HOMEMADE BLUEBERRY GREEK YOGURT WITH FRUIT AT THE TOP

Steps:

• Tools to Sterilize: 1 pan with lid, 9 glass pint jars, 9 pint jar lids, 1 ladle, 1 candy thermometer, 1 canning funnel, 1 stirring spatula (mine is extra wide), 1 metal stirring spoon.
• Other Tools: 1 small cooler, 1 teapot,1 blender.
• Sterilize all your cooking tools. This is easy to do. Put a few inches of water in the bottom of your pot. Put all the cooking tools you can fit inside. Put the lid on the pan. Simply steam the tools in the pan for a few minuets. or Wash all the tools in a dishwasher. or Heat water in your teapot and pour boiling water over your tools.
• Use a sterilized pint jar to measure out the 8 pints of milk into your pan. Put your candy thermometer in the pan and get your spatula ready.
• Turn your burner to less then medium heat. Slowly heat the milk while stirring the bottom of the pan from time to time. Heat milk to almost boiling (or 180 degrees).
• While milk is heating measure out the yogurt. Use one sterilized pint jar to measure out the Greek yogurt. Remember to stir your warming milk often.
• While milk is heating, heat water in your tea pot and pour it into your cooler. Close up the cooler to preheat it. Refill the teapot and heat some more water. Remember to stir your warming milk often.
• While milk is heating measure out the fruit topping ingredients into a blender and blend them. Place this blended topping inside the fridge to wait. Remember to stir your warming milk often.
• When milk has reached 180 degrees remove pan from heat and allow to cool to 110 degrees. The active cultures will be killed if they are stirred into milk any hotter then 110 degrees.
• While waiting for milk to cool down dump water out of your warmed cooler and place the empty pint jars inside of the empty cooler.
• Once milk has cooled to 110 degrees it is time to stir in the yogurt. In order to easily stir in the yogurt it helps to stir it with a little milk before adding it to the warm milk. Put half the yogurt in two jars and stir in warmed milk with each jar. Then pour the yogurt/ milk mix into the pot and stir it all together with the rest of the warmed milk. The used pint jars can still be used for culturing yogurt in them.
• Place your canning funnel on to one of your pint jars. Ladle yogurt/milk mixture into the pint jars, one will not be all the way full. Loosely cover each jar with a lid.
• Pour preheated water from your teapot into the bottom of your cooler. Close up cooler and let the yogurt culture.
• Culture in the cooler for 6-10 hours, you can add more hot water if you want. The longer the yogurt cultures the thicker it will be. I like to add hot water in the middle and culture for the whole 10 hours because I like my yogurt very thick.
• When yogurt has reached desired thickness remove the jars from the cooler. Dump the water out of the cooler.
• Get your fruit topping out of the fridge and spoon it onto the top of each of your yogurt cultures, for a fruit at the top effect. Replace the lids tightly on each pint jar.
• Store pint jars of yogurt in the fridge until you are ready to eat them.