Know what you mean re trying to balance local and sustainable, can be a nightmare, was so much easier before I realised there were so many implications...

[Crosbie]

The reason you use UHT milk instead of fresh milk is because the lactic acid in the milk proteins need to 'bind' with the yogurt cultures. Ultra heat treating the milk at high temperatures breaks down the fat an ddisseminates it so that the lactic acid proteins can bind...then the yogurt can set.

[Hilary B]

The reason you use UHT milk instead of fresh milk is because the lactic acid in the milk proteins need to 'bind' with the yogurt cultures. Ultra heat treating the milk at high temperatures breaks down the fat an ddisseminates it so that the lactic acid proteins can bind...then the yogurt can set.

I've made yoghurt from pasteurised milk, fresh goat's milk etc, and friends have done so rather more often than me. It has always worked OK. The only reason it might be a bit 'thin' is that fresh milk may have too much water content (some recipes add milk powder, simply to overcome the water problem).

[Crosbie]

Using the Easiyo system - to which the original post refers - UHT milk doesn't need to be boiled first. Fresh and pasteurised milk does.

[Hilary B]

Using the Easiyo system - to which the original post refers - UHT milk doesn't need to be boiled first. Fresh and pasteurised milk does.

Sounds like a good reason to stick with the old fashioned methods, and simply add some live yoghurt and keep it warm. UHT tastes foul!

[Mcbee]

Using the Easiyo system - to which the original post refers - UHT milk doesn't need to be boiled first. Fresh and pasteurised milk does.

So does that mean if you use UHT you don't do anything to the milk - simply add the yogurt culture, pop it in the thermos and just wait?