# Sweet yogurt?



## flannelberry (Jul 14, 2005)

Hi all,

I have been making stove top yogurt using a starter that's taken from my previous batch etc. I'm wondering if I can sweeten the yogurt while I'm heating it (ie add honey) or does it have to be after it's set?

Thanks.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

personally I'd wait til after it's set....


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## HollyBearFarm (May 25, 2008)

I make a really sweet dessert yogurt from our Nigerian Dwarf's milk and I put honey in it while it's culturing.

Yum.

Stacie


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

ok stacie, that's kinda mean....tell how great this dessert is then not tell how to make it???


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## piglady (Sep 28, 2006)

We use stevia and add it after the heating but before it sets up. It took me a few trys to figure out just how much we like but are very pleased with it now. We add the fruit to it as we eat it.


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## shining (Oct 30, 2004)

I've added 2T honey/quart while heating the milk and it turned out great.


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## Cocinera (May 20, 2008)

I have great success "sweetening" my yogurt while heating it with either honey, sugar, or Splenda. Recently, I have had two very unsuccessful attempts at making flavored yogurt. Once with Hershey's chocolate - don't bother it was a catastrophe. This time with strawberry Jello. Okay, my reasoning is I add gelatin - why not Jello. I added the Jello with the milk to warm, cooled it, and then added the yogurt culture. It looks as if I was making cottage cheese. Any ideas why or how I can flavor it.

Thanks,
Cocinera


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## HollyBearFarm (May 25, 2008)

Well, my dessert yogurt is just yogurt sweetened with honey, then strained through a coffee filter so it's very very thick. Pretty simple.  But we often add berries or chocolate shavings to the top...so that's yummy. Or whipped cream. The options are endless!

I'm wondering if maybe your Jello had citric acid in it. If it did, it would kill your yogurt culture and turn your milk into curds.

I think it's fine to sweeten yogurt while it's culturing (especially with honey or Stevia, since they won't harm your bacteria) but most fruit and other stuff will interfere with the culturing process. It might kill your bacteria, it might cause other bacteria to grow, etc.

Chocolate yogurt is delicious, though...next time add the Hershey bar after culturing.

Stacie


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## FordFamilyFarm (Aug 19, 2008)

We make maple flavored yogurt with great success. Using 2.5 gallons of whole cow milk and 1 cup of organic dried powdered milk, we heat it to 170*. Then we set the pot in a basin of cold water to bring the temp down to about 115*. We add 3 cups of maple syrup during the cooling process. We use a quart of store-bought starter (I like Brown Cow Plain Whole Yogurt best). Then we strain it into quart jars and incubate for about 12 hours in a waterbath that DH made out of a galvanized tub, heating element, and a thermostat. It turns out delicious and creamy too. If you like your yogurt sweeter, just add more syrup. If you like it thicker, add more powdered milk. This yogurt also works well when adding fruit after-the-fact - the maple flavor isn't so intense as to mess up other fruit flavorings that you add. We puree strawberries, peaches, apricots, etc., or we heat blueberries with a bit of syrup until they 'pop' and add that after it's cooled down again. Yummm!


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