a breakthrough in my yogurt recipe

adding large amounts of pectin (2 Tbsp now, maybe more next time) before refrigeration combined with a long (2+ day) refrigeration yields a yogurt that is textured much like a commercial brand. need to acquire more of my benchmark, brown cow, for a side-by-side comparison.

now, the flavoring... that's a problem still. i tried adding some vanilla flavoring (not extract -- extract is suspended in alcohol and i fear that will kill the live cultures. this flavoring stuff is still made from real vanilla but it's got no alcohol) but i had to add quite a lot to get any flavor which has two negative effects:

1) it's expensive
2) it diluted the texture of the yogurt

also, it still doesn't taste like vanilla yogurt.

but i've still got some tricks (and hopefully, no yogurt) up my sleeve.