reading time: 5 min
So in the meantime, let's talk about another very simple fermented food: YOGURT!
Vegan, dairy-free yogurt to be exact.
(Although I want to mention that you can easily make this non-vegan by using cow's milk or goat's milk instead of the soy milk, if that's what you prefer!)
This yogurt is incredibly delicious, thick, creamy, not too tangy, and best of all – super healthy!
Why? Most importantly, yogurt is a fermented product and therefore contains live bacteria, or probiotics, that have been shown to improve digestive symptoms such as IBS. (source) Making your own yogurt and using fresh, active bacteria is crucial in obtaining a beneficial immune and health booster.
Another reason to make your own yogurt is of course the price point. Making 750 ml (3 cups) of fresh soy yogurt cost me about 1,50 €: 0,95 cents for the soy milk, and about 50 ct for the vegan yogurt cultures (proportionally). This makes about 1 € per 500 g – as opposed to 1,50 to 1,90 € per 500 g that I pay for plain unsweetened soy yogurt in the supermarket!
Use this yogurt as you would store-bought yogurt – plain, on top of oatmeal or muesli, in smoothies, in dips, in homemade ice cream, to make frozen yogurt etc.
PRO TIP: Save a few spoonfuls of your homemade yogurt to use as a starter culture for your next homemade yogurt (instead of the store-bought vegan yogurt cultures)! You can do this up to 10 times, then you should make another batch with store-bought cultures, to ensure a healthy and clean bacteria culture. Then use leftover yogurt as a starter again for up to 10 rounds of yogurt making, and so on.
Original recipe from Fairment
Preparation time: 10 mins (+ 10-12 hours *)
Main ingredients: soy milk, yogurt cultures
difficulty level: easy
makes: 750 ml (3 cups) yogurt
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, low fat, sugar-free, yeast-free, gluten-free
1/2-1 tsp vegan yogurt starter cultures
a glass container (I re-use an old pickle jar that I sterilized using boiling water)
a yogurt maker ** (see notes below for alternatives!)
a saucepan
(optional but highly recommended) kitchen thermometer
optional:
fresh or frozen fruits (e. g. blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, peach, pineapple or mango chunks, canned cherries)
sweetener, to your liking
Instructions
Add soy milk to a medium-sized saucepan, and gently
heat up to 80 °C / 180 °F to kill off any unwanted bacteria, stirring
regularly. Use a kitchen thermometer to check the temperature. Once
the soy milk has reached 80 °C / 180 °F, remove from heat.
Pour the hot milk into the container of your yogurt maker or a
sterilized jar that will be used for fermenting your yogurt.
Allow to cool down to about body temperature (40 °C / 100 °F),
checking the temperature again with the thermometer. This will take a while.
Once at the right temperature, stir in the yogurt starter cultures. Mix well.
Close the container with an airtight lid. Leave
to sit in the yogurt maker or any other heat-retaining construction (see notes below) in an undisturbed place at 40 °C / 100 °F for 8–10 hours.
After
8–10 hours, check on your yogurt to see if it's ready (using a clean
spoon). Is it tangy enough / to your liking? Is it set / thick enough? If
not, leave to sit for another 5 hours or so.
If it's ready, remove from the yogurt
maker or your heat-retaining construction. Transfer soy yogurt to airtight glass jars, if it's not already.
Refrigerate.
If you prefer it creamy (like I do), stir or whisk the yogurt until smooth. If you prefer it "chunky", leave it unstirred. The three pictures above the recipe show the same soy yogurt, right after fermentation and still "chunky" / unstirred, and then creamy after stirring.
Enjoy!
This homemade soy yogurt will keep in the fridge for about a week.
- ** If you don't have a yogurt maker: You can use any method you can think of to keep your yogurt at the necessary temperature of about 40 °C / 100 °F for 8-10 hours, such as placing your glass container in a warm oven (45 °C / 115 °F) with the heat off. You could also use a dehydrator with an adjustable thermostat to keep your yogurt warm, or a preheated and then-turned-off crock pot or slow cooker, or a thermos bottle with hot water heated to up to 80 °C / 200 °F. Depending on where you live, you could even just let your yogurt sit in a warm environment (30 °C / 86 °F) for 8-10 hours (my mother-in-law lives in South Africa and has done this successfully!).
- Enjoy your yogurt as is, or add delicious toppings such as maple syrup, fruits, granola, coconut flakes, nuts, nut butter, or crumbled biscuits.
- If you like, you can make your own fruit yogurt by adding about 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen berries, pineapple or mango chunks, or whatever you like, to your yogurt jars. Mash some of the fruit with the back of a spoon, if you like, and stir to create a beautiful colourful swirl, if desired.
- To make vanilla yogurt, add 1 tbsp vanilla extract or half a scraped vanilla bean as well as 2 tbsp sugar to your yogurt. To make chocolate yogurt, stir in 6 tbsp cacao powder or carob powder, as well as 2 tbsp of sugar or agave syrup.
- To make your own stracciatella chocolate chip yogurt, add 6 tbsp dark chocolate chips or chocolate shavings to your yogurt, as well as 3 tbsp honey, corn syrup or agave syrup.
- I also really like eating my homemade yogurt with a few spoonfuls of vegan honee, kind of Greek-yogurt-with-honey style.
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