Whether you are a vegan, have dairy allergies, or just want to experiment, plant milk ferments are a fun and tasty alternative to dairy milk. Because they lack lactose and milk proteins, you need to ferment them differently than you do dairy milk. Out of respect to the tradition of dairy as well as the legalities of terminology, I prefer not to use the terms yogurt and kefir for these novel ferments. And, indeed, these plant-based products are unique from their dairy cousins and deserve to stand on their own. In most of these recipes, I use dairy-free yogurt cultures. Several companies offer bacteria blends that are identical to dairy cultures except that they leave out added ingredients such as lactose or skim milk powder, which otherwise might be used to extend and support the culture.
Soygurt (Vegan)
Makes 1 quart
To make the best soy milk ferment, use pure, plain soy milk that lists only water and soybeans as ingredients, or even better, make fresh soy milk yourself. Usually you will find this variety packaged as a shelf-stable product — not in the refrigerator section. If you try to use the fortified, thickened version, you’ll end up with a ferment that separates, is clumpy, and has a very chalky mouthfeel. The flavor is also not clean and pleasant like that of real soy milk. Simple soy milk has a lovely balance of fat, protein, and sugar content, similar to that of dairy milk.
You can thicken soy ferments in a variety of ways (see chapter 4 for options). I prefer tapioca starch for the creamier texture it imparts. Once fermentation is finished, some fairly sour and beany notes become apparent, so I like to add a little vanilla extract to balance the final flavor.
Ingredients
1 quart plain soy milk
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1⁄8 teaspoon powdered nondairy yogurt culture or 1⁄8 cup fresh soy milk ferment with active cultures
1⁄4–1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Steps
1.Combine the soy milk and tapioca starch in a medium saucepan and whisk until well blended.
2.Place the pan over medium heat and warm to 140°F (60°C), stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let cool to 120°F (49°C).
3.Add the culture. If using powdered culture, sprinkle it on top of the milk and let sit for 1 minute, then whisk it in. If using fresh soy ferment, combine the ferment with 1⁄4 cup of the warm soy milk in a small bowl and whisk until smooth, then add the mixture to the rest of the soy milk. Mix in the vanilla, if using.
4.Incubate at 110°F (43°C) for 6 hours for mild yogurt and up to 8 hours for a more tangy version. Chill before serving. Store in the refrigerator and use within 7 to 10 days.
Coconut Milk Mock Kefir (Vegan)
Makes 2 cups
When yogurt cultures are incubated at room temperature, the microbes that grow the best create a flavor and aroma profile that is distinct from that of yogurt. Many of these microbes are identical to those you find in kefir cultures, in fact. One key microbe that is missing in yogurt cultures but is present in kefir cultures is yeast. For this recipe I added a bit of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a champagne yeast also often found in real kefir grains. The yeast not only adds complexity and a few bubbles, but it also helps with fermentation. If you want this vegan version of kefir to be more sour, add a teaspoon of table sugar at the beginning. This will provide more food for the bacteria, so they can produce more acid. Coconut milk has a lot of fat, so it can handle a bit more acid and maintain a balanced flavor.
Ingredients
2 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon sugar (coconut sugar is a great choice, but any kind will work)
1⁄4 teaspoon nondairy yogurt culture with a wide range of microbes, such as any of those from GetCulture or Cultures for Health
A few grains of champagne yeast
Steps
1.Pour the coconut milk into a quart jar. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
2.Sprinkle the culture and yeast on top and let sit for 3 to 5 minutes, then whisk them in thoroughly.
3.Incubate at 75°F to 85°F (24°C to 29°C) for 24 hours for a mild yogurt and up to 36 hours for a more tangy version. Shake or stir and then chill before serving. Store in the refrigerator and use within 1 week.
Coconut Milk Viili
Makes 2 cups
This recipe is a fun plant milk ferment that’s not strictly vegan. I so adore the Finnish milk ferment viili that I thought I’d see what the culture could do to coconut milk. It worked surprisingly well. This doesn’t have quite the viscosity of milk viili, but it is very smooth and creamy. The pH dropped to a pleasant tang of 4.2 — the same as that of dairy milk viili. I added a bit of sugar to assist with the fermentation. As with all coconut milk ferments, the pleasant coconut flavor is pleasingly predominant.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon viili seed culture
2 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon coconut sugar or other sugar
Steps
1.Spread the viili seed across the bottom and up the sides of a pint jar or small bowl.
2.Combine the coconut milk and sugar in a small bowl, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
3.Pour the coconut milk into the jar, cover loosely, and incubate at 70°F to 75°F (21°C to 24°C) for 36 to 48 hours. Chill before serving. Store in the refrigerator and use within 1 week.
Make Your Own Plant Milks
Fresh, homemade plant milks really can’t be beat for making nondairy ferments. Homemade plant milks have very short shelf lives (only about 3 days) before their quality starts to degrade. Commercially produced plant milks have extended shelf lives, but the processes that increase shelf life don’t improve flavor. The exception is canned coconut milk, which is canned very soon after it is made. However, as with other commercially produced plant milks, it usually includes thickeners, stabilizers, flavors, and added sugars that don’t make for better-tasting ferments.
Here are some fairly quick and easy steps for making the plant milks we’ll work with in this chapter. The instructions below for coconut milk call for dried coconut, but you can also use fresh. You’ll need to do some work to remove the coconut meat from the shell, but you can find good instructions online.
Soy Milk
Makes 1 quart
Ingredients
1⁄2 cup soybeans
4 cups cold water, plus more for soaking overnight
Instructions
1.Place the soybeans in a bowl and add enough cool water to cover. Let soak overnight.
2.Drain and rinse the soybeans. Massage them under the water with your hands to remove as many of the firm hulls as possible.
3.Place the soaked and dehulled soybeans in a food processor. Add the 4 cups cold water and process until completely puréed (you will no longer hear the beans or pieces hitting the blades).
4.Line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth, a flour sack cloth, or a nut-milk bag. Set the lined colander inside a large bowl. Pour the soy mixture into the lined colander and let drain. Twist the top of the cloth to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Use the soy milk immediately, or refrigerate and use within 3 days.
Almond Milk
Makes 1 quart
Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds
4 cups cold water, plus more for soaking overnight
Instructions
1.Place the almonds in a bowl and add enough cool water to cover. Let soak overnight.
2.Drain and rinse the almonds.
3.Place the soaked almonds in a food processor. Add the 4 cups cold water and process until completely puréed (you will no longer hear the almonds or pieces hitting the blades).
4.Line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth, a flour sack cloth, or a nut-milk bag. Set the lined colander inside a large bowl. Pour the almond mixture into the lined colander and let drain. Twist the top of the cloth to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Use the almond milk immediately, or refrigerate and use within 3 days.
Coconut Milk
Makes 1 quart
Ingredients
8 ounces dried, unsweetened coconut
4 cups very warm water (120°F–130°F/49°C–54°C)
Instructions
1.Place the coconut in a food processor.
2.Add the warm water and let sit for about 5 minutes. Then process until completely blended.
3.Line a colander with several layers of cheesecloth, a flour sack cloth, or a nut-milk bag. Set the lined colander inside a large bowl. Pour the coconut mixture into the lined colander and let drain. Twist the top of the cloth to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Use the coconut milk immediately, or refrigerate and use within 4 days.
Drinkable Almondgurt (Vegan)
Makes 1 quart
Almond milk has a lovely, lightly sweet, and only slightly nutty flavor. Yogurt made from almond milk has a similar flavor, but with a pleasant tartness and mild yogurtlike flavor. Fresh almond milk makes the best ferment, though plain, unsweetened, refrigerated (not shelf-stable) almond milk from the grocery store ferments just fine in my experience. (I’ve read many blogs that claim the contrary, but I haven’t had a problem fermenting store-bought almond milk.) If you’d like a tarter version, you can add about 1 teaspoon of sugar per 2 cups of milk (mine got to a pH of 4.38 without sugar and 4.27 with). I like to add a bit of guar gum to improve mouthfeel, but it’s completely optional.
To keep this recipe super easy, we’re going to ferment it right in the carton and incubate in an ice chest. Of course, you can do it in a jar if you prefer!
Ingredients
1 quart plain, unsweetened almond milk
2 teaspoons raw sugar or honey
1⁄4 teaspoon powdered nondairy yogurt culture
1 teaspoon guar gum (optional)
Steps
1.Pour 1 cup of the almond milk into a bowl. Add the sugar, culture, and guar gum, if using, and whisk until the solids are dissolved.
2.Warm the remaining 3 cups of almond milk in a small saucepan to 120°F (49°C), stirring constantly, and then remove from the heat. Pour the almond milk and sugar mixture into the warm milk and stir to dissolve.
3.Pour the milk back into the carton, close loosely, and place in an ice chest. Incubate for 8 to 10 hours, or until you reach the desired level of tartness. You don’t need to rewarm the mixture. Shake gently, then chill before serving. Store in the refrigerator and use within 7 to 10 days.
Springfield Creamery and Nancy’s Yogurt
Eugene, Oregon
Sometimes the stars align and a beautiful constellation appears. In the case of Nancy’s Yogurt and Springfield Creamery, it might be telling that stars both literal (adorning their packaging) and figurative (aka the Grateful Dead and Huey Lewis) feature in the company’s story. Founded as Springfield Creamery in 1960 in Springfield, Oregon, by Chuck Kesey and Sue Kesey (wait, there is a Nancy in the story), Nancy’s Yogurt is a pioneer in the world of dairy ferments. And it’s a success story; their products have been sold in all 50 states and in Canada since the mid-1990s and the company is a source of pride for Oregonians.
The business began by bottling and distributing milk to homes and schools in the Springfield-Eugene area. Before the 1960s were over, Chuck and Sue were looking for a value-added product — a way to increase their revenue stream using their readily available supply of quality local milk. The timing coincided with the growing interest in natural, whole, real food. Chuck, who has a degree in dairy science, was aware of the growing interest in using the probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus acidophilus in dairy products. Then Nancy arrived.
A yogurt afficianado from the San Francisco Bay Area, Nancy V. Brasch Hamren first came to the Eugene area with her boyfriend to farm-sit for Chuck’s brother Ken Kesey (who, among other things, wrote the novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest). In 1969, after the farm sitting was over and Nancy had decided to stay in the area, she found a job working for Chuck and Sue as a bookkeeper. Nancy had been inspired by her grandmother’s passion for yogurt and was eager to share and learn about dairy fermentation.
By 1970, Springfield Creamery had become the first company in the United States to sell yogurt made with, and labeled as containing, probiotic bacteria. Fortunately, their timing was good and they found eager customers in health food stores, small food co-ops, and the like. When loyal local customers would call the creamery, they were usually greeted by Nancy on the phone and simply began calling the yogurt “Nancy’s yogurt.” It stuck.
Fast-forward 50 years and Nancy’s probiotic lineup consists of organic and natural cottage cheese, sour cream, kefir, a variety of yogurt styles, and even two plant-based ferments: oat milk nondairy yogurt and organic soy yogurt. They all contain blends of fermentation and probiotic bacterial strains, many of which are custom strains selected by Nancy and Chuck, making them unique to Nancy’s delicious products. Sue (company CFO) and Chuck (company president), along with their son, daughter, and two grandsons, are still running the company. For more about the fascinating history of the company, check out their website (see Resources).
Dairy-Free Culture Sources
Here are a few of the options for dairy-free cultures. I prefer the ones with the most variety for the probiotics and flavor potential.
Coconut milk and cream contain natural sugar, but not enough to feed the fermentation microbes and produce the desired level of tartness, so you need to add table sugar. When I didn’t add sugar in my experiments, the pH only dropped to about 5.2, which is about 10 times less zippy than dairy yogurt. Even with the added sugar in this recipe, which brings the pH to the same level as dairy yogurt, the yogurt will still not taste as tart as dairy yogurt due to the wonderfully sweet flavor and richness of coconut. Commercial coconut yogurts include a bit of citric acid to add a tart flavor. If you want to try this, dissolve a pinch (no more — it is quite strong) of citric acid in the mix before fermenting.
To make coconut yogurt thick, you have two choices: you can use the thickest coconut milk product you can find (like coconut cream), or you can add thickeners. You can experiment with any variation of this combination to achieve the thickness you prefer.
Ingredients
1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
1 (5.4-ounce) can coconut cream
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
1⁄2 teaspoon sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon nondairy yogurt culture
Steps
1.Combine the coconut milk, coconut cream, tapioca starch, and sugar in a medium saucepan and whisk until well blended.
2.Place the pan over medium heat and warm to 140°F (60°C), stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and let cool to 120°F (49°C).
3.Sprinkle the culture on top of the warm coconut mixture and let sit for 1 minute, then whisk it in.
4.Incubate at 110°F (43°C) for 8 hours. Chill before serving. Store in the refrigerator and use within 7 to 10 days.
Almond Kinda-Kefir from Grains
Makes 2 cups
Milk kefir grains will ferment plant milks as long as you rehabilitate them with real dairy milk in between uses. Because the grains are fed dairy milk, this recipe isn’t strictly vegan, but it should be fine for those with dairy allergies. Almond milk is high in protein but very low in sugar, so some sugar must be added to get the nice tang associated with kefir. Since kefir is drinkable, you won’t need to add thickeners. Fresh almond milk (see the recipe) works best, but store-bought works, too. After about 16 hours of fermentation, the flavor is mildly tart and quite tasty. I actually prefer it to unfermented almond milk. This method of using grains and a bit of sugar works well with other plant milks, too.
Ingredients
2 cups plain, unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1–2 teaspoons rinsed kefir grains
Steps
1.Warm the milk to 90°F (32°C). You can gently heat the milk in a pan on the stove and then pour it into the incubation jar, or you can pour the cool milk into the incubation jar and then set the jar in a bowl of warm water to warm.
2.Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved, then add the kefir grains. Cover and ferment at room temperature (70°F to 75°F/21°C to 24°C) for 16 to 24 hours.
3.Remove the grains, rinse, and place in a jar with fresh dairy milk to feed them. Chill the kefir before serving. Store in the refrigerator and use within 7 to 10 days.
