The amount of milk is not very important, as it is the bacteria in the yoghurt that actually turns milk into yoghurt. So even if you have more milk, it will be fine to use one spoon of yoghurt.

Pour the milk in a pot and heat it up on the stove. It should boil once before you take it down. Now it has to cool down.

The big question is how far it has to cool down. The official temperature is about 115 degree Fahrenheit or approximately 45 degree Celsius. In reality however, we have never used a thermometer at the Ashram. My mother placed a hand on the outside of the pot to feel the temperature and told us that we can also dip the tip of a – of course clean – finger into the milk to check how warm it is. It should be as warm as the water of your hot bath would be. Now you can use a thermometer and do it very correctly and probably have a good result each time or you can try our method and maybe have a few test runs before you get it right. Once you know however how warm it should be, I think it is easier without the thermometer.

When the milk has reached this correct temperature, you take the spoon of yoghurt and slide it into the milk.

That’s about it. Now all you need to take care of is that the pot stays at a warm place for the next eight hours or overnight. For that, we wrap the pot in blankets and keep it in a warm bedroom. If your rooms get too cold overnight, you can heat up an oven on just below 50 degrees Celsius and place the pot inside. Switch the oven off but leave it closed so that it keeps approximately this temperature.

Check your pot in the morning: your yoghurt will be ready to eat! Just make sure to keep one spoon for the next yoghurt!