Ok so I am finally coming out of Blog Hibernation specifically to let you all know that YOU, yes YOU can make your very own healthy cultured pro biotic coconut milk yogurt in 24hrs or less!! ..... Booyah !!
I have recently ventured into the arts of fermentation, some call it cultured foods, but I kinda like saying cultured, fermented just sounds .. well .. fermented ! ( tee hee )
I recently made 6 1 Litre jars of Kim chi. Kim chi is basically spicy seasoned fermented veggies consisting of cabbage, and or bok choy, onions, garlic, ginger and radishes. You can really do any veggies you like, but as long as you have cucumber or cabbage you are set. Cabbage and cucumber have the healthy bacterias that allow your food to ferment/culture safely and create super duper healthy delicious foods. In mine I added Cucumber, cabbage, yellow onions, radishes, garlic, ginger, carrots and cauliflower.
A great source I used when making my Kim chi was this:
http://www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=vegetables
Sandor Katz has a wealth of knowledge and info on fermenting foods, he even has videos on YouTube showing you how to make your own fermented veggies and Kim chi :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77hU3zR-fQzz
Ok so back to YOGURT, making your own yogurt that is. This was seriously the simplest and most satisfying thing I have made in a very long time. How awesome is it that you can make super healthy yogurt in less that a day !!!
I had been buying So Delicious' dairy free Kosher Coconut milk yogurt, sure its great and all but I was tired of buying it and like I always say and do is; when you can make it yourself .. just do it !!
There are a couple things to know and have on hand first:
1. Coconut Products:
You can use Young Thai coconut, found at popular grocery stores and any Asian food markets. I like using the real coconuts, because they have never been treated or cooked, raw coconut meal with its water is SO delicious and beneficial it is the best option. If you can't find real coconuts, you can use canned coconut milk, Native Forest is in a BPA free can, but any canned coconut milk will work as long as you use the full fat kind, at least 15% or more, I like using the 18% fat cans. Remember this is not "bad fat" we are talking about this is beautiful luscious coconut cream. Lastly you can use a coconut milk sold in cartons but this will yield a slightly thinner yogurt.
2. Starters/Pro biotics:
Now again this is all your choice, you can use a cultured live`yogurt as your starter, all you need is a tbsp of live cultured yogurt to add to your batch. You can also use a pre-made yogurt starter, it has live cultures in it already, but these can be costly and hard to find sometimes, your best bet is to look online or in health foods stores. Then there is Pro biotic, these are great, this is why we eat yogurt int he first place is because of its lovely cultured Pro biotic in it. Make sure to find a dairy free Pro-biotic, these are really found anywhere, but to get a quality dairy free one, can take some time but is well worth the effort if you will be making yogurts or anything else cultured.
Ok so now that we know a little about cultured and fermented foods and what we are going to be using.... LET'S MAKE SOME YOGURT !!!!! I can't stop saying that .. "I MADE YOGURT !"
Cultured Coconut "Yogurt"
4 Young Thai Coconuts
1/2 - 1 cup of coconut water
2 tbsp raw honey or Quality Maple syrup
1 dairy Free Pro biotic capsule
Chop the top off of your coconut, reserve all the water form them into a separate bowl. Scrape out all of the coconut meat and reserve into another bowl. Once your coconut meat is cleaned and there are no bark pieces on it, chop finely and place into your blender. On your highest setting blend the coconut meat until it it as smooth as you can get it, this make take some trys, I kept stopping and scraping the sides down. Once your coconut meat is pureed add the honey or maple syrup and a little bit of coconut water at a time, its best to start by adding 1/4 at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Blend this up now until it is creamy smooth. Now once you have your desired texture and thickness add in you starter or Pro biotic of choice. Pulse in your blender just until combined then pour into a large mason jar, do not fill to the top as it will expand overnight. You may have to separate into 2 Mason jars, only fill your jars 2/3 of the way full. once your jar(s) are full place in a warm environment, I placed mine on my shelf in my kitchen where all my glasses sit. My kitchen is the warmest place as I always have something cooking !! And there it is, you have just made yogurt, now let it sit over night and once you wake you can marvel at your own handy work and eat a delicious healthy bowl of coconut milk yogurt made by your hands !!!
* You do not have to use Young Thai coconuts or honey or Pro biotics, you can use 3 cans of full fat coconut milk or even less if you want to try a small batch first, you can use a yogurt starter also, this is a easy recipe to change up, just as long as you let it sit for 24hrs, and use some sort of coonut
Top it with some honey, nuts, seeds, fresh or frozen fruit, even granola... the possibilities are endless.
I will be making some Almond Coconut Milk yogurt for the next batch and will blog that one too. !! Just for y'all !!
It was so tangy and wonderful, because I used real coconuts mine had a little piece of coconut here and there, which was wonderful to me !
I hope you try it, and please any comments, questions and concerns just comment below and let me know. And if you try it let me know how and what you used and how you liked it.
Love Sierra
Enjoy !
