making homemade yogurt in dehydrator

This weekend we decided to try making yogurt at home. To me, this isn't as much making yogurt as it is making yogurt into MORE yogurt, since you need to have some yogurt already to do this.

2 quarts milk

3/4 cup plain yogurt with live cultures

First you heat 2 quarts of milk (any kind of milk works) to 200 degrees fahrenheit. This part takes forever. The longest time is between 180 and 200 degrees for some reason. Also for some reason, I love the smell of super warm milk. As soon as it passed 150, I was in scent heaven. I did not use a double boiler because I have the patience of a flea but it also means constant stirring to prevent burning. I did fine without it, but it's not stupid to use one.

Get your dehydrator warming up to 120 degrees at this point. I also put my jars in the dehydrator now to get them warm.

As soon as it hit 200 degrees, you place the whole pan in a sink full of cold water to start dropping the temperature down to about 120 degrees. This happens fairly quickly, so have your yogurt starter ready. I put my 3/4 cup plain yogurt in at around 130 degrees because the yogurt was cold and I wasn't sure how fast it would drop the overall temp.

Once you hit 120 degrees, you place it in containers ( I use pint sized mason jars ) and pop it into dehydrator for 4 to 8 hours. The amount of time is dependent on how thick/creamy you like your yogurt. I checked mine at 6 hours and left it in for the whole 8 hours. I dried some banana chips and tomatoes while this was going to make best use of energy being spent having the dehydrator run. I know it's a nominal amount of energy, but I feel better making use of everything that I can.

It turned out really great. The flavor is also based on the type of starter yogurt that you use. I used greek yogurt. You may also get a skin on the top of your yogurt. I mixed mine in, but if you are turned off by it, you can toss it.

You will also notice that you created some whey. This can be separated by straining it. You can then use your whey to make bread. Or you can mix it in. I mixed mine in. 

I used some honey to sweeten my newly born yogurt and mixed in some canned cherries from this summer.

It turned out delicious. Even Hubby loved it.

Did I mention you could use this to make your own smoothies?

Homemade Sore Throat Drops

Ok, I fully admit and acknowledge that these are fairly odd looking throat drops. 

Ok, I also fully admit and acknowledge that they look like... well... animal droppings. BUT these things are awesome, work great, are chemical free, organic and natural. So it's true they have no preservatives or natural coloring but they work.

I don't offer these on my site because it's too hard to make enough of these for open sales. I make enough for my family and friends and for specific pre-sales by clients who request them. Making them is pretty easy, it is the rolling and wrapping and storing that is harder in large quantities because they are organic and somewhat fragile little drops of goodness. 

Before we get to making them, let's discuss the taste. They are organic and there is no artificial colors or flavors. That being said, these are pretty good! They have a gentle earthy honey taste. Any child I have offered them to has also liked them as long as they are prepared to NOT expect super wild double cherry sour candy.

These drops not only provide relief for your throat... they offer the benefits of each ingredient including organic, unpasteurized raw honey which has antibacterial, antimicrobial and pro-biotic properties. Plus vitamins and a bunch of other great properties that you can Google should you be interested.

These also contain Echinacia which works to cure and prevent colds, marshmellow root which is used to treat mild respiratory symptoms, including cough, and slippery elm which can relieve coughs, sore throats, diarrhea, and stomach problems. *** insert disclaimer here. I am not a medical professional. These products are to be used at your own discretion, I am simply offering advice and telling results from what I have experienced.

I usually lose folks at the mention of marshmellow root because not that many people have it in their homes and that's when my clients just start asking me to make it for them. You CAN do it yourself by following the recipe below.

You need:

1 part organic raw honey

3 parts marshmallow root powder

3 parts marshmallow root powder

1 part echinacea powder 

Place all ingredients together in a bowl and start mixing and cutting them in together. It almost feels like pie crust at the beginning. I can't describe the process in words as well as the photos below illustrate.

It does take about 6-7 minutes of pressing and mixing to get it completely mixed.

Then you roll them into little balls using about 1/4 to 1/3 tsp of product. 

I put them on parchment paper and stick them in the fridge for about 4 hours to firm them up a bit before I wrap them up individually in the parchment paper.

Please note they will always be slightly soft, they are never going to be hard candy-like cough drops. Nor should they be.

Keep them in a sealed container and they will easily last for a month.

it almost feels like pie crust when you start cutting the powders into the honey.

i press a lot with the back of a spoon. 

throat drops. they taste much better than they look.