Homemade Yogurt & Strained Whey - Nutrition?

jfrankic

Hello there! I make homemade yogurt and sometimes strain the whey off. Can anyone tell me how this affects the nutritional value? And what is the nutritional value of whey? I saw some liquid whey listed in the database - 50 cals, 2g protein and 13 OR 0g sugar - per cup?? People talk about how packed with protein whey is, but 2g per cup? What am I missing?

From what I have read, this is basically how Greek yogurt is made and it is supposed to be higher in protein and overall healthier.

Any info on this from a homemade yogurt perspective?

Shew, that's alot of questions....catching breath now...... Thanks to all of the yogurt experts who will be answering!!

jfrankic

Bump :happy:

LPCoder

Most of the sugar in yogurt is located in the whey, and it the reason for the numbers you see. If you took a good quality, organic plain 0% fat yogurt and allowed it to sit in a coffee filter for a few hours, you would get greek yogurt. The reason greek is better is because the whey is filtered out, thus the sugar is filtered out.

Some people save the whey and use it in shakes. I have no idea of the nutritional value of whey for purposes of putting in into your log. I think that depends on the type of milk you started with and how long you filtered out your whey.

jfrankic

Great, thank you so much! Looks like I will be straining my yogurt from now on!! It just hit me that the reason the strained yogurt will have so much more protein is because it is more concentrated in a sense, without the liquid.

conradhughes

When something isn't on here or I'm just interested on what makes up what we eat, I use this:

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list

Pop in 'whey' in there and see what you can see. It appears to be trace carb and protein with around 5 grams of sugar per 100 grams. It doesn't list sugar so I'm not sure if that's pure galactose or the more complex sugar lactose.

jfrankic

Thanks for that site, I've never used it before. Will definitely bookmark!

echosentwo

Thats great that you made homemade yogurt. i have been wanting to make homemade yogurt can you share with me how you did it? sorry i don't know the answer to your question.

jfrankic

It's really simple to make yogurt and takes about 45 minutes or so the way I do it. If you don't like my process, you can google recipes and get various ways for prep and cooking. I took a few different methods and combined the processes I liked.

Ingredients: Milk & 2 Tbsp of yogurt

Utensils: 4 cup Pyrex bowl, candy thermometer (got on sale for $1 at WalMart), Mason jars & lids (or other recycled glass jar), optional funnel

*Heat 4 cups of milk to almost boiling or until you see little bubbles around the edges. I put mine in the microwave and heat in a 4 cup Pyrex measuring bowl. You can also cook on low on the stove, just takes longer and the milk might burn. Some folks even use the crockpot. (just google). Stir a few times while heating.

*Maintain temp of 180+ for about 20 minutes. I heat for one minute about every three minutes and this keeps it hot enough, but not boiling. Maintaining the heat helps to make your yogurt creamier. It is not necessary for the process though.

*After 20 minutes, put your bowl in an ice bath in the sink. Stir milk and cool to about 120 degrees.

*Remove any skin that may have formed. Add about 2 Tbsp of plain yogurt to a small bowl and add about 2 Tbsp of hot milk and mix completely. Then pour into your big dish and mix it up.

*Get out your funnel if you have one and pour into your jars. I use Mason jars and have found applesauce, pasta sauce, etc lids that will fit them perfectly. I prefer to have a one-piece lid than to use the ring/lid combo used for canning.

*Secure lid and place in oven with your pilot light on. Make sure it stays on when you close the door! This maintains the perfect temperature for your yogurt to incubate. Don't open the door and don't move the jars. This will interfere with the process.

*Leave for 8-12 hours, usually overnight in my case. The longer you leave it, the thicker it will become but it will also be a little tangier.

*After your time is up, just stick in the fridge and enjoy!

You can make more or less at one time. I just make four cups because I don't have a bigger bowl and want to use the microwave.

For thick, Greek style yogurt you will need to strain the yogurt through a cheese cloth, flour sack towel, pillow case (any clean, tightly woven cotton material), even coffee filters. Put your strainer over a bowl to catch the liquid. Place your fabric of choice in the strainer and then pour in your yogurt. The whey will drip out slowly over the course of a few hours. The longer you leave it, the thicker the yogurt will become. Once it is strained, scrape out and put back in your jar.

It seems like alot of steps, but after I did it one time, it has been a breeze to do - just had to figure out what works for me and my kitchen. I make my sons whole milk yogurt and pour it into individual glass baby food jars so they are easy to take on the go. The rest of the family's goes into the big jars. Usually one stays home and the other goes with me to work. I often make both at the same time, with the kids climbing up me and while I'm cooking dinner. Multi-tasking momma, but I say that to let you know that it is not very difficult. The candy thermometer and the funnel make it very easy to make perfect yogurt every time.

LPCoder

Actually I found that a heating pad works better than the light in the oven. Not all ovens have the incandescent light! The heating pad keeps everything warm at a constant temp and not too hot!

nschutt

My husband has been regularly making our Greek yogurt for the past year. He makes a batch using 1 1/2 gallons of 1% milk and uses the Bread Proofing mode in our oven for the incubation period of about 12 hours. This keeps the temperature in the oven around 100 degrees and it's been working out perfectly for us.