Nowadays, an increasing number of people are avoiding dairy consumption, being due to lactose intolerance, health or ethical reasons. As such, soy yogurt becomes an excellent option, especially when prepared at home, in a healthy and economical way.
Preparation of homemade soy yogurt using an automatic yogurt maker:
Start by sterilizing the yogurt maker cup and a spoon. For this, place them in boiling water (or microwave them for a few seconds), thereby destroying the bacteria that could interfere with the production of lactobacilli.
Place 1 liter of soy milk inside the cup that comes with the yogurt maker. Milk must be at room temperature and be fresh or sterilized. Milk from the stores usually comes sterilized so it can be used directly from the package (if the milk has been open for some time, boil the milk first and let it cool). If you make your own soy milk, in the Midzu soymilk maker, wait until it cools.
With a spoon, add a sachet of yogurt starter to the milk and mix very well. You can also use ¼ of a natural yogurt to start the culture.
Turn on the yogurt maker and leave it working for 8-12 hours. The longer you wait, the better consistency the yogurt will have. During this time the yogurt maker will keep the temperature around 40º C, allowing a rapid reproduction of the beneficial yogurt micro-organisms.
Turn off the yogurt maker and store the yogurt in the fridge. After 6-12 hours in the fridge the yogurt reaches the ideal flavor and is ready to be consumed.
Tips and suggestions:
Use a soymilk maker to obtain quality milk at a very low cost.
Try adding fresh or dry fruits, or cereals, to the yogurt. If you want to add fresh or dry fruits at the moment of yogurt preparation, these should be previously sterilized through a quick cooking. Let them cool and then follow the normal yogurt preparation method as described above.
If you use a starter to prepare the yogurt, store 2-3 tablespoons of the prepared yogurt to use as a starter the next time (store the first spoons of the yogurt that you take from the cup in a sterilized recipient, to avoid contaminations). By doing this you save money on the starter without losing quality. You can repeat this process up to 8 times, or until the yogurt becomes too liquid. At this point you should use a new starter. If you use natural yogurt to start the yogurt culture you can repeat this process once or twice; however, when the yogurt becomes too liquid it is because the concentration of micro-organisms is too low and the yogurt loses its beneficial properties.
The yogurt stored to start the next culture should be kept in the fridge and used up to three days after that. If you do not prepare a new liter of yogurt the following days, you can freeze these yogurt tablespoons and, when needed for a new culture, defrost and use at room temperature.
In the first use of a sachet of yogurt starter it is common to observe the formation of a significant amount of serum on top. This means that there is a higher concentration of lactobacilli. If you like, you can consume the yogurt as it is, more liquid, or you can use the serum to mix in bread or cake batter, or add it to a milkshake. In the following batches, you will obtain a more solid yogurt, with less serum.
You can add agar weed (1 teaspoon) or cornstarch (1 tablespoon) to obtain a more solid product.
Avoid using milk enriched with calcium or flavors because these may interfere with the production of lactobacillus.
The most advantageous manner to prepare homemade soy yogurt is with an automatic yogurt maker, because it is the only way to maintain a constant temperature of 40 ºC, which allows the lactobacillus to easily reproduce without being destroyed, enjoying all the benefits of the consumption of this probiotic food.
Other vegetable drinks, having a lower protein content, do not allow lactobacillus fermentation.Therefore, soymilk is the most suitable beverage to make vegetable yogurt.
Insert date: 2015-04-24 Last update: 2015-06-17
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Authors > Contributor writers > Cristina Rodrigues
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Authors > Translators > Ana Rita Costa
