It’s not often that I find truth in advertising or manufacturer claims, but if Noosa is not the “finest yoghurt” you’ve ever tasted, then I want to know where you get your yoghurt.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love me some Fage. But this stuff… Struth!
I have to agree. A while back I was having some difficulty finding my preferred brand, and conducted a taste test to see if I could find a replacement. Noosa was the clear winner.
It’s good, but it used to be better. They changed the recipe about 1.5 years ago, adding gelatin, agar, pectin and a bunch of other stabilizers, I think mostly to change the texture of the fruity layer. I don’t buy it any more 
I lived in Noosaville, Queensland, as a small girl, so I obviously know something about the yoghurt cultured therein! 
I get the best yogurt…at home. Its the simplest thing to make, in terms of the process. Its as creamy as you want it to be (depends on the milk you use), has no additives at all and healthy!
Things can wrong in the making - if you leave it out too long or warm the milk a bit too much.
How to make yogurt:
Warm milk to about 110-115 F (basically warm to touch…like a very high fever)
Add a couple of spoons yogurt starter (any store bought one with “live” cultures will do)
Store in a warm place in the kitchen. The oven with the light on will do nicely if your kitchen is cold. Taste for doneness in about 5-6 hours and then put it in fridge to harden a bit more.
Interesting. I’d definitely like to try that. My wife has made ricotta in the past but to mixed success because so much depended on the quality of the milk and cream available.
So for yogurt, do you use whole milk or reduced fat or what? Should I look for milk from specialty food stores that is perhaps more minimally processed than something I find at a supermarket?
What’s the shelf (fridge) life of the home made yoghurt?
You can use whole or reduced fat milk. We usually use regular low fat milk (organic) , but sometimes when we use whole milk, we call it “crack”. Its that addictively tasty! We also use “Kefir” as a starter and have used Bulgarian yogurt as a starter if we have finished the previous batch. But usually - we use a spoon or two of the previous batch.
Yogurt can stay in the fridge for up to a week - though it has never lasted that long in my house. We make small batches only and eat it every day - sometimes as part of a meal or as a dessert, sprinkled with raisins and nuts and bit of agave nectar…mmmm. Damn I am hungry now!
Yogurt will “mature” every time you take it out and expose it to warm air. So it will change character over time depending upon how long the exposure is. So, small batches is the way to go. Don’t be disheartened by a couple of bad batches. Fiddle with temperature and how long you leave it out. But remember - it will NOT be as thick as the store bought one.
Sounds fun. And I’ve always got kefir with live culture on hand. Definitely going to try making it this weekend. Thanks!
The kind sold in US grocery stores is from Colorado, actually.
Still, it’s excellent stuff. If it gets warm, it kind of starts to smell like feet though.
The culture is from Noosa. That’s why they named it that.