Making Yogurt In A Food Dehydrator

I am a big fan of food dehydrators, and am always looking for alternate uses to make them even more versatile. So when I came across an article from the University of Missouri Extension Office on how to make yogurt at home I was excited. This particular article, with its accompanying recipe, was "incubator agnostic." They essentially do not care what you use to keep the mixture warm while the cultures go to work making yogurt.

The only essential criteria is the ability to keep the mixture within the 108 to 112 degree Fahrenheit range essential to culture growth. An adjustable thermostat that includes the 108 to 112 Fahrenheit range. Internal space to hold the containers you intend to use. While that sounds simple enough, it may not be. Some dehydrators use stacking trays that do not adjust far enough apart to accommodate yogurt cups.

Some less-expensive models have only one temperature setting. Make sure your dehydrator will meet both criteria before you start. To use your dehydrator simply use your favorite yogurt recipe (or use the one from the U of M Extension Office, linked below). Pre-warm your dehydrator to 100 degrees while you prepare the mixture.

Then, at the point where your recipe tells you to place the filled container(s) into the incubator (usually a yogurt maker), place it into the dehydrator instead. Similar time requirements should apply, depending on the solidity and tartness you desire. There is one additional consideration worth discussing: Is a food dehydrator the most efficient incubator for making yogurt, Probably not. Yogurt makers tend to be more efficient, because they are seldom much larger than the containers they incubate, requiring less energy to keep them warm.

Food dehydrators usually run both a heater and a fan, and chances are they will have a fair amount of "dead space" around the containers that will be unnecessarily heated. However, a large capacity dehydrator can potentially regain some of the efficiency lost by being able to incubate larger batches of yogurt.

A large, box model with removable trays, for example, could potentially hold several batches worth of containers on a single tray, provided the tray is strong enough. Several trays could likely be cultured at the same time, as well, which increases efficiency considerably. Again, be careful not to overtax your trays.

I believe that dehydrators should work as well as many other options available for incubating yogurt cultures and making yogurt. What you potentially lose in efficiency may be made up in other ways, such as not having to buy a separate yogurt machine, not having to store a separate yogurt machine, and being able to make larger batches. I am interested in hearing your experiences in using dehydrators as yogurt machines. I am also interested in what other uses you may have discovered for food dehydrators beyond drying food. Drop me an email at the website below, and good luck!

If glass jars are used, screw the tops on tightly before processing, then turn back 1/4-turn to allow steam to escape during the operation. Processing is the very heart of preserving canned foods. This is the "cooking" which kills all bacteria in the containers, especially the Clostridium botulinum bacteria which lies dormant in the soil but thrives inside an airless container.

It is estimated that only 1 teaspoon of botulinum toxin could kill the entire population of the United States so do not try to shortcut processing time in any way when canning. On the other hand, please do not get the idea that home canned foods are any more dangerous than commercially canned foods.