# Flavoring yogurt



## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

First year our goats are in milk. I'm making yogurt because DH dearly loves his daily yogurt. Problem is -- he says it tastes like sour cream - which of course being plain, it sort of does. I'm not having much luck flavoring the yogurt in a way that doesn't turn it runny and drinkable

What he's used to is store bought fruit flavored (blended) yogurt. 
The homemade yogurt is nice and thick and lovely but as soon as he adds homemade jam or vanilla & honey, it turns to soup and dribbles off the spoon.

He loves the idea of homemade yogurt, he's just not crazy about the flavor of the plain, even underneath fruit sections/berries.

I thought about dehydrating some strawberries and then grinding them to powder. Any other ideas?


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## StaceyS (Nov 19, 2003)

I have just started making yogurt from scratch -so easy! I love the plain myself, but hubby wants the sweetened. I have been straining his (coffee filters) then adding sugar or honey and usually strained home canned fruit, he does like frozen blueberries or blackberries too, but we are out right now.


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## StonePark (Nov 16, 2014)

I put dried blueberries in mine and a touch of honey. The dried blueberries are very sweet without adding fluid. I imagine other dried fruit would do the same.


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

We strain ours and add home made jam/jelly/butter.

I have also been known to use an instant pudding pack and that flavors and thickens at the same time.


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## Janette1225 (Oct 5, 2011)

I add sugar, vanilla and plain gelatin to mine while cooking. I've heard of people adding in some flavored jello powder after its finished. If u didn't want the sugar maybe just the gelatin to make it xtra thick so it wouldn't get runny when adding the fruit.


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

Thanks all. I've used the vanilla pudding idea and that went over pretty well.

I've tried all different methods of adding plain or flavored gelatin with really poor results.
Heating the milk, adding gelatin to a small amount in a separate bowl, mixing and then adding it back to the rest of the hot milk and then making yogurt - resulted in gross chunks of protein separated out. I tried stirring it in after the yogurt was made and it never thickened. Clearly I haven't figured out how to use gelatin in my yogurt properly.

So far, the best improvements have been to boil the milk a little longer than I had been (results in thicker yogurt) and then adding the pudding after the yogurt fermented, as I put it in the refrigerator to set up.

I'm still experimenting with the gelatin because fruit flavored would be great, but so far all those experiments have failed.


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## cfuhrer (Jun 11, 2013)

I never got fruit gelatin to work well either. The best success I had was mixing the gelatin with hot water and stirring it in after straining the yogurt.

Too little water and the gelatin didn't dissolve, too much water and it ruined the yogurt.

I have not tried dissolving the gelatin, mixing into unstrained yogurt, then straining the whole mixture; that might work but I'm dubious.


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## Janette1225 (Oct 5, 2011)

My method: mix knox unflavored gelatin with about 1/2 cup milk. Set aside and let soak. Meanwhile Heat milk, vanilla, sugar to about 120. Now whisk in the gelatin/milk mixture. Stir/whisk constantly to 180. Continue with recipe. I get great results! Also I use the retro Salton yogurt maker. I have 2 and they produce 10 -1/2 pint jars using 2 quarts goats milk. Check it out in eBay! I'm always looking for another at garage sales and auctions!


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## lovemy4danes (Oct 4, 2012)

I pour milk into pot to cook it, add the gelatin and stir it well with a whisk then start heating the milk. I use 4 packs of gelatin to a gallon of milk makes it REALLY thick so that when hubby adds jelly or fruit or whatever he wants it is not too thin. He prefers it that thick and the whey stays in yogurt. As far as tasting like store bought flavored yogurt, I found if I took canned pie filling and mixed with condensed sweetened milk (leftover filling from poke cake then added to cold yogurt tasted just like Yoplait to me.


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## dyrne (Feb 22, 2015)

When the yogurt is set or maybe a little bit before then I add fruit and allow it to sit out for another spell. Sometimes I'll take some yogurt out of the fridge, add in fruit pieces and let it sit out for another 8 - 24 hours. Maybe stir in a bit more milk if I expect to be gone a while so it has plenty of lactose to convert. All of the yogurt then is flavored with the fruit or spices used. 

This isn't necessarily "sweet" though. You have strawberry tasting yogurt but it isn't sugary the way a lot of people expect these days.


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## nobrabbit (May 10, 2002)

cfuhrer said:


> We strain ours and add home made jam/jelly/butter.
> 
> I have also been known to use an instant pudding pack and that flavors and thickens at the same time.



I do the same. I strain mine for about a day in a coffee filter lined colander as I like it really thick. The whey goes to the chickens or pigs. 

Instead of flavoring the entire batch I flavor each serving with a little vanilla and a dollop or two of homemade preserves. That way I can have different flavors every day. My favorite is with homemade cherry preserves with just a bit of granola on top. YUM! :sing::bouncy::sing:


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## Jlynnp (Sep 9, 2014)

I made my first batch of homemade yogurt today- well last night/today. It is pretty good though I would like it a wee bit thicker. I have read adding powered milk helps thicken it, I will probably try that on the next batch. I made it using the crock pot and it was super easy.


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## SuzyQue (Nov 2, 2017)

mzgarden said:


> First year our goats are in milk. I'm making yogurt because DH dearly loves his daily yogurt. Problem is -- he says it tastes like sour cream - which of course being plain, it sort of does. I'm not having much luck flavoring the yogurt in a way that doesn't turn it runny and drinkable
> 
> What he's used to is store bought fruit flavored (blended) yogurt.
> The homemade yogurt is nice and thick and lovely but as soon as he adds homemade jam or vanilla & honey, it turns to soup and dribbles off the spoon.
> ...


 You could strain it through Butter muslin until it's nice and thick, then add the flavorings you like and that should help some.


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