I have been making yogurt for many years, and in experimenting with raw goat milk, raw cow milk, and different types of pasteurized cow milk, I’ve noticed quite a difference in the results. As most experienced yogurt chefs are aware, raw milk will produce a much thinner yogurt than pasteurized milk – unless it is heated up (sterilized) first. This is because, unless you heat raw milk, the natural bacteria and enzymes that are present in the raw milk will compete with the yogurt culture. Additionally, heating milk does change the structure of the cell membrane in the milk protein, so that it can clump together better and give you a thicker set in the yogurt. Goat milk also produces a thinner yogurt than cow milk, even if it’s pasteurized. This is because of the difference in the protein cells in goat milk. There’s a certain type of casein (milk protein) in cow milk that is absent from goat milk, and the two milks form curds differently, with the curd of goat milk being an average of half the firmness of the average curd from cow milk. Additionally, the goat milk forms smaller “flakes” (curd clumps) than cow milk does. Both of those things may explain why goat milk is easier for many people to digest than cow milk, and it also explains why goat milk yogurt tends to be kind of runny.Note from Shannon: Please welcome Rosalyn, CFH Content Development Manager and Cultured Kitchen-Keeper.
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