Cultures for Health Greek Yogurt Starter Culture | 2 Packets Dehydrated Heirloom Style DIY Probiotic Yogurt | Delicious for Smoothies, Granola and Berries, Tzatziki, Soup, & Other Healthy Snacks

Cultures For Health makes a good starter, and I have been very satisfied with the yogurt.I have made ten batches of this yogurt so far with very good and consistent results.All but the first and second rounds (to fully activate the culture) have been a gallon each. The first (1 quart) was lightly set, and the second (2 quarts) was fully set after 7 hours.I use two pots and a lid to make a double-boiler, a digital smoker thermometer to monitor the temperature of the milk on the stove (heated slowly to 190 degrees and held for 10 minutes or so) and in the cooling bath. There is no stirring during the heating process, so some milk sticks to the bottom of the non-stick pot, but it peels off easily. It takes about an hour on a low burner to bring a gallon from fridge temp to 190, and there’s nothing to do but check the temperature on the remote digital display. After cooling to 110 degrees, I whisk in the starter from the last batch. A sous vide cooker in a foam cooler (made a hole in the lid) holds the 4 quarts in a water bath at 110 degrees for 5 to 7 hours. Any extra cultured milk sits in containers up out of the water: the cooler holds a constant air temperature. When it's done, everything cools down on the counter for a while, and then goes in the refrigerator and lasts me about a month.Batches 2-10 were started with 2 cups of last month’s yogurt that was frozen for 4 weeks and defrosted for a day or two in the refrigerator. The defrosted culture smells good and activates to make consistently good yogurt. I use whatever cow's milk is on sale or reduced, 1% to whole, as long as it isn’t ultra-pasteurized.One packet of dehydrated starter has provided months of yogurt. The second packet is in the refrigerator, in case I need to do a restart someday.I recommend this yogurt starter.

I have made vegan yogurt hundreds of times using my own probiotics. My mistake was thinking this would be easier, WRONG. It didn't work at all after the first two days. I had to use my probiotics to give it the yogurt tang because this vegan yogurt starter did nothing. All I had after was warm soy milk with no yogurt taste or thickness. I know it can be done because I had to add probiotics to my plain soy milk to get my yogurt. Now I learned I cannot return the second one I ordered because I was excited to start making vegan yogurt instead of buying over priced vegan yogurt from the store. My mistake was ordering a second package before I tried out the first one. I'm going back to using my probiotics. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I've been making my own yogurt for about 25 years, using a store-bought plain yogurt with cultures and in several different types of yogurt makers, mostly Oster brand 1-quart, but also Salton, and a Waring 2-quart.I only recently began using a powdered starter.Until I bought an Oster Mykonos Greek Digital Homemade Yogurt Maker, 2-Quart CKSTYM1012 maker in 2014, I never would strain yogurt and wasn't even aware you could. I wish I had known about it sooner because I really can't stand runny, bitter yogurt, which would frequently happen over the years. I prefer a firm, mildly tart yogurt....just short of being sour cream! 😁Note: The Oster Mykonos Greek square yogurt maker comes in a digital CKSTYM1012 and manual CKSTYM1010 option, but both come with ONE 1-quart rectangle container and 6 small glass containers. I prefer to use only the 1-quart container, so I bought an extra Mykonos Greek yogurt maker and swapped the individual jars for the rectangle container. So I do TWO 1-quart rectangle containers per batch.Since getting the Greek yogurt maker, I will never go back to unstrained yogurt again.As for a starter, in the past, I would start my first batch using a plain yogurt with active cultures from the grocery store, usually Mountain High brand in So. Calif. For subsequent batches, I would use a few heaping tablespoons (about 1/3 cup) of the current batch for the next batch, and so on.It wasn't until 2016 that I started using a freeze dried starter by Yo Gourmet that I would buy here on Amazon and use for about every 5th batch, using two heaping tablespoons of yogurt reserved from the current batch as the starter for the next batch. I looked into other brands, including this Cultures for Health, but saw the negative reviews about the first batch turning out awful, that I hesitated to try it.However, a week ago, when I tried to order more Yo Gourmet yogurt starter, Amazon was out, so I decided to try this Greek Yogurt start by Cultures for Health and am I glad I did! I just made my first batch two days ago using my usual process [below] and my first batch came out perfect! It's firm with very little tartness 👍The photos attached shows my first batch using ONE packet of Cultures for Health.In the cup shown, I have about 2/3 of a cup of yogurt on top of 1/3 cup chopped up trail mix (done in my Vitamix dry container) that I keep a running batch of to add to each serving of yogurt.This is the process I've been using for 6-years with the Oster Mykonos 2-quart yogurt maker:* Heat 9 cups (or slightly more than a half gallon) of whole milk in our GE Microwave for 23 minutes on High to achieve 180° - 185°- I use a 2-quart Pyrex glass measuring bowl* Cool to between 106° - 110°* Put ONE .5 or .6 gram powdered starter into a separate 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup and pour a cup ofthe cooled milk into the starter and stir/whisk until dissolved. Add back to the main batch of milk and stir in.- subsequent batches....I use two heaping tablespoons or about 1/3 of a cup of the previous batch's yogurtand mix in the same as above.* When I pour the milk into the yogurt maker containers, to ensure I achieve an optimal mix of milk and starter, Ialternate pouring the milk into both 1-quart containers, back and forth, back and forth, so neither containerhas more active cultures than the other.* Cook the yogurt for 15 hours (12 hours is the minimum I will do because I prefer firm yogurt)* After the yogurt is cooked, cover the containers and place in the fridge for a minimum of 8-hours* After 8-hours, transfer the chilled yogurt to the strainers and put back in the fridge for at least 6-hours.* Pour out the strained liquid. Enjoy!

My first batch came out clumpy, but tasted good. I accidentally forgot to hit start on my yogurt machine so it did sit a few hours not at 110, so that may have been part of problem. I took some of that batch and made a second batch which came out perfectly. Nice and creamy with delicious taste.