Matsoni Yogurt of the Caucasus
Cook Time10 minutes mins
Total Time10 minutes mins
Course: Fermented Dairy
Cuisine: Armenian, Georgian
Author: Valeria Weaver - Beets 'n Bones blog
- 1/2 gallon milk raw or pasteurized; avoid ultra pasteurized
- 2 tablespoons sour cream I use homemade or previously made matsoni
Place milk into a stock pot and bring it to 90ºC (195ºF), which is the temperature just before boil; turn it off immediately.
Leave to cool down to 40º-50ºC (100º-120ºF). It took me about 1hr 15 mins to get to 120ºF. Remove skin that formed on top.
Add sour cream (or previously made matsoni), whisk well. Transfer to jars (I used 4 pint mason jars). Keep warm for 4 hours - you can wrap jars with towels, place them on a warmer plate, or next to a warm stove. At the end of that time, you will notice that milk thickens significantly. Move to refrigerator for at least 8 hours, it will allow matsoni to settle and ripen. Some folks keep matsoni for three days in refrigerator before consuming it.
- (Updated) I find that it's hard to keep milk at such high temperature now that the weather is getting cooler. What I started doing is leaving it out for 6-8 hours and even overnight in the warmest place I can find, wrapped in towels.
- You can use different starter cultures, from kefir to yogurt to whey.
- Not all store bought fermented dairy products are created equal since some might have very few or even none of the live organisms. If you are not having luck with fermentation, the starter you use might be the reason.
- High temperature fermentation allows only certain bacteria to proliferate, and that bacteria are what gives us matsoni (matsun).
