Vegan Yoghurts
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Vegan Yoghurts
In the last few years, we’ve seen more and more people adopting a vegan diet lifestyle and cutting dairy products out of their diets is really easy because there are now so many tasty dairy free yoghurts available.
What is dairy yoghurt?
The heavily-promoted yoghurt that you see in grocery stores up and down the country is made from dairy and is a derivative of milk, usually cow’s milk, although sometimes sheep’s milk and goat’s milk.
As these come from animals, they are not considered suitable for vegan diets and lifestyles and so these types of yoghurts are obviously off the menu. Vegan yoghurt however, is different.
What is vegan yoghurt?
Vegan yogurt is made from plant-based vegan-friendly milk sources such as oat milk, coconut milk, almond milk, and cashew nut milk.
You’ll often find that vegan yoghurt also contains probiotics for digestive health but what if you fancy having a go at making your own delicious vegan yoghurt?
How to make vegan yoghurt
In order to make your own vegan yoghurt, to enjoy the probiotic digestive benefits that vegan yoghurt provides you will need to begin by adding a small amount of a shop-bought vegan yoghurt to your recipe. This is known as ‘seeding’ and will begin the culturing process.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 heaped tbsp of good quality store-bought vegan yoghurt
- 1 can of light coconut milk (other vegan milks may be used but may affect the flavour)
- 140g of raw cashew nuts Nut Allergy Alert!
- 2 heaped tbsp of maple syrup, or 3 if you like it sweeter
- Sterile glass jars
- Electric blender/food processor
Method:
Begin by ensuring that your glass jars and their lids are completely clean, sterile, and dry before you fill them with your yoghurt. You can do this with hot soapy water and drying them in an oven, or you can use sterilizing tablets.
Take your raw cashew nuts, place them into a bowl, and cover them with boiling water, leaving them to soak for 30 – 40 minutes.
Next, drain the cashews and get rid of as much of the liquid as possible, before placing them into your food processor/blender.
Add your coconut milk, the maple syrup, and the vegan yoghurt and blend everything into a completely smooth paste.
Now, take your clean, sterile, and dry jars and lids and decant your yummy yoghurt into them, covering the opening with clean cheesecloth or any thin, clean, breathable fabric. This is where the culturing process begins.
To culture the yoghurt, store it at a temp of between 29C – 42C (85F – 115F). You can do this out of direct sunlight if your home is warm, otherwise use the oven on a very low temp.
It will take 10/12 hours to culture and thicken.
Now, cool the yoghurt, securely screw the lids on, and store in the refrigerator to enjoy as and when needed.
Final thoughts on this yoghurt recipe
Thought making vegan yoghurt was tough? Think again!
Obviously, as mentioned above, making a delicious vegan yoghurt requires very few ingredients and is not particularly difficult.
As long as everything is clean and sterile, and as long as you culture the yoghurt correctly, you’ll be left with a delicious, creamy, healthy, high protein yoghurt.
Enjoy!