How to Make Crock Pot Vanilla Yogurt

image of container filled with homemade yogurt and spoon. another image of homemade yogurt in cheesecloth lined bowl. Title reads "how to make vanilla yogurt in slow cooker"

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If you have been following along, then you know that we have been making our way around the world learning about different cultures through the food people eat. The last country we visited was Australia and we had a great time making light and fluffy pavlovas. This month we have landed in French Polynesia, specifically the island of Tahiti. When thinking about Tahiti the first food that came to my mind was vanilla and we thought it would be fun to learn how to make crock pot vanilla yogurt. Our first stop was the library to find out more about Tahiti and vanilla. What we discovered was a wonderful series of books "Biography of...", by Crabtree Publishing. Each book in this series explores a different food or product; tea, rubber, wool, bananas, etc. My daughter was captivated by the book. She read me the entire section about harvesting vanilla. We learned that it takes about a year from the bean being picked until it is ready to be sold. There are many steps in the ripening and drying of the beans. It really is an amazing process.

How does Tahiti fit into the history of vanilla? We did some research and The Biography of Vanilla, by Julie Karnes, was a very helpful book to start with. We learned that Tahiti grows a unique type of vanilla bean. The flavor is different from vanilla from anywhere else in the world. In fact, it is the most desired and most expensive vanilla bean in the world.

After reading our book we were off to the grocery store to pick up some vanilla beans. We knew we wanted to make something with vanilla, but what? The girls wanted to make ice cream, of course. I thought it might be fun to try making vanilla yogurt. We have never made our own yogurt before and this seemed like a good time to try.

How to Make Crockpot Vanilla Yogurt

crockpot
kitchen thermometer
8 cups whole milk
½ cup live active yogurt
1 vanilla bean
½ cup honey

Pour 8 cups of whole milk into the crockpot. Turn the crockpot on low and allow the milk to reach 180F. This will take approximately 2 ½ to 3 hours. Check the temperature with a kitchen thermometer.

Once the milk has reached 180F, turn the crockpot off, remove the lid, and wait for the milk to cool to 110F. This will take approximately 1 hour.

When the milk reaches 110F whisk in the yogurt, honey, and seeds from the vanilla bean. **To remove the seeds from the bean cut the bean in half (lengthwise). Run the back of a knife along the inside of the bean, scooping out the seeds. Scrape both sides of the bean.

milk, live yogurt and vanilla bean seeds with whisk in crockpot

When the ingredients are incorporated, place the lid on the crockpot and wrap the crockpot in a towel or warm blanket. Let the pot sit for 8 - 12 hours. Some recipes advise that you place the crockpot in your oven, ours worked fine and simply left on the counter overnight.

crock pot covered in towel on counter top

After 8 - 12 hours open the crockpot. Line a strainer with 3-4 layers of cheesecloth and place the strainer over a large bowl.

milk and vanilla bean seeds in slow cooker

Scoop the yogurt out of the crockpot and into the cheesecloth-lined strainer. Place the bowl into the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. This will allow the yogurt to thicken, straining off the excess whey (clear liquid).

homemade vanilla yogurt in cheesecloth lined bowl

After 2-3 hours the yogurt will be thick and is done. Scoop into a storage container.

yogurt in cheesecloth lined strainer with bowl of whey underneath

Serve with whatever you like; strawberries, blueberries, maple syrup, peaches, parfait, etc.

glass filled with homemade vanilla yogurt with strawberries and granola

Now that we have made our own yogurt I think we might always make our own yogurt. It was smooth and silky...so good. The vanilla flavor was not overwhelming, very subtle. All in all our trip to Tahiti was fabulous.

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