I like yogurt, but I have struggled with the brands of vegan yogurt out there. Silk makes a pretty good blueberry yogurt and I'm okay with the plain coconut yogurt by So Delicious. However, I think they cost too much. When things cost too much and I'm just iffy with the flavor, I get motivation to make it myself. I'm that type of person. I don't want to pay too much for things that I consider staples (things I eat more often than not) and I want to love what I'm eating!
Last year, I began the process of making vegan yogurt. It was a complete fail. I used almond milk and added probiotics to culture it, but it was a complete flop. I threw the whole thing out. This year, I bought Miyoko Schinner's book "Artisan Vegan Cheese" and I love it! It has a cashew yogurt recipe in there (you'll have to buy the book for the recipe) that I tried to make three separate times this month (the first two times I did not stick with the recipe and they were a complete fail), but the last time was a charm!
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| I highly recommend Miyoko's book. |
So, cashews and soy milk are not all that cheap, especially if you buy certified organic products. Making mistakes can be costly. So, just like when life throws you lemons, make lemonade, I've learned to make vegan buttermilk from my flop yogurt experiments. Instead of using a nondairy vegan yogurt to culture the milk, I tried using probiotics again, but again it was a flop. Instead of throwing the whole thing out again (like I did last year), I decided to drain the clumped probiotics off of the milk, which had considerably thickened, but not cultured. This left a thick buttermilk-like vegan milk, which I will use in various ways.
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| Vegan homemade yogurt on the left with a failed attempt, now vegan buttermilk, on the right. |
Now, one of the main reasons to eat yogurt is for the
probiotics. Active cultures, such as L.
Acidophilus, B.Bifidum, L.Bulgaricus, and S.Thermophilus, are in
most vegan yogurts. These cultures help give the body good bacteria to fight
(or eat) the bad bacteria. Probiotics also help in digestion and relieve
constipation. Google the many splendid benefits of yogurt cultures!
Now you may also buy probiotics in other forms (pill form, drink form),
but I love variety. Also, after so many failures in making yogurt from
the pills, I'm beginning to think that the bacteria in pill form may have
deactivated. When trying to make yogurt from the pill form, I had
failures.
I've finally used the nondairy vegan soy yogurt to culture and that worked. Praise God!!! If you're dying for the recipe, though I can't give it to you, Miyoko has a YouTube video regarding this recipe (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYMJZkbDH9g). When I made it just like she did, it worked. I did not change a thing, but maybe in the future. For now though, I'm going to stick by the original recipe until I'm sure I can do it by changing the ingredients!!! This yogurt is delicious and creamy and I have not even added any sweetener to it yet. I have a whole 32 ounce quart jar of it. I'll be using this yogurt as my starter for my next batch. I'm thrilled.
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| Cashew yogurt with a bit of agave drizzled on top with one little lonely blueberry. |
One of the main reasons I'm making yogurt is so that I can make vegan cream cheese. I can tell this will be a tasty cheese. I look forward to it in the days ahead, but first, I have to make my second batch of yogurt.
If you have made vegan yogurt, I would love to hear of your success or challenges. If you love Miyoko as much as I do, chime in as well.
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