Greek Yogurt
If you like your yogurt to have a thicker consistency, it is SO much cheaper to get it that way yourself than to spend $6 for a two-cup container of Fage. Whether you make your yogurt from scratch or buy it in the store, you can turn it into fancy Greek yogurt at home for free.
Supplies
– 32 oz. (4 cups) of store-bought or homemade yogurt (You can use less yogurt if you want, but keep in mind that the quantity will shrink once you have eliminated the extra moisture.)
– large strainer, sifter, or colander
– bowl upon which to set the strainer
– cheesecloth (or two heavy duty paper towels)
Procedure
1. Assemble your straining apparatus: Place strainer on top of bowl and line with with cheesecloth (or paper towels).
2. Pour yogurt into strainer.
3. Cover with a plate and put in refrigerator until desired thickness, one to four hours.
4. You will notice a yellowish liquid in the bottom of your bowl. Do not pour it down the drain. This is whey, and it is packed with calcium, protein, and other nutrients. You can use it for baking in place of other liquid ingredients, or you can use it for cooking grains like oatmeal. I usually freeze it in a container until I need it.
In case you’re not familiar with Greek yogurt, here’s a side-by-side comparison with regular (both are homemade). I’m sure you can guess which is which.
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 
I strain my yogurt this way too, but it’s still no Fage. I’ve even made Greek yogurt by incubating it for over 15 hours (it tasted amazing, but took way too long as it had to chill for 2-3 days afterwards). Here is the link:
http://heathereatsalmondbutter.com/2008/12/11/yogurt-success/
I’ve just been buying the Trader Joe’s brand. Still pretty good, but only half the price of Fage.
I did not know the liquid was whey. Great tip on freezing it – Thank you!
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I definitely need to do this with my homemade yogurt. I loooove Greek yogurt and this is both cheaper and way more eco friendly. Yay!
Totally would never have thought to save the whey. Whey cool! 😉 (Ok that was so cheesy, sorry)
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Thanks for giving these instructions! Do you know what the nutrition on this is? I was wondering how many calories are in the whey that gets drained out.
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Hi Marie –
I’m not sure about the nutrition on whey from yogurt — it’s hard to track down — but back when I was counting calories, I used to count it as skim milk (even though it clearly has way less of everything than the milk).
You could try googling around for more info, but here are a few links that might help:
– regarding whey from whole milk yogurt: http://www.recipezaar.com/Whey-Yogurt-Liquid-Whey-317488
– and strained vs. unstrained yogurt: http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200811_omag_katz_yogurt
Hope that’s useful!
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That’s quite helpful, Sarah. Thanks!
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