How To Make Countertop Yogurt
How learning to make the best dairy yogurt in the world, inspired me to create the best dairy-free yogurt in the world.
I feel you, my non-dairy friends!
I was not a fan of yogurt for most of my life. Growing up I had such an intolerance to dairy that my parents finally took me off of dairy completely. I would have an such immediate and intense histamine reaction when I consumed delicious cheese or ice cream that it would be more than 2 decades before I touched dairy again.
Cut to adulthood and….I’m back, baby! I’m back!
When I started consuming raw milk in California where it is sold at most groceries, I found I had no intolerance to THAT form of dairy at all. NONE! It was pretty amazing and as a chef, it opened up a whole new world for me. I began making all sorts of delicious dishes with this luscious whole food.
It was right around this time that I found myself on a trip vagabond to Poland and through a string of magical happenstance, I found myself learning to make the most amazing yogurt I had ever tasted.
I befriended a girl in Poland who took me to visit her grandmother. Her grandmother turned out to be one of the most knowledgeable fermenters I have ever met -and I’ve met quite a few! She was so generous with her knowledge but more than that, she gifted me with a connection to the art of fermentation. Rather than being focused on the exact technique, she chose instead to inform and inspire the way I have formed my own fermentation style. This seminal and mystical encounter sparked a change in my career and my life’s journey.
I feel you, my non-dairy friends! And because I love you, I cannot let you live without amazing, nutritious, and probiotically rich yogurt. Enjoy!
Equipment
Quart size jar
Whisk
Seedling mat1
Dairy-Free Coconut Yogurt Ingredients
3 ¾ cup organic coconut cream, I like this one
2 tsp gelatin, I like this one
1 capsule probiotic, I like this one
Dairy-Free Coconut Yogurt Method
Add ¾ cup coconut cream to a pan and warm until it just begins to bubble
Turn the stove heat off
Sprinkle gelatin over the surface of the heating coconut cream as you whisk. Completely dissolve the gelatin into the coconut cream
Slowly pour the coconut cream and gelatin mixture into 3 cups of coconut cream as you whisk. Completely combine
Sprinkle the contents of 1 probiotic capsule into the coconut cream mixture and whisk to completely combine
Pour the mixture into a quart-size jar like this one and affix the lid loose. I suggest these lids
Place the jar on a seedling mat2 like this one and allow it to ferment for 20-24 hours
How to know when your yogurt is ready
Remove the jar lid and gently tilt the jar from side to side. When your yogurt is ready, you will notice the top layer of fermenting coconut cream moves away from the sides of the jar in a cohesive layer instead of running up the sides of the jar like a liquid would. This is the “art” part of fermentation. Find your rhythm.
