Coconut Yogurt Trial #1

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm currently experimenting with coconut milk yogurt.  

Being a huge fan of coconut, coconut oil, coconut milk, everything coconut, I was delighted (at first) to see a coconut yogurt at Whole Foods.  Upon reading the label, however, I was dismayed to see that it contained rice starch!

That prompted me to make my own.  

My husband and I received a yogurt maker for our wedding, two and a half years ago, which I've never used, since I don't eat dairy or soy, the two products that most quickly came to mind when I thought 'yogurt'.

The coconut idea, though- wow!  At Whole Foods, I decided to pick up some yogurt starter, which, I learned contained milk ingredients!

I finally found a starter online, called GI PRo, which I was assured to be gluten, dairy, grain, and soy-free.   I ordered it and put it to the test, following a recipe meant for soy or almond milk, and using coconut milk in it's proxy.

Before you read on- keep in mind that this was only trial #1, and the outcome was runny, slightly ferment-y tasting coconut milk!

Doing my research to try batch #2 and as many as it takes to get it right!  I will use the first batch as a base for curry and/or a marinade for meat!

-I heated the coconut milk to 180F to ensure no bacterial interference with the starter culture.  Then I let it cool to 80F.  I took out a cup of the cooled milk and whisked in the starter, then returned that to the rest of the milk, whisked that, and set it into the yogurt maker to ferment for 12 hours.  Then, into the fridge for 4.   As mentioned above…. runny, ferment-y coconut milk….

Stay tuned for the next version, coming soon!