Making REAL Yogurt
Posted by Long_Haired_Hippie on Mar 05, 2011 · Member since Apr 2010 · 58 posts
Hey all anyone have advice on making real vegan yogurt not the pureed tofu kind? Im allergic to soy but i like coconut and rice yogurts but at 4 dollors per cup (small town only one store who sells vegan non-soy) i cant afford them often and was wondering how much work it would be to do at home. I dont have much luck with searching forums on here so if there is already a thread on this i would appreciate a link :)
Thanks,
Natalia
http://vegpeace.org/oatyogurt.html
i haven't made it yet, but i really want to
Thanks Veganhippie! Lol love you name ;)
haha thanks :D
I've made soy yogurt from scratch a lot, but I've also used a mixture of almond and coconut milk. I'm not sure if just coconut milk would work on its own without a lot of thickener, but the almond-coconut had a great flavor and texture. Here are a few links to get you started:
Bryanna Clark Grogan's Making Soy Yogurt
FatFree Vegan's Soy Yogurt -- see also Greek yogurt/yogurt cheese
You can also look at dairy yogurt methods, since the overall techniques are the same. There are several options for keeping your yogurt warm during the incubation - in a crockpot, in a cooler with or without a heating pad, in a yogurt maker, in your oven with the light on, etc. It is very important to make sure all your utensils and anything that will touch the milk/yogurt spotlessly clean and scalded with boiling water. If you use commercial yogurt as a starter, make sure it says it has active cultures in it, and get it as fresh as possible.
I haven't read much about making rice yogurt, but you should know that there is the potential for food poisoning (Bacillus cereus) when keeping rice at a warm (but not hot) temperature for an extended amount of time, like that used for yogurt making. It's possible the risk is low, but I would do a bit more reading before attempting it.
I have made yogurt in the crock pot before going vegan and it worked well. You just need a starter (small container of store bought yogurt) and some milk. I have not tried a vegan version but should. I think almond milk would work best since it is thicker them rice milk.
I have the oar yogurt going on my counter now and will let you know how it comes out. ;)b
I've had AMAZING raw yogurt made with a cashew base. Here's a lame recipe I just found doing a quick search, but the one I ate definitely had lemon in it for that tangy taste. Can't remember anything else from the recipe though :P
http://goneraw.com/recipe/cashew-yogurt
Hey everyone thanks for input :) especially about the food poisining thing. Im super sensitive to spoilage (cant eat any leftovers more than 2 - 3 days old) which makes me hesitant but i figure yogurt would be safer than other fermented foods due to the addition of the extra good bacteria. I think if i give it a go i will do coconut as im allergic to nuts as well which makes the almond and cashew off limits. As a side question if i can get the texture right can i add some of my powdered probiotic to it or would that be overkill?
If you're talking about started, I would use either powdered probiotic or commercial yogurt, not both. You don't really want to add extra bacteria to it since the bacteria will already multiply and use up all the sugar that is there. More bacteria and the process will just go faster -- perhaps too fast, and you might end up with bad results (overly tart, separated, etc). If you wanted to add the probiotic to individual servings I'd think that would be fine.
You could probably also use seed milks like sunflower, pumpkin seed, or hemp.
Your yogurt shouldn't really be anything like a spoiled food - if you notice any off flavors or odors, or splotches in the yogurt indicating mold growth, you need to toss the batch. likewise if it doesn't thicken or become tart - your good bacteria didn't grow, so there could be bad bacteria or mold lurking in there that kept it from growing.
Hi VegRunSki. Sorry to take so long in replying ive been of fresearching traditional dairy methods to give me an idea of what gadgets im going to need to haul out of the grage :p. Sorry for the probiotic confusion i didnt mean id use both i meant either/or for starting and them maybe adding mor eprobiotic to a serving before i eat it. Im trying to look uo the best strains for yogurt making since mine has like 5 hopefully something in there will work.
I hope to try it by end of month or first week of next depending on how much information i can find and time i have. Figure i will try the pot/jar method first and let it culture in my oven with the light on. I have several 1 quart canning jars that should do fine. Thanks for the tips!