Vegan Yogurt Starter

Questions on Vegan Yogurt Starter

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• From Shelby at 4/13/11 1:24 PM
  • If I were to use homemade brazil nut milk (straining out the pulp), will this suffice for making the yogurt with this starter? Or do I need to add some kind of sugar to feed the cultures (and which sugars do u recommend: raw honey? blackstrap molasses? ....?)?
    
    Also, how long should I incubate with brazil nut milk? Are there other milks u recommend, either homemade or store-bought?(I cannot do soy)
    
    Would I also need to add a thickener, like xantham gum, arrowroot, gelatin, or guar gum? If so, which do u recommend (health-wise and "performance"-wise)?
    
    If honey is suggsted as the sugar to feed the cultures, won't this actually kill the cultures, since raw honey is anti-bacterial?
    
    Thanks!!! Can't wait to try this!
  • We don't recommend that you add anything to the milk you use as you culture it - whether it is nut milk, grain milk, or dairy milk. The culture generally works best on the basic milk, without added sugars or stabilizers. If you want to add things after you culture it, there are many great sugars you can try depending on your tastes and preferences. Brazil nut milk would be a good base for yogurt, because of the high fat content. For added thickness, agar agar might be a good choice. It is a seaweed-based "gelatin" that is available in many Asian markets, or sometimes in the "Asian Foods" section of a supermarket. You would add the agar agar after culturing.
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• From Shelby at 4/13/11 1:51 PM
  • Just a warning:
    
    Vegetal DOES contain barley. I called the company and it is grown on soy and barley, but it supposedly such trace amounts that it is allowed to be called "gluten-free" in the US.
    
    Just wanted to let people know in case they were extremely sensitive to gluten.
  • Thank you Shelby!
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• From Shelby at 4/24/11 7:19 PM
  • Some recipes say to heat the milk (non dairy) to 160 to kill off any bad bacterial, then let it cool to 110 or so. is this necessary?
  • It's possible to make yogurt out of alternative milks by only heating it up to culturing temperature, but heating it to 160 first does a couple of things. First, it ensures that the milk is "clean" and free of any bacteria that might compete with the yogurt cultures. Second, the process of heating the milk breaks down the proteins and helps make the resulting yogurt a little thicker.
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• From Jillian at 4/28/11 3:19 PM
  • How long does the non-dairy yogurt last or store in the refrigerator for prior to going bad?
  • There might be some variation depending on how cold your refrigerator is, how well the product is covered, how frequently you open the refrigerator door, etc. In general, these kinds of products stay good for about a week to ten days. As always, we advise that you not consume anything that looks, smells, or tastes bad.
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• From Rose at 5/25/11 2:53 PM
  • Hello. Are your cultures isolated from a plant source? Do they contain any yeast, or are they grown on yeast? What plants or other things (other than soy) are your starters cultured on? Thanks!
  • This product is grown on non-GMO barley and soy. There is no yeast.
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• From kate hoag at 5/25/11 4:02 PM
  • How much longer does coconut milk take to culture? My son was just allergy tested and has sensitivities to soy,cow dairy. I've attempted yogurt, and it is too runny. Any help would be very appreciated. Thanks!!
  • The Vegetal yogurt starter used with alternative milks does produce a runnier yogurt than what you might be used to from the store. The yogurt should take around 6-8 hours to set up. Make sure you are using full-fat coconut milk without any additives. (Guar gum is hard to avoid, and seems to be okay in culturing.) You can increase thickness after culturing by adding agar (a type of seaweed).
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• From Janet at 6/9/11 9:51 PM
  • I read on your site that a direct set culture means it cannot be recultured. Does that mean I cannot save some of the yogurt that I make to use it for the next batch as I can with dairy yogurt?
    
    Could this be made with potato milk? The one that I use is Vance's Darifree (www.vancesfoods.com/darifree.htm). I am not sure if there are any other potato milks out there?
  • You are correct in that the Vegetal culture is not viable for reculturing, and a new inoculation must be made for each new batch of yogurt.
    
    It may work with potato milk - we don't have any experience with that. It does work with rice milk, which would have a similar composition. We would be happy to hear of your experience with this.
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• From Virginia S. at 6/11/11 11:38 PM
  • I have 2 questions concerning things you've written.
    Firstly, if sugars feed cultures for growing, why do you recommend not adding any type of sugar, (for vegan nut-yogurt)? Secondly, why, chemically, isn't your starter possible for reculturing ?
    
    .. thanks, .. Virginia
  • There are actually differing schools of thought on adding sugars to yogurt. Most yogurt cultures have developed in dairy milk environments, and work best with the naturally-occurring combination of fats, proteins, and sugars found in milk. Vegetal Dairy-Free Yogurt Starter has been specially formulated to culture non-dairy milks, but even so, results can be uneven because these are not technically milks, and yogurt fermentation is not a natural behavior for them.
    
    Rice milk has a similar sugar profile to milk, and more sugar will not improve it for culturing. Soy milk and other grain milks are lower in sugar than dairy milk, and it is possible that you could improve fermentation by adding some sugar. Nut milks are particularly hard to culture because nuts are not fermentable. Again, adding sugar may help.
    
    While the bacteria can, under ideal circumstances, ferment alternative milks into yogurt, the necessary nutrients to keep the bacteria alive (casein, lactose) are not present in the alternative milks, so the bacteria cease to be viable after they have cultured the "milk."
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• From Les at 6/22/11 12:24 PM
  • Two questions
    1. Does the vegetal starter work with lactose free milk, like Lactaid?
    2. How much powdered milk solid is in the dairy based yogurt starters?
  • The vegetal starter will not work with lactose-free milk, as there is no sugar for the yogurt bacteria to eat. It's possible that you might be able to add sugar to the LF milk and provide a culturing environment. However, the action of yogurt cultures is to eat up the lactose. When yogurt is cultured long enough, all the lactose is consumed.
    
    We do not add powdered milk solids to our yogurt starters. The starters are dehydrated yogurt, containing the live bacteria.
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• From Hannah at 7/28/11 12:59 PM
  • Hi, My daughter and I both have a milk allergy =( I would prefer to buy one of your reusable starters and make coconut milk yogurt. I like the idea of making a couple of batches so that the amount of cow's milk would be significantly reduced but noticed that you also said that using non-dairy milks makes the starter yogurt less reusable. How many times do you think I could successfully use a starter from a previous batch to culture a new batch? I'm especially wondering since my daughter and I wouldn't be able to eat the first couple of batches.
    
    Thanks!
  • A reusable starter would not be a good choice for you, as they are dependent on dairy to reproduce. However, the Vegetal starter is especially formulated for non-dairy milks, and gives a good result with coconut milk.
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