Yay for homemade yogurt!

As my long time readers will know, I have been struggling to find a yogurt brand that I like up here. In Austin, I bought a local brand that came in glass jars (oh how I regret not keeping more of them when we moved - they are really useful) or in gallon-sized recyclable jugs. One of the perils of eating local is that when you leave a region, those products aren't available, and so it was with my yogurt. I used the store brand for a while, but only in my smoothies because it didn't taste very good plain. I tried the big organic brand, which tasted a bit better but was more expensive and still not all that good - not very much taste or tang. I tried to wait and only buy yogurt when I went to the natural food store, but that was inconvenient and although I like the Wallaby yogurt brand, it still was not quite what I wanted. And no matter what brand I tried here, it was in plastic containers that are not recyclable, made from milk from far away and shipped here.

However, I discovered that the natural food store carries milk from a local dairy, and found a good solution: I asked for a yogurt maker for my birthday, one with glass jars instead of plastic. When I was very small, my mother made yogurt for me, and I have had several people recommend this course of action now. My birthday is still a few weeks away, but Dad didn't want to wait, so it arrived in the mail last week. Yesterday I made my first batch, and this morning I tried out the plain (I also made a couple jars flavored with jam - haven't tried them yet). It was very good! Tangy, good consistency, glass jars. Exactly what I wanted. Yay!