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Piima yogurt starter contains live active bacteria and cultures at room temperature on the counter: no yogurt maker required! One packet of our yogurt starter can be used to make unlimited amounts of homemade yogurt as it can be serial cultured, reserving a small amount of yogurt from the current batch to inoculate the next batch of homemade yogurt. With care, this yogurt culture can be used to make homemade yogurt indefinitely. No more having to continually buy yogurt starter!
- Mild flavor, makes an excellent base for dressings and smoothies
- Very thin beverage-like consistency
- Cultures at 70-78°F, no yogurt maker required
- Reusable culture; with care a little from each batch can be used to make the next batch
Description: Our Piima yogurt starter makes a thin cultured beverage. Originating from Scandinavia, it has a number of uses including making an excellent base for salad dressing, cultured butter or for making Piima cream (a sour cream type condiment). This yogurt culture can also be added to milk and consumed as a dairy beverage. Doing so adds beneficial cultures to the milk and many people feel it helps replace beneficial bacteria lost during the pasteurization process.
How to Make Piima Yogurt: As a mesophilic yogurt culture, this yogurt starter cultures at room temperature. To make a batch of homemade yogurt, the yogurt culture is simply added to milk, stirred, and then allowed to culture on the counter before being placed in the refrigerator. This yogurt culture can be serial cultured: a small amount of homemade yogurt from the current batch is reserved to inoculate the next batch of homemade yogurt. With care, this yogurt culture can be used to make homemade yogurt indefinitely.
Customers wishing to use raw milk to make homemade yogurt will need to take additional steps to ensure a pure starter is maintained. Additional instructions concerning the use of raw milk will accompany each order.
Full instructions for making yogurt can be found here and will be included with your order.
Using alternative milks to make Piima: This yogurt culture may be used with alternative milks (soy, coconut, etc.) but is unlikely to reculture beyond the first few generations. Therefore we strongly recommend keeping a back-up dairy-based culture on hand for making yogurt with alternative milks. It can also be used with goat milk although due to the nature of goat milk, the resulting yogurt may be significantly less thick than yogurt made with whole cow milk.
Ingredients: Organic milk, lactic bacteria (S. lactis var. bollandicus and S. taette).
Produced or packaged in a facility that also manufactures products made with wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, nuts, and fish.
Due to recent changes in manufacturing processes, the weight of the item that appears in the photo will differ from the actual weight of the item received.
Shipping Information: This yogurt starter is shipped in a barrier-sealed packet as a freeze-dried yogurt culture in a dairy carrier. Please keep it in a cool dry place until you are ready to make your first batch of homemade yogurt. We ship enough yogurt culture to make two batches of yogurt starter. We recommend that you reserve the second packet in the fridge or freezer to use as a backup.
Detailed culturing instructions will be included with your order and can also be found here.
Questions on Piima Yogurt Starter
- From Lynnw at 6/26/12 3:58 PM
- Can the mother culture be frozen if it's not going to be used soon? Will it still be viable?
- If you want to take a break from making yogurt, you can preserve some active cultures by freezing or drying. Neither method is completely reliable, but our customers report a fair amount of success with both.
For more information and instructions: http://www.culturesforhealth.com/storing-taking-break-yogurt - Do you find this question helpful? Yes No
- From Allison at 7/7/12 4:50 PM
- Will the Piima taste sour? I cultured my first batch and it set into yogurt consistency, but didn't taste like yogurt at all, instead it tasted sweet, just like milk. Wondering if I messed it up some how.
- Piima is a mild-flavored yogurt drink. If you are used to eating tangy or tart yogurt, it may taste sweet to you. If the yogurt set, you cultured it properly.
- Do you find this question helpful? Yes No
- From Deanna at 1/28/13 11:34 AM
- Actually, a comment on the answer to Jan's question about insuring a consistent temperature. The seedling mat suggested in the answer is a great idea, but seedling mats don't have a thermostat, so they just raise the temperature a certain amount above ambient temperature. What you really need is a thermostat. Fortunately, they make thermostats for seed mats, and you can use them with any source of heat--a seed mat or a regular heating pad. If you culture in an enclosed place (like an electric oven, an excalibur dehydrator, or a cooler, you can even use a plain ceramic light bulb base with a low watt bulb as a source of heat. The thermostat will turn the heat source on and off as needed, to maintain the proper temperature.
- Thank you for your comment, Deanna!
- Do you find this question helpful? Yes No
- From JL at 2/23/13 4:14 PM
- From Hariyanto at 4/8/13 1:38 AM
- If i concerned about bacterial mutation from re-culturing, what should i do with this culture and thermophilic starter culture?
- To minimize the risk of cross contamination, we recommend leaving at least 2 feet of space between culturing foods and airtight lids when your culture is in the fridge.
- Do you find this question helpful? Yes No
- If i concerned about bacterial mutation from re-culturing, what should i do with this culture and thermophilic starter culture?
- From JL at 4/21/13 3:36 PM
- After cultured and allowed to refrigerate for 6 hours, how long before the piima spoils if left in the fridge?
- Hi Jamie
Your culture will remain viable for re-culturing for 7 days in the fridge between 40 - 45 degrees, 1 month it will remain edible.
Please remember we recommend to never eat anything that looks or tastes offensive to you.
I hope that helps.
Best wishes
Maggie - Do you find this question helpful? Yes No
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Back to the product pageCustomer Reviews
- Delightful Review by Amanda
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This is a very tasty culture. Produces a thin yogurt when used with milk. I prefer to use it with cream. Makes for a delicious sour cream/ creme fraiche. I often use it in soups. Makes a great dessert topping too! Nice and mild with a very slight tang. (Posted on January 10, 2013)Value Quality Price
- My Personal Favorite Review by Meir
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We bought all four mesophilic cultures (Piimä, Viili, Matsoni, and Filmjölk) and this is our personal favorite. It is quite thin when at room temperature but becomes much thicker when cold. It has a sweet flavor and is kind of fun to play with as it tends to fall off the spoon. The other cultures are well worth getting as well but make sure you get this one if you had to choose only one. (Posted on May 15, 2012)Quality Price Value
- Yummy Review by Paula
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I bought this product because I wanted a cultured beverage to replace kefir. I used goat milk and the piima has the consistency of kefir. I let it culture initially for 36 hours. I actually bought matsoni, filmjolk, and viili as well and didn't like them as much. With goat milk, they were also beverages. The filmjolk was my second favorite and also had the consistency of kefir, but the filmjolk had a very acidic/tart bite to it (so it would be great for baking). This piima tastes similar to buttermilk but without the acidic bite or tartness. There is just a very mild tartness that tells you it's not just plain milk. It is very mild and delicious. It has a nice aroma, too. It's exactly what I was looking for to replace my daily cultured beverage. The flavor is excellent. (Posted on November 5, 2011)Price Value Quality
Attention!
Starter cultures, rennet for cheese making and cultured vegetables, juices and condiments are sensitive to excessive heat. Once your order has shipped, an e-mail with tracking information will be sent to you. We encourage you to use the tracking information to anticipate the arrival of your items so they can be removed from the mail box and stored in the refrigerator promptly.