If you wish to avoid dairy products yet obtain all the magnificent benefits of our L reuteri yogurt, here is how to make the yogurt with coconut milk.
Because coconut milk tends to separate during the fermentation process, we take additional steps to discourage separation by heating and adding gelatin, then blending to emulsify/suspend the fats. No question: Making coconut milk yogurt is fussier, not as easy as making it with dairy products. But you can still obtain a thick and delicious yogurt that yields all the same benefits as our usual L. reuteri yogurt. You will, of course, require a setup to maintain the mixture at 100 degrees F such as a sous vide device, Instant Pot (just be sure that the temperature is in our desired range, not the 108-114 degrees F of conventional yogurt-making), or yogurt maker with adjustable temperature control. (You can find our preferred Luvele yogurt maker in the Wheat Belly Marketplace, as well as several choices in sous vide devices.) You can find the BioGaia Gastrus or Osfortis to make your first batch on Amazon. You won’t need the probiotic to make subsequent batches, as we make them by reserving a bit of the previous batch.
If you begin with Gastrus tablets, crush them with a mortar and pestle or place them in a plastic sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin, heavy glass bottle, or other sturdy object. The Osfortis capsule can just be opened and poured into the mixture.
I use a stick blender to emulsify or solubilize the fats. If you don’t have a stick blender, you can pour the mixture into a conventional blender and blend for about 30 seconds.
Be sure to choose a coconut milk that contains no gums such as guar gum, gellan gum, carrageenan or other additives, just coconut milk. The Trader Joe’s brand is a good choice. Of course, to expand the recipe, just use two cans of coconut milk and double the quantity of other ingredients except for the starter that you can maintain at the usual quantity. If you find that the yogurt is too thick after refrigeration, allow to warm before consuming.
You will need:
–Glass or ceramic bowl. Make sure your bowl or other vessel is clean by washing with hot soap and water
–1 14-ounce can coconut milk
-1 1/2 tablespoons gelatin
-2 tablespoons of prebiotic fiber such as inulin or raw potato starch
–Starter: 10 tablets crushed BioGaia Gastrus, 1 capsule Osfortis, or 2 tablespoons previous batch of L. reuteri yogurt (whey or curds or mixture of both)
–Some method of maintaining mixture at 100 degrees F
Yields: Around 4 one-half-cup servings
Step 1: In medium saucepan, heat coconut milk to boiling, then remove from heat.
Step 2: Stir in gelatin and prebiotic fiber until dissolved.
Step 3: Emulsify/suspend oil by blending with stick blender for 30-40 seconds. (Be careful: hot! It’s okay to let it cool partially before blending.)
Step 4: Allow mixture to cool to 100 degrees F or room temperature and transfer mixture to bowl. It is important to allow the mixture to cool so that you don’t kill the bacteria you will be adding.
Step 5: Mix in your choice of starter, i.e., crushed Gastrus, 1 capsule of Osfortis emptied into the mixture, or 2 tablespoons yogurt from previous batch of L. reuteri yogurt (curds, whey, or mixture of the two).
Step 6: Cover bowl lightly with plastic wrap and place into your chosen heating device. (I show my basin sous vide here. Place the sous vide cover back on, of course.)
Step 7: Ferment for 36 hours at 100 degrees F.
I have another question about yogurt made with coconut milk and reuteri. I can make yogurt successfully with a tablet the first time, but I always fail the second time.
When I make yogurt for the second time, I sterilize the utensils well with boiling water, sterilize the coconut milk according to the instructions in the book, wait for it to cool to 38°C, and then add 15 to 30 grams of yogurt that was successful the last time. After that, I heat it in a yogurt maker at 38°C for 48 hours.
After about 14 to 16 hours, the surface turns yellow or pink and has a bad odor. I have tried it many times (different coconut milk from various companies), but I can’t make it well. Does anyone have similar problems? Can you give me some tips on how to solve it? Thank you,
Takanori Saito wrote: «I can make yogurt successfully with a tablet the first time, but I always fail the second time.»
Straightaway, the recipe in the blog post is not the current program non-dairy recipe. That would be found in the Super Gut book (page 242 of US print edition), or in the recipes of the Inner Circle (membership) forum. The newer recipe may provide more generational advantage.
On any recipe, I have no experience with successive generations of non-dairy yogurt, but can make one suggestion: If you aren’t highly sensitive to dairy, consider making a dairy-based batch, saved as ice cubes, that is only used for starter: 1 slowly-thawed cube per quart or liter.
Indeed, for anyone avoiding dairy, it’s worthwhile to understand why, because the reason may not apply to these long-ferment probiotic yogurts:
The lactose is the first thing consumed by the microbes, and is expected to be nil or entirely absent on completion, forcing them to turn to the prebiotic carbohydrate.
This can be avoided by using A2 dairy: goat, sheep, or A2 bovine.
This can be minimized by draining and straining on completion.
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Hi, I would appreciate it if anyone familiar with my problem could offer some support. In the book Super Gut, it says that we need to use “raw “potato starch to make coconut milk yogurt. I assume it has something to do with resistance starch. Instead, can we use Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch? In the troubleshooting article, it recommends using Bob’s Red Mill “Raw” Potato Starch, but I can only find Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch (powder form). Are these the same products? Will they produce the same bacteria counts?
Also, in the book, dr. Davis recommends us use table sugar for making the yogurt, but can we use the same amount of inulin instead?
Thank you.
Takanori Saito wrote: «In the book Super Gut, it says that we need to use “raw “potato starch to make coconut milk yogurt.»
As far as I know, it is not possible to obtain truly raw potato starch. It would require freeze-drying and cold-milling, which apparently nobody does. However, for a long-ferment yogurt recipe it doesn’t actually need to be 100% resistant/prebiotic. The bugs metabolize the simple saccharides first.
re: «Instead, can we use Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch?»
Yes. And as you’ve discovered, the formal name of the product is BRM Potato Starch — Unmodified.
re: «Also, in the book, dr. Davis recommends us use table sugar for making the yogurt, but can we use the same amount of inulin instead?»
I wouldn’t. The sucrose is, and is intended to be a simple saccharide, replacing the lactose. Inulin is a resistant polysaccharide.
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Can I use maple syrup instead of table sugar?
Matthew Lebon wrote: «Can I use maple syrup instead of table sugar?»
It needs to be sterile, but that’s easily a default presumption based on how maple syrup is made. It needs to be free of any other ingredients, and might need to be Grade A.
Maple syrup is only ⅔ sugars (mainly sucrose, like table sugar), so the amount would need to be adjusted (up) vs. sugar.
I have no instant guesses on the fermentation consequences of the other compounds in maple syrup, but if you can find recipes for fermented foods that use it, it will likely work in yogurt.
As the sugars presumably are metabolized by the microbes, the main thing that maple syrup would bring to the recipe might be taste, and some trace micronutrients. Unless you own a maple tree farm, it’s going to be a bit more expensive than plain old sugar.
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Hello, I have attempted to make several batches and have the following question:
1- Even after 5 attempts, I still have about a 50/50 split between solid yogurt and whey – even after attempting to add a total of 6 tablespoons inulin for 2 quarts full fat milk. Is the whey equally dense with the l-reuteri as the solids? I have been consuming the same 50/50 split.
Fernando Aramburo wrote: «…I have attempted to make several batches…»
Is this about the coconut recipe in this blog post, or about the more common dairy recipe? You did mention milk, so I assume it’s about a dairy recipe.
re: «…Even after 5 attempts, I still have about a 50/50 split between solid yogurt and whey…»
What are you using for starter each time? The separation is sort-of expected when starting from Gastrus® tablets on the first batch. Later batches, started from saved yogurt (or just the whey), tend to be more uniform.
re: «…full fat milk.»
Half&half (half-cream in some regions) tends to produce a thicker result.
There are a number of other things to consider, summarized in these checklists of mine.
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Thanks for that info, what about whether or not there is as much l-reuteri in the whey as the solids?
Fernando Aramburo wrote: «…whether or not there is as much l-reuteri in the whey as the solids?»
No one has studied it, to my knowledge. On an anecdotal basis, I’ve never noticed any difference when batches are started from a thawed ice cube of whey vs. a thawed ice cube of firmer yogurt. The CFUs would seem to be ample in either case.
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Hello, just wanted to ask if and why it is necessary to boil the coconut milk. Won’t it be ok without boiling it? Thank you for the reply
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Gold wrote: «…why it is necessary to boil the coconut milk.»
I presume it’s to incorporate the gelatin. If you don’t do that, it’s apt to just be useless lumps.
I might add that non-dairy yogurts have been a subject of continuous development in the program. This blog post is over two years old now. The current coconut yogurt base recipe on the Inner Circle site uses guar gum and prebiotic fiber, not gelatin. I haven’t personally tried making a nondairy yogurt for several years.
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I have failed twice at making coconut milk yogurt. The first time the liquid separated totally. I saved that as a starter and tried again. The second time it also failed to solidify and I saw some black moldy stuff floating on top. I threw this out along with all of the saved starter. My question is if I use some of the starter from successful half and half batches will I negate the effort to test if I have issues with milk products? I am having some GI issues and trying to isolate the cause.
nmpa wrote: «I have failed twice at making coconut milk yogurt.»
I haven’t tried in a couple of years now, so have no personal insight on this. In particular, I don’t know if it’s always necessary to start from source probiotic, or if saved coconut yogurt can be used.
re: «The first time the liquid separated totally.»
The current program recipe (on the Undoctored Inner Circle site), has evolved from this 2019 recipe, and a newer recipe has so far not been posted on the blog. For the same 13.5 or 14 oz. can:
re: «…and I saw some black moldy stuff floating on top.»
See troubleshooting tips here.
re: «My question is if I use some of the starter from successful half and half batches will I negate the effort to test if I have issues with milk products?»
Using a small amount of H&H yogurt as starter will reduce the per-portion dairy exposure, but won’t eliminate it. Lactose will be entirely gone. If the H&H batch had been re-pasteurized during prep, casein should be nil. But whey & hormones may just be reduced.
re: «I am having some GI issues and trying to isolate the cause.»
Although identifying the triggers can be useful, for most food reactions the problem isn’t the food per se, it’s the state of your gut zoo. Bovine dairy (esp. casein beta A1), however, is one food that not all modern humans are necessarily adapted to.
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I used coconut milk, inulin and brown sugar to make the yogurt. I noticed too late that the article said 36 hours (I honestly thought it was 42 hours). My yogurt has a strong yeasty smell and taste. Its not really tasty but can I still use it as a starter?
Roxana Craciun wrote: «I used coconut milk, inulin and brown sugar to make the yogurt.»
I haven’t tried making a coconut-based progurt in a couple of years, so my remaining remarks are based on what I’ve seen from others.
re: «I noticed too late that the article said 36 hours (I honestly thought it was 42 hours).»
In my {dairy-based} experience, that probably doesn’t matter. I routinely run my batches to 48 hours, and have accidentally let them run to 54, with no problems.
re: «My yogurt has a strong yeasty smell and taste.»
Not having tried lately, I have no insight on what that might mean.
re: «Its not really tasty but can I still use it as a starter?»
I wouldn’t. Although Dr. Davis reports in the base article here that a successful batch can be used for starter, an unsucessful batch could propagate a problem.
If I were to try a coconut-base again, I’d probably first make a dairy batch, and use that as starter for the coconut batches, both on economic grounds, and to provide dramatically higher starting CFUs.
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I made coconut milk L Reuteri yogurt using Native Forest coconut milk and leftover whey starter from a milk based L reuteri yogurt. I have reddish streaks in the yogurt. Is this safe to eat? The coconut milk yogurt turned out nice and thick.
bestdiet wrote: «I made coconut milk L Reuteri yogurt using Native Forest coconut milk and leftover whey starter from a milk based L reuteri yogurt.»
What did you add for carbohydrate substrate to feed the bacteria? Coconut milk is very low carb, and without some added simple carb, is apt to fail. (In any case, it may not produce a yogurt that can be saved for starter, possibly because coconut oil tends to be antibacterial.)
re: «I have reddish streaks in the yogurt. Is this safe to eat?»
That sounds like some sort of contamination (and would make the product unsuitable for starter use, if no other considerations did). If you can remove it, it’s probably safe to consume.
re: «The coconut milk yogurt turned out nice and thick.»
Which implies that you must have added something to keep the critters happy.
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Hello,
Can I use this as a starter for my probiotic yoghurt?
BioGaia Probiotic Drops…….https://shop.nestlebaby.com.au/collections/infant-colic-drops/products/biogaia-probiotic-drops
RTG wrote: «Can I use this as a starter for my probiotic yoghurt? BioGaia Probiotic Drops…»
Maybe. That product appears to be Biogaia® Protectis®, as it’s clearly Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 only. It probably will make the not-a-yogurt, but we’re not sure if it provides all the effects seen when using L.r. ATCC PTA 6475 and DSM 17938.
Separately, it appears that Nestle is the Biogaia distributor for Australia. It’s odd that the product doesn’t bear the Protectis name, perhaps some local trademark issue.
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If I am lactose intolerant can I use normal milk and it will help solve the problem with lactose?
Sonia Zenati wrote: «If I am lactose intolerant can I use normal milk and it will help solve the problem with lactose?»
Short answer: in a 36hr ferment, using microbes whose favorite chow is lactose, the lactose is expected to be gone when the yogurt is done. The bugs will be getting by on the prebiotic fiber by then.
You can actually check this with a blood glucose meter pre- and post-consumption, as lactose can be detected by a BG meter.
Long answer: the key word in your question is “If …”
Many people who presume that they are lactose-intolerant, and haven’t been specifically challenge-tested using isolated lactose, may be reacting to other things in bovine dairy.
If it’s the casein beta A1 in North American herds, switch to A2 bovine, or to goat or sheep milk.
If it’s the whey fraction dairy, use cheese-making techniques to drain more of it off.
Other things, like lactating mammal hormones, aren’t as easy to fix.
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Is there a specific time of day that would make consuming the “yogurt” most effective?
james t vanwagoner wrote: «Is there a specific time of day that would make consuming the “yogurt” most effective?»
I haven’t seen any reports of optimal time-of-day consumption (including for sleep optimization).
Given the half-life of L.reut effects in the gut (3 days to a week or more), it may be that time of day doesn’t matter.
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My 85 years old Dad eats it as dinner desert. His skin quality has improved markedly.
I made a batch of this last week and kept some back from the batch to use as a starter for the next. How do i know if the starter is actually doing what it’s supposed to be doing to?
Misshwerner wrote: «How do i know if the starter is actually doing what it’s supposed to be doing to?»
Second and subsequent batches tend to have a smoother consistency (less curdy), and less separation of whey fraction.
You will likely have noticed a distinct aroma with the first batch, and a pungent taste (due to the short-chain fatty acids generated). If the next batch is similar, the starter worked.
A complete starter failure would be expected to result in a soupy mix that is not much different than what you started from, with perhaps some discoloration or growths on top from environmental microbes, and perhaps a sour-milk odor (for the dairy-based version).
The saved starter, by the way, can be frozen, and slowly thawed for use at any future time. When I start from tablets, that entire batch becomes saved starter. Consumption batches are made with saved starter. Any whey that separates likewise gets poured into ice cube trays and frozen.
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I made the coconut cream version so what should i expect with that?
Misshwerner wrote: «I made the coconut cream version so what should i expect with that?»
Not having made it myself, much less failed a batch of it, I would expect my general guidelines in the prior response to apply.
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Why do you save the whey? That is bad for us, no?
Dan wrote: «Why do you save the whey?»
When I get whey separation, I save it just for use as starter, not for direct consumption. Using it as starter dilutes it. Anyone who has a known sensitivity to whey would be better off discarding it, of course.
re: « That is bad for us, no?»
Not necessarily; it’s a protein (and popular with under-informed nutrition bar and protein mix formulators). It can provoke insulin in some people, and interfere with weight loss efforts, and when it does, it’s a non-trivial response. For most people, however, the whey in dairy, which likely survives fermentation, is not a problem.
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And then chill the yogurt for 12 hrs before eating, right?
If we want to make 4 cans of coconut milk into yogurt at once, can we just double the starter then? So its rly 2 cans milk to 1 capsule starter?
I ask becuz I always make out family a gallon of yogurt at once but with this, maybe we’ll eat less as its fattier. And it seems we need less too as we’re certainly not eating this yogurt for calcium or protein either, so half a cup should be sufficient.
Hélène wrote: «And then chill the yogurt for 12 hrs before eating, right?»
It can be consumed chilled, warm or frozen. If frozen, it may separate when thawed.
re: «…can we just double the starter then?»
Although I haven’t made a non-dairy batch, I have made quart, half-gallon and gallon batches of dairy (A1 & A2 bovine, goat and goat reconstituted from powder). In my experience, the recipe scales linearly, and I scale my starter when doing so.
re: «…so half a cup should be sufficient.»
The common portion size seems to be ¼ to ½ cup.
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I took my milk-based reuteri right out of the water bath and had a dish of it. YUM!!!!