The longer it "works" the more tart it becomes. The older a live culture yogurt is the more sour.
Linda C

With commercial yogurt - who knows what they add to it for the tart flavor. When you make your own yogurt there is a window of temperatures where you add the starter - 110-degrees F to 120-degrees F. The warmer the milk is within the range when the starter is added, the more tart the yogurt will be. The cooler the milk is within the same range, the sweeter the yogurt. And as Linda pointed out, longer incubation time results in tart yogurt. Short incubation time produces sweet yogurt. Yogurt also becomes more tart the longer it is stored.

-Grainlady

Yogurt is made by live yeast... often more then one kind. As with beer or wine different strains of yeast will give different flavors. Good chance what Grainlady is seeing is temperatures favoring one variety of yeast over another.

Yogurt can be used in cooking many dishes... if you are finding it overly tart for plain eating. Most anything that takes well to sour cream will accept yogurt.

: )
lyra

One of these days I'll get around to making my own yogurt. I'll keep the temperature thing in mind when making it. It's so fascinating, all the science that goes into cooking.

Lyra, I do use yogurt as substitutes for sour cream and buttermilk, at times. Mostly for sour cream. I like to use it on baked potatoes instead of sour cream, to add protein, and reduce the guilt factor.

Sally

Oh, my goodness! White Mountain is the only yogurt that I buy and I eat it every single day! No other yogurt is even close, in my opinion, to this one. It is exactly the tartness that I adore! I can't even stomach any other brand anymore. I am convinced that it helps keep the tummy healthy, no question. However, I will say that I don't care for any sweetened yogurt, so this could explain my addiction! Surely it's a matter of taste!

I don't like pre-sweetened yogurt, either. I had it this morning with mixed berries. I'll try it tomorrow with just blueberries, which are sweeter and less tart than the mixed berries. Maybe that will make a difference.

I agree with you about the health benefits of yogurt. I eat it several days a week.

Sally

I make my own yogurt and find that, as I use the last of each batch to start the next batch, it gets more and more tart. I don't like really tart yogurt, so I start adding a drizzle of honey when it gets really tart, and then I start with some new Greek yogurt and make a new batch for starter.

Sally, making yogurt is so easy, I was amazed. I started with a cooler and hot water, and now I make it in my dehydrator. I had one batch that didn't thicken as much as I liked, but it comes out thick and creamy.

Which reminds me, I need to make more.

Annie

Annie, I used to make yogurt years ago, when I had a little yogurt making kit by Salton. It seemed the timing had to be just right, so that when I went back to work, I couldn't time things right, so I quit making it. However, since you work 1000 hours a week, and farm, and bake and cook, and still manage to make yogurt, my excuse is lame. Seriously, though, with your schedule being so busy, how do you time your yogurt making?

Sally

I used to have one of those Salton yogurt makers, and I abandoned it for the same reasons as you, sally. Now I make kefir, which seems to be more carefree and forgiving than yogurt. Of course, maybe that is because the friend who got me started didn't stress about timing or temps, so it just seems easier.

Sally, I put it in the dehydrator while I sleep. Really, I do. It needs to be in there 7-9 hours, so I make it up just before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning, have coffee, shower, etc., I take it out of the dehydrator and put it in the fridge. Perfect timing.

Besides, I only work 50 hours a week at the office, less now that I have a new boss that would like to get rid of me.

Annie

I know, Annie. I'm just always so impressed by your accomplishments and abilities, I was having a little fun with the hard work you do. I actually thought you didn't sleep, and that's how you do it all, lol.

So, if I don't have a dehydrator, what do I do? I guess I should look up the old threads about yogurt and kefir making.

Sally

I forgot to mention, Cooksnews, that I've thought about making kefir, but haven't been sure where to get a good starter. Grainlady has said that the kefir from the store isn't good enough, so I haven't tried making it. How do you get hold of some good kefir starter?

Sally

sally2-
I don't think I ever said "kefir from the store isn't good enough", it's just not anything close to being the same thing as making it yourself with real kefir grains. It's like saying powdered mashed potatoes are just like eating real, peeled, boiled mashed potatoes.

Commercially-produced kefir is a fruity, sugared version that includes some of the good bacteria. It would be impossible to use the traditional fermentation process we do at home on a commercial scale. They just like to make you THINK it's the same thing. Real kefir grains are used over and over for each batch and grow and make more kefir grains. It's a living thing packed with many more varieties of good bacteria and yeasts (30) needed to ferment milk (or water with water kefir grains) than they use for commercially-produced kefir.

There is also a powdered starter - Yogourmet Kefir Starter - and once again, it's not the real thing and only has a couple types of bacteria necessary for fermentation. This is the product I first used until I found a source for the real kefir grains.

How to get kefir grains....person-to-person. You normally get them from someone else who has them. I went on-line and found a source here in Kansas. I paid a small amount for them, plus shipping. There are some web sites that sell dehydrated kefir grains (the real deal, just dried), I just don't have any personal experience with them and can't suggest one.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Kefir - Wickipedia

Sorry, Grainlady, I didn't mean to mis-quote you. I just misunderstood you, I guess. Thanks for the link and info. I'll look into it further and see about getting some grains.

Sally

I got my kefir grains from a friend who purchased hers online (I think). We have since introduced a few other friends to kefir making, so if we ever do something stupid, like drop the nursery jar, we can get them easily replaced. I needed to re-rew a few months back when my kefir wouldn't set. The grains looked as they usually do, but the end result just looked like milk. I should have asked Grainlady for some help, as maybe my grains could have been saved. But once again, a friend came to the rescue, and I started over. I did buy a pack which purported to be "kefir starter", but it was simply expensive crystals that one added to milk - it didn't live on to propagate future batches.

I'm making homemade yogurt in an instant pot which is a no brainier. I noticed that excessive generations of starter from the same batch get more tart. Also the amount of starter used and the incubation period matter a lot. I don't like a super tart yogurt, just a bit. So now I get fresh yogurt every third batch to use as starter. I get any yogurt that is very fresh (check sell by date) with at least 3 different strains of microbes but no gelatin or additives. I mix 1/3 C of the starter into 2 Qts of sterilized 2%.milk after it has dropped to under 100 degrees F. I also add 4T non-fat dry milk per 2 quarts of milk. After fermentation (6-8 hrs-I taste test) I add 4T real sugar and 2T good quality Mexican vanilla. No artificial sweeteners which can react with microbes. I then strain it through a yogurt strainer in the refrig ($15 on Amazon.) What Ii get is 1.5 qts excellent greek yogurt at a cost of about $1.75 a Qt. as compared to almost $5 for Chobani. ( I sometimes use small cups of Chobani as starter.) I'm paying $2.19 for 1/2 Gallon of 2% milk at the market.)