HOW TO MAKE VEGAN YOGURT

A yogurt maker/warm spot, a thermometer, and a pan to heat up the milk alternative. This is our easiest-to-use starter. Have rich, delicious yogurt quickly!

Do notuse more starter than recommended. Using too much starter can crowd the bacteria, causing the bacteria to run out of food before the yogurt completely ferments the milk. The result is often a thinner, sometimes bitter, yogurt.

Yogurt cultures are a carefully balanced combination of bacteria that will produce a particular type of yogurt. Mixing different cultures or bacteria together may cause the culture to weaken or die.

Direct-set yogurt starters are one-time-use cultures. It is possible to use some yogurt made with a direct-set starter to make a new batch of yogurt, but after a few batches, the culture will weaken and a new dose of direct-set starter is needed. 

Making yogurt at high altitudes causes it to set faster. With that in mind, putting yogurt into culture overnight might not be wise if culturing at a higher altitude.

Yogurt that has set will be more or less uniform in appearance: one solid mass. The yogurt should appear relatively smooth and should pull away from the side of the container when tipped. Sometimes a bit of whey will separate from the yogurt during the culturing process. This is completely normal. Stir it back into the yogurt or strain it out.

To avoid interfering with the culturing process, it is best to flavor after the culturing process is complete. This is most important when working with heirloom cultures. For ideas for flavoring homemade yogurt, check out our list of Five Ways to Flavor Homemade Yogurt. 

In the refrigerator (40° to 45°F):

• 7 days to maintain re-culturing viability
• 2 weeks for edibility.