Have you ever tried to make your own yoghurt? Although I love trying out new recipes, I have to admit I’ve never even considered making yoghurt ‘from scratch’ before; I just assumed it would be quite difficult and time-consuming, especially when there are plenty of delicious varieties readily available in supermarkets.
However, it turns out that it’s not actually that hard to make your own yoghurt; although you do need to leave it for around eight hours to develop. I’ve found a few different methods online, including a method from The Kitchn that uses half a gallon of milk and around half a cup of Greek/ plain yoghurt containing live active yoghurt cultures.
Recently, Hansells Foods sent me one of their Yoghurt Makers (£10 each) to review on my blog, along with four 220g sachets of yoghurt mix, each of which makes up to 1kg of yoghurt (£1.85-2.25 each). The range includes thick and creamy, lite and classic, unsweetened varieties of yoghurt available in several flavours including vanilla, Greek yoghurt and honey, strawberry and natural.
The live and active cultures in Hansells Yoghurt can help to promote a range of health benefits, including aiding digestion, boosting immunity and helping to breakdown lactose (useful in the case of mild lactose intolerance).
Inside the yoghurt maker, I found a 1 litre and two 500ml air-tight plastic tubs for mixing and storing the yoghurt.
How to make yoghurt using Hansells Yoghurt Maker:
1.Half fill the yoghurt tub with clean drinking water (15-20⁰C) and add the yoghurt mix (I’m using Thick and Creamy Greek yoghurt and honey here).
2. Secure lid and shake well. Make up to the 1kg level with more cool water. Replace lid, shake well then release air from container and re-seal.
3. Pour boiling water into your yoghurt maker to the specified level line. Place tub into yoghurt maker and immediately shut maker lid.
4. Leave for 8 hours or overnight until set. Remove from maker and place in the fridge to cool. Some separation may occur. Gently stir before serving to produce a smoother texture, if desired. Hansells Yoghurt will keep fresh for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.
Tips
- For a sweeter yoghurt, add caster sugar when preparing the yoghurt mix or add sweetener once set. Try adding Greek honey and/or fresh fruit.
- For a more acidic yoghurt, leave the yoghurt in the yoghurt maker for a few more hours.
It was very quick and easy to make yoghurt using Hansells Yoghurt Marker and I can imagine this being the kind of thing that children would enjoy helping out with too.
I was really impressed by how creamy the yoghurt was, especially as it didn’t contain any fresh milk. I loved the flavour of the Greek honey and yoghurt mix, although I could only just detect the honey. However, I wasn’t too keen on the strawberry yoghurt, which had a somewhat artificial, sweetened taste.
At just £10, Hansells Yoghurt Maker is very reasonably priced although if you kept on purchasing the yoghurt mix sachets, you could end up spending a fair bit of money. Once I’ve used up my sachets, I’m going to use the yoghurt maker to attempt to make yoghurt using milk and live active yoghurt cultures, like some other dairy recipes I’ve seen.
Have you ever made your own yoghurt? What method did you use? Leave a comment below.
Hansells Foods UK Ltd
Unit 16, 88 Clapham Park Road
London
SW4 7BX
www.hansellsyoghurtuk.com/
Hansells Foods sent me a Yoghurt Maker and yoghurt mix sachets for the purpose of this review; however, this has not influenced my opinion and I was not obliged to write a positive review.
Ohhh that sounds so easy to make and reasonable price too.
I’ve never made my own yoghurt. I’m far too lazy. I think it’s wasy (and safer for others) if I just buy it. LOL.
Lol, I was surprised how easy it is. I’m not sure how much I’ll use it to be honest as I love convenience food, I’m too busy to make yoghurt every other week too.
I would quite like to make yoghurt myself, and it does sound fairly simple.
So am I right in thinking this can be made as a dairy free option? Am I getting my wires crossed?
I just checked; it’s around 70% dairy content as it contains whole milk powder, so unfortunately not.
The thought of making yogurt is terrifying to me for some reason! Haha. It would be pretty cool to serve to friends knowing you made it from scratch but knowing me I’ll give someone food poisoning!
This sounds really cool! I am impressed that the yoghurt keeps for so long. We get through a lot of yogurt in our family so this might be worthwhile for us.
ÂŁ10 is a bargain! I can certainly see my children enjoying this and making their own frozen yoghurt and fruit lollies!
This sounds really cool! My parents used to make their own yogurt when I was a kid and it always tasted so much better than store-bought yogurt. 🙂
That sounds interesting and not too expensive if you use milk as you say. My mum used to make yogurt when we were kids but only the plain sort, and of course as kids we weren’t that keen on that! I like that it’s in a big tub rather than smaller pots too.
Oh wow, that sounds so easy and quick to do. My son loves yoghurt- natural yoghurt as well and easily eats through pots of the big cartons weekly. This would be so handy!
I have never made my own yoghurt. It would even occur to me too. But this looks great, and looks like a bargain!
i love these yogurt makers, they’re so handy as you can make just as much as you need rather than buying loads and having to throw it away.
This sounds so easy to use – I can’t believe it, I would definitely be tempted to try making my own. x
I bought a yoghurt making kit from Lakeland a few years ago but it was a bit of a disaster so I didn’t try again. We go through so much yoghurt at home so making it at home makes so much sense.
Oh that is so reasonably priced when you see how much you get x
I don’t eat yoghurt but if I did I would be loving this at just ÂŁ10 – its an absolute steal. I have a friend whose obsessed with yoghurt so I’m gonna pass on the details of this product.
I’ve often wondered about yoghurt makers and if they really are a more efficient way rather than buying. X
I must admit making my own yoghurt has never crossed my mind. It sounds simple enough. It’s definitely something I would use if I was given it as gift, I’m not sure it’s something I’d purchase myself xx
Wow! I thought it would be really hard too, and especially not ready in a day. If you eat a lot of yoghurt this is perfect.
I’ve always wanted to make yoghurt! I always thought you had to use fresh milk though which doesn’t really make it any cheaper, but using water brings the cost right down!
Usually you would need to use milk instead of water, but I believe there is some form of powdered milk in the mix that comes with the yoghurt maker 🙂
I’ve made yoghurt before using milk and live cultures – it’s really easy once you know how and you don’t need anything fancy either.
I’m definitely going to give it a go like that too 🙂
I had no clue you can do your own yoghurt! 🙂 I bet it tasted amazing!
I have never tried a yoghurt maker – I thought it would be a right faff but this looks great – good price too! Kaz x
I have never made my own yogurt but I would like to try and see if I could replicate your success. The yogurt looked delicious although sorry to hear that the strawberry tasted artificial.
That’s a really good price. This is something I would invest in as we eat a lot of yoghurt
I’m not a massive fan of yoghurt so I wouldn’t bother making my own but this looks great. It looks like fun to make too.
This sounds like a lot of effort just to have yogurt…I’ll stick to the store brands thanks lol.
I have always wanted to make my own yoghurt, and could so use this gadget. I must add it to my Christmas wishlist.
It would certainly make a great gift!
I have made yogurt in the past with a thermos flask, but this yogurt maker looks cool! A great price too
Ooh, I didn’t think of using a thermos flask!
I’ve never made my own but this does look like a fab product
I never would’ve considered it had I not been sent this item for review, but I’m glad I gave it a go 🙂
I’ve never made my own yoghurt before, I actually thought it would be a lot more complicated than it sounds. But after reading this I’ll definitely have to thank you!
Glad you liked my post, I was surprised at how easy it is to make yoghurt too!
I’m slightly obsessed with frozen yoghurt at the moment (supposed to be a lot healthier than ice cream), I wonder you could go on to make frozen yoghurt from these..? x
That is a great idea, I wonder if it would work. I love frozen yoghurt too x