Apparently
there is always more to learn about yogurt. I was recently gifted an exciting
kitchen gadget—an instant pot with a yogurt setting! I was so excited to try it, and on
that weekend I made a batch of yogurt. Because I had always depended on a
thermometer to make yogurt, I tested the temperature of the milk and yogurt
throughout the process. After heating the milk, the temperature was only 165⁰ F.
I tried to rerun that setting, but it would not heat much further, so I used
the regular slow cook function to get the milk to 180⁰ F. Then, I cooled the milk as
I usually do, added the starter, and set the machine to the fermenting setting
for 14 hours. As soon as it beeped to let me know it was finished, I checked
the temperature, and it was below 100⁰ F. The texture was much thinner than
I get when the yogurt ferments at 155⁰ F. The yogurt still tasted good, but it was not quite the texture I was hoping for.
I
contacted the Instant Pot customer support, and their answers were not
particularly helpful. I am still unclear if they intended the Instant Pot to
ferment yogurt at below 100⁰ F or if the pot does not work as it
is supposed to. At one point they offered to send me a new heating element, but
I want to see if I can get it to work well enough with the one I have first. I am going to try to ferment
it for 18 hours to see if fermenting it for longer can make up for the lower
temperature and still result in a thick yogurt.
 |
| Instant Pot yogurt |
