Soy Yogurt

I' m so excited that my yogurt came out so well the first time I tried it. Don't you just love it when that happens. :-)

I read a few different websites about making your own yogurt, and the crockpot method drew me right in because I like simple and easy.

I did have a nice picture of the mixture in my crockpot, but can't seem to find it so I may have deleted it. But the picture above to the left gives you an idea of the final product and it's thickness.

But one of the website I surfed over to that encouraged the use of the slow cooker had in the comments section under the recipe that the rice milk and the soy milk didn't turn into yogurt. So because of that, I was apprehensive about trying to make soy yogurt in my crock pot because I didn't want to waste my time and money on something that wasn't going to work.

Another website suggested adding tapioca flour and agar. I bought the flour and thought I had agar at home but didn't, so I felt for sure my recipe wouldn't come out right. But I decided to try anyway because I didn't want to wait another day. :-)

Before you begin, make sure you sterilize whatever utensils you'll be using. So here's what I did.

I added two containers (32 oz) of Westsoy Organic Unsweetened Soymilk into my crockpot, and turned it on low for two and one half hours.

I was going to add the tapioca flour, but forgot to. An hour had passed before I remembered, so what I did was measure out a cup of the flour and added just enough water to mix. I took that mixture and added it to the crock pot and whisked well to incorporate it throughout the milk.

When the two and a half hours were up, I turned off the crock pot or you may want to unplug the unit to know you've turned it off, and waited for 3 hours.

After the 3 hours were up, (set a timer so you don't forget) I took out about one cup of the mixture from the crockpot and added six ounces of Silk Live Soy Yogurt. The health food store didn't have plain so unfortunately I had to use the vanilla.

This particular brand of yogurt has 6 live cultures, but............. it has added ingredients that I don't care for. There's one other store here locally I can check to see if they have a better brand of soy yogurt. I live in a small town so I'm limited to the amount of choices I have.  

I put the lid back onto the crockpot and wrapped the whole thing in a very large heavy towel and let it set overnight. In the morning, about twelve hours later I checked on it and was thrilled at the results.

It was creamy smooth with a very nice texture. The yogurt had a nice tang, not overpowering. The only thing I didn't like was the faint vanilla flavor. I had hoped that the six ounce vanilla flavored yogurt wouldn't be noticed in the large batch of yogurt, but you can taste it, but it's faint. So I hope I can find some plain soy yogurt before I try this again.

The rest of the flavor tastes very much like the soy milk. I haven't added any fruit yet, but I'll be eating some yogurt by itself and probably add some thawed frozen fruit.

I have a nice Dole frozen fruit variety in the freezer. I also have a bag of frozen blueberries I may try. Or another possibility would be to use some just-fruit jams I have in the refrigerator that might taste nice with the yogurt.

I added one cup to my morning smoothie and it added a nice flavor. There was sweetness from the fruit and a little tart from the yogurt. It was a nice combination.

After setting in the refrigerator for a while the yogurt mixture thickened some. Here's a picture of it a couple of hours later.

So if you've been wanting to try your hand at making soy yogurt, I think you may want to give this a try.  It really is so very easy and simple.

If you don't want to make that much at one time you can cut the recipe in half. I've read on others websites that this will last 7 to 10 days. So for me, this recipe is a bit too much since I'm the only one who will be eating it.

I'd like to try almond milk next time and see how it turns out. 

All the best to you and your health.

Laina :-)