Yogurt Methodologies

[Barriehie]

Barriehie this is my home-made yoghurt. Not strained, just a 48 hr ferment/culture.

View attachment 139969

Red cabbage and apple soup with yoghurt

That's a long time, 48 hours! I imagine it's warm enough where you are you just leave it out?

 

[badjak]

I just bought yoghurt, but once this lot is finished I'll be making my own. I have done so before.
I'll use raw milk

 

[Barriehie]

I just bought yoghurt, but once this lot is finished I'll be making my own. I have done so before.
I'll use raw milk

I just called the local herb shop and I can get raw milk half gallons for $7 and whole gallons for $10. I think I'll get a half gallon and see how that makes a batch.

 

[badjak]

There was a waiting list here for a while, but there's plenty now apparently
25 kw for 2.5 litr. That's about 0.50 U$ per litre (as the dollar has weakened against kwacha)

 

[Barriehie]

There was a waiting list here for a while, but there's plenty now apparently
25 kw for 2.5 litr. That's about 0.50 U$ per litre (as the dollar has weakened against kwacha)

I feel broke...

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

That's a long time, 48 hours! I imagine it's warm enough where you are you just leave it out?

no. We have a dedicated youghurt maker.

We have found that we don't need to heat the soy milk up. It is sterile going into the sealed container and there is no air inside it. So I figure why bother boiling it and then allowing it to cool before adding the culture? So our approach is to add 2L of soy milk to the yoghurt pot, add the culture and leave it for 48 hrs. We have tried the 24hr version, and it does not set solid as shown in the photo (What did you cook or eat today? (January 2026))

If we leave it for 48 hrs, it has a better tang to it and also is totally set. We also add a probiotic to it, but we know that is not what gets it to set the way it is (we can leave it out and still get the same result). We purchase our culture about once a year (AU$20 makes around 200L of yoghurt), the probiotic is cheaper. We use a decent quality soy milk (Bonsoy), which has a high soybean content. It is not cheap, never on offer, but it is excellent and sold in most places in Australia. Bonsoy Soy Milk Australia | Organic | Vegan it costs us around the AU$9 per 2L of yougurt.

 

[Barriehie]

no. We have a dedicated youghurt maker.

We have found that we don't need to heat the soy milk up. It is sterile going into the sealed container and there is no air inside it. So I figure why bother boiling it and then allowing it to cool before adding the culture? So our approach is to add 2L of soy milk to the yoghurt pot, add the culture and leave it for 48 hrs. We have tried the 24hr version, and it does not set solid as shown in the photo (What did you cook or eat today? (January 2026))

View attachment 140039


If we leave it for 48 hrs, it has a better tang to it and also is totally set. We also add a probiotic to it, but we know that is not what gets it to set the way it is (we can leave it out and still get the same result). We purchase our culture about once a year (AU$20 makes around 200L of yoghurt), the probiotic is cheaper. We use a decent quality soy milk (Bonsoy), which has a high soybean content. It is not cheap, never on offer, but it is excellent and sold in most places in Australia. Bonsoy Soy Milk Australia | Organic | Vegan it costs us around the AU$9 per 2L of yougurt.

Goes to show you get what you pay for. Quality ingredients make quality product.

 

[Morning Glory]

no. We have a dedicated youghurt maker.

We have found that we don't need to heat the soy milk up. It is sterile going into the sealed container and there is no air inside it. So I figure why bother boiling it and then allowing it to cool before adding the culture? So our approach is to add 2L of soy milk to the yoghurt pot, add the culture and leave it for 48 hrs. We have tried the 24hr version, and it does not set solid as shown in the photo (What did you cook or eat today? (January 2026))

View attachment 140039


If we leave it for 48 hrs, it has a better tang to it and also is totally set. We also add a probiotic to it, but we know that is not what gets it to set the way it is (we can leave it out and still get the same result). We purchase our culture about once a year (AU$20 makes around 200L of yoghurt), the probiotic is cheaper. We use a decent quality soy milk (Bonsoy), which has a high soybean content. It is not cheap, never on offer, but it is excellent and sold in most places in Australia. Bonsoy Soy Milk Australia | Organic | Vegan it costs us around the AU$9 per 2L of yougurt.

I note the soy milk you are using contains:

Filtered water, Organic (Certified USFDA, NOP) Whole Soybeans (min. 14%), Tapioca Syrup, Sea Salt, Job’s Tear (Hato Mugi), Calcium Carbonate.

FIrstly, do you think these added ingredients contrubute to the setting?

Secondly, does the tapioca syrup add sweetness?

Thirdly, why are these ingredients added?

Fourthly and more controversially, does this mean the soy milk is ultra processed food! We are often told that if a product contains ingredients we don't recognise or could have in our kitchen it is UP. I don't necessarily agree with that, by the way.

 

[Barriehie]

I note the soy milk you are using contains:

Filtered water, Organic (Certified USFDA, NOP) Whole Soybeans (min. 14%), Tapioca Syrup, Sea Salt, Job’s Tear (Hato Mugi), Calcium Carbonate.

FIrstly, do you think these added ingredients contrubute to the setting?

Secondly, does the tapioca syrup add sweetness?

Thirdly, why are these ingredients added?

Fourthly and more controversially, does this mean the soy milk is ultra processed food! We are often told that if a product contains ingredients we don't recognise or could have in our kitchen it is UP. I don't necessarily agree with that, by the way.

Calcium carbonate is a food whitener.

 

[Morning Glory]

Calcium carbonate is a food whitener.

In this case its probably added to provide calcium content which would be present in animal milk.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

In this case its probably added to provide calcium content which would be present in animal milk.

Calcium in cow's milk is present as calcium phosphate and calcium caseinate, so any calcium salt could be used.

FIrstly, do you think these added ingredients contrubute to the setting?

no.

Secondly, does the tapioca syrup add sweetness?

no

Thirdly, why are these ingredients added?

likely to actually make it taste better and stop it from splitting. If you had ever tried soy milk back in the 70's and 80's, it was vile. Yet now I am quite happy to drink the stuff.

Fourthly and more controversially, does this mean the soy milk is ultra processed food! We are often told that if a product contains ingredients we don't recognise or could have in our kitchen it is UP. I don't necessarily agree with that, by the way.

to be honest, I don't care.

Job's Tears is simply an ancient grain which would probably not be hard to change or get hold of. I have no idea why it is used; other soy milks do not use it.

When I have made soy milk at home, it has been soy beans, water and a touch of rice syrup to sweeten it a tiny amount. Much less than one would a cup of tea or coffee. It takes the edge off it. And at the end of the day - that is much less processed than a muffin or cake is.

There is no way you can reproduce cow's (or sheep's or buffalo, goats, etc) milk in a kitchen either. Scientists are still trying to create an artifical caseine to 'replicate' dairy milk so vegan cheese are more like dairy cheese. and that idea horrifies me personally. Humans would be far better off if the food we grew went to feeding everyone worldwide instead of feeding animals to slaughter in parts of the world that already consume too much. But typically I keep those thoughts to myself on CB.