Not-Really-Yogurt
Recipes Roll-Up
Page Edition: 2024-10-06
⟲ Contents
Introduction
⇩Recipe Table
⇩Starter Details
⇩Benefits Matrix
⇩Assessing Success
⇩Troubleshooting
⇩Personal
Process Notes
⟲ Introduction
Note that these are not a formal part of the WB and Undoctored programs.
You are not expected to make any of these, much less all of them.
Only consider them if the possible benefits are appealing, and you
are up to the task of making a non-traditional yogurt.
Further, expect one or more combination recipes to emerge.
The original L.reuteri recipe has the most track record,
but it’s still a challenge for a lot of people to make.
Ideally, we can get to a point where commercial yogurt is an
option, and people can just buy these, and at clinically
useful live-culture CFUs per portion.
Here’s a roll-up of what I’ve seen so far.
Those marked ☐ I have not yet made.
Those marked ☑ I have made (but
my
personal process can vary).
Full details are provided here only for those yogurts described on the blogs,
or for there is not as yet any official Inner Circle recipe.
The table data below is for 1 quart or liter amounts of basic substrate.
Basic substrate is “half-and-half”, which needs to be just
milk and cream, with nothing added; organic, pastured, for extra credit.
UPS is Unmodified Potato Starch (a glucose polymer).
Make a slurry with some substrate and the starter before mixing.
The recipes scale, but considerations are apt to arise above
one gallon in a single container.⇱ Return to ToC
⟲ Recipe Table
For UIC Members, there are official (dairy) recipes at:
⎆B. Coagulans Yogurt,
⎆B. Infantis Yogurt,
⎆L. Casei Shirota Yogurt,
⎆L. Gasseri Yogurt,
⎆L. Helveticus and B. Longum Yogurt,
⎆L. Reuteri Yogurt,
⎆High-Potency Probiotic Yogurt,
⎆SIBO Yogurt
For a non-dairy (coconut milk) variation, use the substrate base at:
⎆Coconut
Milk with Guar Gum Yogurt Base
Closed containers with loose or flexible lids recommended.
Sealed containers with rigid lids are not recommended,
as some ferments can be a bit hyperbaric.
Full containers are not recommended, unless flexible,
as the ferment can be expansive.
I use a large vented pot, so have no direct experience
with popped lids and overflow, but both phenomena are reported.⇱ Return to ToC
⟲ Starter Details
Akker:
Akkermansia muciniphila WB-STR-0001
A probiotic that can be taken directly is
Pendulum ⎆Pendulum Glucose Control.
As an obligate anerobe, this microbe may be a difficult challenge
for a home ferment. Also, this specific product contains four other species.
BNR17®:
Lactobacillus gasseri BNR17®
in the U.S (and possibly other regions), may be ordered as:
L. Gasseri Superfood Starter from ⎆CulturedFoodLife.com, or
BIOTHIN™
from ⎆Mercola
Market.
Elsewhere, try the AceBiome product ⎆from
Gmarket in South Korea.
casei:
Lactobacillus casei (Shirota)
initially from ⎆Yakult®
coagulans:
Lactobacillus coagulans GBI-30, 6086
initially from ⎆Schiff®
Digestive Advantage® Daily. Be sure to get
the correct product, as the Digestive Advantage®
product line includes other species.
Gastrus®:
Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 plus DSM 17938,
initially from ⎆Biogaia® Gastrus® tablets.
The tablets are suitable for younger people as labelled.
infantis:
Bifidobacteria infantis EVC001,
initially from ⎆Envivo® Baby Starter Kit.
The probiotic is suitable for infants, but the yogurt is adults-only.
Innovix®:
Lactobacillus helveticus Rosell-52ND
Bifidobacterium longum Rosell-175,
initially from Innovix Labs ⎆Mood Probiotic.
LR-DR:
Lactobacillus reuteri LR-DR
initially from ⎆Oxiceutics™
MyReuteri™
Lr30242:
Lactobacillus reuteri NCIMB 30242
initially from ⎆Life Extension FLORASSIST® Heart Health
Oxalo:
Oxalobacter formigenes {tbd}
(details pending)
rhamGG:
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG,
available in ⎆Culturelle® Digestive Daily
Probiotic Capsules
⇱ Return to ToC
⟲ Reported Benefits
The draft of this section was deleted, as the site now has a dedicated
feature for browsing the topic:
⎆Microbiome Central⇱ Return to ToC
⟲ Assessing Success
The general principles of assessing batch success are:
- One or more layers well thickened
Initial batches often stratify into ⎆curd layers and watery whey.
You can save the whey for future starter use. I freeze it
in ice cubes trays when I get any liquid I can separate, but
over the last 9 months, I’ve had to use dedicated starter
batches (as I get no whey sep, except with L.coagulans).
Later batches tend to look more like stand-up commercial yogurts.
- Distinctive aroma and tangy taste
All successful batches will have a similar aroma and taste,
not quite identical to a full-fat live-culture unsweetened
commercial yogurt. If you happen to have litmus paper,
or a pH meter, expect a pH below 4.5. For the
L. reuteri yogurt recipe, expect 3.0-3.5 at 36 hours..
- Creamy color (for the dairy-based recipe)
The surface color is usually more off-white than the
starting materials. It can actually appear a bit dry and
crumbly if the fermentation vessel has no lid. But there
should be no sign of growths, molds, black spots or
red/orange tinge (although there can be a few very small
orange spots from residue of the mandarin flavorant in
crushed Gastrus® tablets.
- Near-term effects
If you get prompt effects, such as mood, sleep, energy, etc.,
they will be apparent with a successful batch.
- FAQ: Shelf Life
A completed chilled unopened portion of a batch
is usually stable for a month, perhaps longer if the
container was filled allowing little or no air space.
Freshly opened, expect two weeks.
⇱ Return to ToC
⟲ Troubleshooting
Undoctored Blog: ⎆Troubleshooting L. reuteri yogurt-making
Some additional things to consider include:
- Raw Milk?
Raw milk absolutely must be pasteurized. This is not just a routine
food safety concern. The extended times used for these fermented foods
would at the very least result in an unpredictable result if any
random naturally-occurring microbes are present, and some common ones
could grow to frankly pathogenic CFU counts.
- Dead bugs?
If a question ever does arise as to viability, a simple test
is to prepare two small quantities of the substrate (H&H+inulin),
and a bit of starter (such as one crushed Gastrus® tablet) added
to only one of test samples. Leave the other uncultured. Put both
in your incubator, or just leave out at room temperature, covered.
The uncultured sample is apt to turn into sour
milk, and present quite differently from the cultured sample.
If the starter/probiotic was purchased from a
‘marketplace’ reseller, ⎆the possibility of it being an
inert, or even toxic fake product needs
to be ruled out. Run this little test.
- Retail ingredient junk?
Far too many half&half products have added
emulsifiers, like carrageenan and polysorbate 80. Apart from
being “GRAUS” (Generally Recognized As UnSafe, pronounced
"gross"🤢)
on this program,
effects during fermentation are not well understood. Ditto for added
“vitamins” that may actually be there as preservatives
(not to mention frank preservatives). I’ve had pretty good
luck with both Land’O’Lakes and Horizon organic
H&H.
- Sterility
Utensils need to be reasonably sterile (as does the inulin or other
prebiotic fiber). Whisks are particularly challenging item to
fully clean. Personally, I eliminate these as concerns by
re-pasteurizing the dairy, in the fermentation vessel, with the
inulin already mixed in, and the whisk present as well.
Stick blenders are a significant risk on this, as the
effector end can be very difficult to sterilize. Set out a
cup of near-boiling water. Immerse the blender end in it
for some seconds, and then run it for several more. Rinse
off in a sink before using on yogurt ingredients.
- More sterility
When using generational technique, the state of the storage and
serving utensils needs to be considered as well.
- Yet Another 80:20 Rule
For smaller fermenting vessels, don’t fill to more
than about 80% of capacity. These yogurts tend to be
expansive, and can overflow a filled jar.
- Don’t Press{urize} Your Luck
Loose or vented lids: being expansive, a tight lid
can result in a ruptured vessel, and if not ruptured, the
effect of the over-pressure on the ferment is not
known to me.
- Don’t macerate the microbes
The starter needs to be mixed in by hand, and not by using a
blender (stick or otherwise). The hazards are:
✂ maceration
⇋ shear stresses
🔥 blade tip heating (which is pretty
impressive for the higher performing
blenders — they can cook a soup from
cold-start all by themselves, so the
local heating at the blades is non-trivial).
If using frozen starter, ideally
thaw it slowly (I allow 8 hours in the fridge).
If I screw up the schedule, I’ll set the cubes in a
covered glass bowl in a larger bowl of 105°F tap water.
Do not apply more heat than that.
- Shelf Lives
The shelf life of a finished refrigerated yogurt might
be 30 days. Opened, it might be only two weeks. On
the generational method, take a starter portion when a
bottle is opened, and not after it’s been used for
portions over days.
On the generational method, each batch provides starter
for the next. Do not attempt to use the first batch as
starter indefinitely (some folks have tried, with
unhappy results)
- Drifting along
Using generational (batch-to-batch) starter, it only takes
one incidence of contamination or thermal die-off to affect all
subsequent batches. I make this a non-issue with starter
batches. If I happen to start from tabs, most of that batch goes
into ice cube trays, frozen for use as future starter (and ditto
for any whey drained off from subsequent batches). Dr. Davis
reports being well past 50 batches using a generational
technique, and it seems to work well for many people. But it
does introduce variables that can be switched off if
necessary.
- Generational Blend Limit
If making a yogurt blend, such as the SIBO blend,
and using the generational starter method, don’t carry
the generations beyond 8-10. This is due to lack of data
about how the species:species and strain:strain CFU counts
shift relative to each other.
- Reinoculate? Don’t
If saved or generational starter seems to have a problem,
start over from retail probiotic.
Resist the temptaion to add a bit of fresh retail to
a failing starter. If there’s a problem that it seems
like a reinoc might fix, it won’t.
- Environment
We’ve had a couple of reports of failure that
appear to be linked to nearby diffusers, vaporizers or humidifiers.
The ultrasonic devices don’t fully sterilize the working
fluids. Evaporative models are just asking for trouble. Turn
them off a few hours pre-prep, or run them in a different
room.
- On a Sour Note
Using out-dated dairy, can provide attractive economy,
but may produce a thinner result.
It’s also wise to re-pasteurize when doing so, as the source
dairy may also have a non-trivial population of
undesired microbes.
- Temper, temper
Have some confidence in what temperature your device holds.
Running a dummy (water only) test ‘batch’, for at least a few
hours, and checking with a probe thermometer is wise.
If cold-starting, ponder whether or not the heating elements
are creating bug-killing hot spots during warm up (or just
eliminate this as a concern by pre-heating the substrate to
near ferment temp before adding the
starter).
⇱ Return to ToC
⟲ Personal Process Notes
- The program recipes are usually only for initial batches.
I save any drained-off whey into an ice cube tray
(or use a portion of an initial batch as dedicated frozen starter),
slowly-thawed for use. I use 1 or 2 cubes/qt,
approx 2½ tbsp, or 37 mL. This is the saved-starter
method, benefits listed below.
- I routinely re-pasteurize my mix, in the final fermentation vessel,
with the extender mixed in, and the whisk in the pot, for
various reasons.
I use 180°-195°F for 10-20 minutes, re-cooled to target temp ±2°F.
This is optional on the official recipes, but required for
raw dairy.
- I use the saved-starter method, and only save ice cubes of yogurt
from each individual retail probiotic. Yogurt blends are made using
one-each starter cube of each component yogurt.
- I haven’t used unmodified
potato starch in a while.
- I had been fermenting for 48 hours for scheduling convenience,
but am now using 36+ (or other recipe length) as planning permits.
⟲ Saved Starter Benefits
The Saved Starter method (for bacterial cultures) involves:
◕ Reserve some of a batch (usually the initial batch) …
🧊 as a number of small portions (usually in an ice cube tray).
❄ Freeze it promptly. When frozen …
📝 migrate the portions to a sealed, marked container.
🧫 Slowly thaw 1-4 portions/batch for starter use.
Why do this?
👍 Known viable starter
It came from a batch that you’ve already
determined was satisfactory, eliminating
any questions about the viability of any
retail starter.
⏲ Starter doesn’t linger
You can pull and preserve starter as
soon as the first batch is done.
🥛 Nothing goes to waste
The saved starter can include any part
of the first batch, including all of any liquid fraction.
② Batch #19 is still batch #2
Using those 1st generation ice cubes, each batch
made from them is effectively batch#2 (until you
have to use the last cube to make more cubes,
and then each of those batches is #3, etc.)
⑧ No blend cycle limit
The start-over after batch#8 rule for blends
does not apply for perhaps years … until you have made the 8th
generation of blended starter cubes, which is
a lot of production batches.
🏃 Relaxed calendar
Because you are not needing to use some of the
present batch to make the next within a short time
window, you are off the must make next batch
soon treadmill.
🧊 Whenever…
The cubes last until the freezer malfunctions,
for all practical purposes. Do place them where
they are unlikely to be affected by any automatic
defrost feature.
☣ Bug defenses
Pulling starter promptly, and freezing it,
dramatically reduces contamination risks.
⛔ Mishap resilience
If a batch fails, you don’t need to start
over from retail probiotics.
⤨ Mix and match
You can easily switch to other strains.
🥄 Blends at will
If your cubes are all from single-species:strain
recipes, use one-each of a selection to make a
blended yogurt. This entirely removes generational
limits on blends.
🔎 Dilution of the dilution
While any ingredients of concern in the original
retail probiotic are typically reduced to ⅛ (13%) in
a portion of a first batch, treating the first
batch as starter{only} reduces the ingredient to
1⁄512 of
the original amount, a fraction of 1% and usually
down in the micrograms range.
⇱ Return to ToC
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Bob Niland [⎆disclosures] [⎆topics] [⎆abbreviations]