If you’re serious about vegan yoghurt and you happen to live in Australia, you’ll already know that it’s impossible to buy any that doesn’t suffer from the clammy mouth feel of vegetable gum and the over zealous addition of sweeteners.
Real yoghurt is full bodied, creamy and sharp to the tongue. Fond memories from my dairy days of excellent “Greek” yoghurt were rekindled on a visit to Europe where you can buy fantastic vegan yoghurt. Returning home, I was determined to perfect a DIY version. I’m not quite there yet but this is the “patch in progress”.
The secrets are a sterile container, a seeding wort of live yoghurt, acidophilus capsules and a warm place to grow the culture.
The sterile container is elegantly provided by an aluminium lined cardboard resealable soy milk carton. I recommend Vitasoy Creamy Original – non GM, minimal additives and full fat content.
To this I add half a tub (87g) of plain live culture soy yoghurt. The best available to me is Soy Life Vanilla crème, the vanilla taste disappears into the background. Fruit flavours are OK in an emergency. I use a small knife to poke it in through the soy carton opening.
To kick start the fermentation process I also add the contents of an acidopilus capsule. Pictured is the Blackmores bottle, but I’ve since moved onto Inner Health Plus as each capsule contains loads more culture – available in health food shops.
Reseal the soy milk carton, shake well and put in a warm place overnight.
I wrap the carton in a small towel and put it in a cupboard on a 25Watt footwarmer, but good success can be had on top of your hot water tank or clothes drying rack. Home brew beer shops sell “heat bands” that can do the same just-above room-temperature work.
Come back in the morning and enjoy fabulous DIY vegan yoghurt on your muesli or fruit.
To further thicken the yoghurt for robust creamy toppings on deserts and cakes you can “hang” it. Drain out the “whey” liquid by using a muslin gauze lining in a cooking net.
I hope this patch makes your yoghurt experience a more cultured one :~j
