Feedback on MAKE YER OWN YOGURT MAKER

Yogurt making trust certainly be one of those basic, well-loved arts that brings out the ingenuity in people! Barbara Thiel's "Make Yer Own" article in MOTHER NO. 14, at any rate, certainly inspired a flood of favorite down-home methods for brewing up a batch of the creamy treat. Most—although quite inventive—are variations on the same theme, however, so we now consider our yogurt class closed for the time being.

The yogurt maker in MOTHER NO. 14 works great except that too much heat builds up in the bottom can where the light bulb is.. . my cord began to melt and smoked up the first batch I made. On later tries, I ended up putting the cord and attachment for the bulb on the outside and left only the bulb itself on the inside.

Robin Shaw
New York, N.Y,

I, too, am a yogurt fan but was taught a way of incubating that's cheaper and easier than Barbara Thiel's, After you put your yogurt in the jars, wrap each container in a terry cloth towel or piece of heavy material. Put the jars in a pot (or clam steamer or metal box or cooler or whatever) which has also been lined with towels. Place the lid on the pot, put a weight of any kind on the lid and just let things sit for six to eight hours. Delicious!

Nancy Cox
Woods Hole, Mass.

Barbara Thiel's method of making yogurt is novel and makes for interesting reading, but it's not as practical and money-saving as mine . . . which uses very little electricity and costs practically retiring because there IS no yogurt maker involved.

All I do is first heat a quart or two of milk to just about the boiling point (I use raw milk when I can because it's creamier and contains all the healthful nutrients removed during the pasteurizing of commercial milk). Then I let the milk coat to almost room temperature and add half a cup of yogurt for each quart of milk used. After I've stirred the yogurt into the milk (stir until all lumps are dissolved), I pour the mixture into a clean, warmed—run the dish under hot water or place it in an oven for a few seconds until it's warm , not hot -casserole dish. Any dish will do so long as it has a cover and isn't made of metal . . . metals may have a tendency to react with the bacteria in the yogurt.

After I cover the dish, I wrap it in a towel so that the heat is retained inside and leave it till eight hours later when i check—gently—to see if it's solidified and is the consistency that I like (Usually I make my yogurt at night and refrigerate it in the morning).

The nice tittle gadgets are fine if you're in a crafty mood and want to try something different, but I've used this method for over a year now , . . and it works every time with a minimum of fuss.