HOW WE MAKE YOGURT AT STAPLETON

We use fresh Jersey milk which is delivered early each morning. Our first job is to separate the cream from the skim and then to pasteurise. We then cool the skim milk so that it is just warm. At this point we add our special cultures, which are Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptocococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidus, before filling into small containers for fermentation. We still make our yogurt in 30 litre containers, instead of large industrial vats. Unfortunately in these days of mass-produced food, yogurt is usually made on a large industrial scale, pumping it through pipelines from one stage of the process to the next. This breaks down the natural curd, which is compensated for by the addition of thickeners such as gelatine or modified maize starch, the sole function of which is to conceal the effects of over-processing. We do not do this. Yogurt is still made traditionally at Stapleton.

The following morning, the finished yogurt has the prepared fruit gently stirred into it, before filling into pots and labelling. We believe it is vital to know what we are putting into the food we make for people, so we start with raw ingredients whenever possible. This makes us very different from most producers, who buy their fruit already processed. For instance, when we make toffee sauce to go into our yogurt, we begin with fresh jersey double cream and dark muscovado sugar. For blackberry yogurt, we take blackberries (which have been harvested and immediately frozen to retain their flavour) and poach lightly with raw sugar, in open pans. It’s simple but effective, which sums up our philosophy with regard to quality. We believe that additives like flavouring and colouring are a poor substitute for good basic ingredients, used with respect.