I've been making my own yogurt for years now and am interested in 
knowing how long it will keep unrefrigerated. Yogurt probably originated
 as a way to keep fresh milk for longer in warm weather and I'd like to 
know just how long it can go. The Internet was remarkably unhelpful in 
answering this question, and it will be good to know how it works given 
my specific conditions anyway, so I'm experimenting.
I made a batch of yogurt on Friday, June 8th. (To make yogurt, heat 
the milk to 180F to kill bacteria, cool it to 115-120, add yogurt saved 
from the last batch, and keep it warm in an oven or cooler for several 
to many hours to allow the cultures to grow.) In this case I used 
Meadowbrook Farms pasteurized, homogenized whole milk (some fresh and 
some more than a week old and slightly sour) and kept it in a warm 
cooler for about 10 hours before moving two 8-ounce jars into my 
basement root cellar.
My root cellar is not yet designed to stay as cold or dry as it 
should, but it is significantly cooler than the rest of the house in 
June. The temperature was around 67. I pulled out the first jar on the 
morning of June 12th, four days after I put it down there. There was no 
mold or evidence of other nastiness, though there was a small amount of 
whey on top which rarely happens when it's refrigerated. It smelled 
stronger than usual and tasted a bit more sour, which I was expecting 
because it would have continued to ferment for longer than typical. 
(Refrigerator temperatures stop fermentation quickly but I'm not sure 
how much/ how quickly it continues at temperatures that are warmer than 
that but below 90F.) It was good though and didn't make me sick.
Jar number two came out on the afternoon of June 15th, seven days 
post-incubation. It had separated slightly so its texture was curdier- 
it still was more like yogurt than cottage cheese, but it wasn't as 
smooth as yogurt usually is. Its taste and aroma were similar to that of
 Day Four, but I'll admit that taking the first bite required steeling 
myself rather more firmly. My body has registered no distress however, 
which means that the next batch of yogurt I make will include samples to
 be tested up to two weeks out.
Variables other than temperature and length of storage may affect 
how yogurt keeps. Cooling after incubation, incubation time, fat 
content, age and type of culture, and age of milk come to mind. I'll 
start playing with them once I figure out how long it takes for this 
yogurt to go bad on me.
Friday, June 15, 2012
How long does yogurt keep unrefrigerated?
Posted by
Sarah
at
3:42 PM
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Labels: food
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