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Originally published on October 4, 2005 in the New York Daily News

Culture club
Join those yogurt lovers who are making their own
By RACHEL WHARTON

If Americans used to scorn yogurt as hippie food, we're now making up for the snub: We spent nearly $2.8 billion on yogurt in 2003, and sales continue to grow.
But if you're one of those plunking down nearly $1 for 8 ounces — and even more if it's organic or artisanal consider Nathan Donahoe's approach: He makes his own.
A recent graduate of the city's Natural Gourmet Cookery School, Donahoe discovered that homemade yogurt is both cheap — a quart costs about the same as a quart of milk — and easy.
Yogurt is simply curdled milk, says Donahoe. It's fermented and thickened by bacteria that help it last longer than milk. Back before refrigeration, nearly 4,000 years ago, he says, tribes in Central Asia made yogurt to preserve their milk, storing it in animal skins or clay jars.
Bacteria are key
"The combination of hot climate and friendly bacteria present in the jars and bags," he says, "were the perfect conditions for the yogurt to form."
Requiring just a pot, a thermometer and a bowl, making yogurt today is nearly as effortless, says Sabrina Sexton, a chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary ¬Education who specializes in cheese and often makes yogurt at home.
You heat up any animal's milk to the temperature where bacteria reproduce, says Sexton, add a bit of fresh yogurt with "live active cultures" (Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus and other unharmful bacteria that some scientists say aid our digestive and immune systems) and keep the mixture warm while the bacteria go to work.
This can be six hours in a yogurt machine, or 24 in a warm place. The longer you incubate your yogurt, as this process is called, the tarter your yogurt will be.
Either way, Sexton and Donahoe agree, the results are usually better than the yogurt you buy in a store, which can come with sugars, stabilizers and preservatives.
A unique tang
And while not as jelled as Americans may be used to, says Donahoe, now a chef at The Canyon spa in California, homemade yogurt is creamier and tangier, with a flavor that's fresher and more complex. "It just tastes far superior," he says. For Indian, Middle Eastern and southern Mediterranean cooks, of course, the unique tang of homemade yogurt is a hallmark of their cuisines. This lesson is clear to Christos Christou, the chef now working on Ammos, the midtown traditional Greek spot that opens later this month.
Using his Cypriot grandmother's recipe and huge, traditional earthenware pots, Christou will be making fresh sheep's milk yogurt every evening, to include in savory mezze spreads like ¬tzatziki or to serve as dessert.
Topped with dates, figs, walnuts and Cypriot honey, it'll be a very sweet ending for sour milk.
Homemade Yogurt
Makes about 1 quart
You can use any kind of milk, although Nathan Donahoe and Sabrina Sexton prefer organic products from animals that are grass-fed. Fattier sheep's milk and whole milk will be richer, while goat's milk and fat-free are thinner. Some cooks also mix in a bit of unflavored gelatin or powdered milk to thicken the final results. Check the yogurt, too: The more bacteria it has, the more in your own batch, and fresher is better.
1 quart milk
1/8 cup of organic yogurt with "live active cultures" (or 1/18 teaspoon of dried yogurt culture, available from some health-food shops or online)
Warm milk in a pot to a minimum of 100 degrees and a maximum of 115 (1). Stir constantly to prevent scorching. Add yogurt culture (2) and mix well. Do not heat above 120 degrees or the culture will die. (If milk gets too hot, let cool before adding culture.)
If you're not using a yogurt maker, put the milk in a clean jar, thermos or bowl (3), cover it and set it in a warm place. A thermos should work perfectly, or try putting the jar in a gas oven with the pilot light on; or in a pot filled