Straining the yogurt works great! After I let the yogurt sit in the fridge overnight to chill, I pour it into a colander that I’ve lined with coffee filters. Two hours later, I scrape the yogurt into a jar and we have nice, thick Greek style yogurt. I pour the whey that drained off into a seperate jar, and I’ve been using that in other ways. The whey makes a great addition to home baked breads, soups, and I even made a batch of lacto-fermented sauerkraut this week.
The thickened yogurt has become a favorite. The kids love layering it with homemade strawberry jam. I still pull out about 1/2 a cup of the yogurt and stir in a drop of vanilla and literally, half a teaspoon of sugar, and then layer it with the jam for the kids. Yes, I’m still adding sugar, but they are getting a mere 1/4 teaspoon per serving (well, maybe 1/2 a teaspoon with the jam included), instead of the 6 or 7 teaspoons that are in a serving of store-bought yogurt.
So far, too, I’ve made five batches of yogurt with just that one container of yogurt as my starter. I’ve been pulling out 1/2 a cup of plain yogurt to start the next batch, and it’s still working great!