Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt

Back when I went vegan I have to admit, I thought I would miss a lot of things, but as it turned out the only thing I really missed was yogurt. I used to eat yogurt like it was going out of production, the fridge was always stocked with an assortment of flavours. I soon came to the point where I thought I would never have yogurt again, I mean sure there are the store bought varieties of soygurt, but being in Alberta we only have access to two brands and they leave much to be desired….to put it bluntly…they just plain suck.

Then one day about a year ago a lightbulb went off (actually it was P’s lightbulb that went off since it was his idea) and I went on the hunt for a homemade yogurt recipe. I tried a few different ones that were kind of ok and then finally came across a recipe that was posted on The Daring Kitchen website, and it was Amazing! So of course, I had to share

Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 8 cups or 2 litres of canned coconut milk or unsweetened soymilk at room temp
• 1/3 cup tapioca starch
• 1 1/2 tsp agar powder
• 1 cup plain cultured coconut yogurt or soy yogurt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar (I use agave or brown rice syrup)*

*If using a milk that already has sugar added to it, omit.

Have ready some glass containers with lids. I sterilize mine prior to making the yogurt by submerging them in boiling water for a few minutes and then removing them with tongs.

1. In a large pot whisk the tapioca starch and agar into one cup of coconut milk until dissolved.
2. Whisk in 4 cups of coconut milk until smooth.
3. Heat the pot of coconut milk over low to medium heat until the temperature reaches 180 to 190 F, or if you don’t have a thermometer, to the point where the milk is steaming and beginning to form bubbles but before it reaches a boil. Stir occasionally so that the mixture stays smooth and doesn’t form clumps.
4. Fill a sink about a quarter way full with cold water and add in some ice cubes if you happen to have any.
5. Whisk in the remaining 3 cups of coconut milk and turn off the heat. Place the pot in the sink filled with ice water and let cool to around 115 to 120 F or somewhere between very warm and hot. Whisk occasionally to distribute the heat and speed up the cooling process.
6. If using the added sugar whisk it into the very warm coconut milk along with the yogurt until smooth. Put the milk in warm jars, containers, or insulated bottles and put the lids on. I don’t own a yogurt maker, so to keep the milk warm at about 100 F, I wrap the jars in kitchen towels and place them in the oven with the light bulb on. The recipe says that you can also use a food dehydrator, yogurt maker, crock-pot, or heating pad to incubate your yogurt.
7. Allow the yogurt to sit undisturbed for about 8 hours. Check the yogurt by tasting it (it should have a nice tangy flavour), or by tilting the jar or container to see whether the milk has become yogurt. If not, leave it alone for another 4 hours. When the yogurt is set, refrigerate and use within a week.

Once the yogurt is set you can add in extra sweetener, or change up the flavour by adding in different extracts like vanilla or orange. The best thing about making your own yogurt is that you control everything that goes into it, pretty sweet eh? Your yogurt should be pretty thick, like the picture below.

As you can see it’s pretty easy to make, it’s mostly just a lot of waiting around. Just eat it like you would any other yogurt, I prefer mine over fruit with a sprinkling of cocoa nibs, or sometimes I like to sweeten it up and just eat it plain.

Now that I’ve found this recipe I don’t think of dairy yogurts anymore because I can have creamy, rich, cruelty-free yogurt whenever I feel like it, and since I just made 8 freakin’ cups of the stuff I think I may go have some now.

I was a tad too impatient and didn’t let the yogurt chill completely, so as you can see in this picture it was a bit runny. Patience is definitely not one of my best qualities.