Here’s my recipe for homemade coconut yogurt that uses homemade coconut milk! Yum!!
I’ve taken a deep dive into yogurt making since I’m currently doing the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). Yogurt is very healing for the gut and I’ve found a probiotic that is helping support my gut recovery after being chronically ill for so long.
This recipe conforms to the SCD and the GAPS diets because the yogurt can be cultured for 24 hours. Though honey is added to the recipe, it is used up by the yogurt cultures during the culturing process. So technically this is considered plain or unsweetened yogurt.
Often yogurt is not tolerated by people with histamine intolerance, so this recipe isn’t for everyone. But if you can tolerate coconut milk and yogurt you can give this recipe a try. Start with a very small amount to determine if your body tolerates it.
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Table of Contents
Ingredient notes for homemade coconut yogurt
For this recipe, you use organic dried unsweetened coconut flakes and water to make the coconut milk with a high-speed blender and nut milk bag. I like this brand of coconut flakes. The reason for using coconut flakes to make homemade coconut milk rather than just opening a can of coconut milk is that canned coconut milk is notoriously contaminated with plastics. All canned food cans have a layer of plastic to keep the food from reacting to the metal. Even cans that are labeled “BPA free” have plastics; it just means that the manufacturer used a different form of plastic containing BPS. See this post for more info on unsafe plastics. Tetra-packs contain a layer of plastic too. The fat in coconut milk — coconut oil — readily attaches to the plastic molecules in coconut milk packaging. So, I’m trying to avoid plastics altogether by making coconut milk at home, preferably in a blender with a metal (not plastic!) blender cup. VitaMix, Waring, and Omega are all brands that make stainless steel blender containers.
When you make yogurt, the magic happens when you add probiotic cultures which convert the milk to yogurt. There are several ways to do this. You can purchase a yogurt starter like this vegan one. You can add a capsule of your favorite allergen-friendly probiotic. Or you can add some ready-made yogurt.
My favorite probiotics are made by Biotiquest. I’m not an affiliate so I don’t make anything if you purchase from them. I use two of their probiotics for making yogurt: Sugar Shift, and Simple Slumber. To use these probiotics in yogurt making you add a couple of capsules of the probiotic powder to the coconut milk to start the yogurt culturing. These probiotics are tailored for specific gut issues. You can learn more about gut dysfunction and healing your gut with beneficial probiotics from the book SuperGut.
Coconut differs from dairy milk in the fat and sugar content, so you need to add a sweetener of some kind (honey or sugar, which the microbes will eat), and a thickener. Commercial vegan yogurts often use gums, which many people with MCAS can’t tolerate. Coconut milk yogurt doesn’t firm up like dairy yogurt, so this recipe also calls for gelatin or tapioca starch to make the yogurt set. So, technically this recipe isn’t vegan if you use gelatin and honey. To make it vegan you can use sugar instead of honey, and a vegan thickener like tapioca starch instead of gelatin. Using tapioca starch during the culturing process also ensures that the beneficial microbes have enough food to eat during the culturing process.
What is MCAS?
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a chronic condition that affects all organ systems. MCAS is serious and disabling and people with MCAS often experience significant and debilitating symptoms daily, including anaphylaxis, which can be fatal.
MCAS is often found in combination with other chronic conditions such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
Healthcare providers frequently do not know about MCAS, and the tests for MCAS are problematic because they are not uniformly reliable. MCAS can be difficult to manage. Treatments include blocking mast cell mediators with anti-histamines and mast cell stabilizers, as well as avoiding triggers.
Check out this post on how to manage MCAS.
Why this recipe?
I’ve been following the SCD lately as part of my spring detox. With the SCD you avoid all fermentable carbohydrates, so this recipe is grain-free and refined-sugar-free.
SCD relies on food as medicine, so cultured yogurt is used as food to heal the gut. If tolerated, on the SCD you can also eat probiotic-rich foods like sour kraut, but again, you need to make sure you can tolerate them first because fermented foods are high in histamine.
The bucket theory
The bucket theory offers a helpful analogy for understanding symptom reactions with MCAS.
Think of your body as an empty bucket that you want to keep from overflowing. Different foods and activities fill your histamine bucket at different speeds but they combine to form the total level of histamine in your body (how full your bucket is). A fuller bucket means you have more histamine symptoms. When you manage triggers, reduce exposure to known triggers, and take medications and supplements to reduce histamine, you can manage the level of your bucket.
Know your typical symptom progression
Knowing your symptom progression in a symptom flare is the key to developing your rescue plan. In this post, I discuss how to determine your symptom progression. Once you know what typically happens in your symptom progression you can design a rescue plan to address those symptoms.
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Some tips for making yogurt at home
- When you make yogurt it’s important to control the culture so that you are growing the desired beneficial microbes in your yogurt and not growing random microbes from the environment. For this reason, it is a good idea to sterilize the jars you are using right before use. One quick and easy way to sterilize jars is to wash and clean the jars thoroughly before sterilization. Then wet the glass jars and cook on high for 60 seconds in the microwave. Allow the jars to dry on a clean towel. Metal lids can be sterilized by boiling them for 10 minutes and leaving them dry on a clean towel. You can find other sterilization methods online if you don’t have a microwave.
- Depending on the type of starter culture you are using, there are different ways to make yogurt. There are two types of cultures — thermophilic, which needs heat to grow, and mesophilic, which thrives in moderate temperatures, like ambient room temperature. BiotiQuest cultures are mesophilic, so technically you could culture them on your kitchen counter without a heat source. But I’ve read that they are designed to grow best at human body temperature so I use heat to keep them around 98 degrees Fahrenheit. For this recipe I provide instructions for using a yogurt maker, an Instant Pot with a yogurt setting, or a sous vide stick as the heat source. No matter which method, you should use glass containers to culture the yogurt in as stainless steel can leach metals from the acid content in the yogurt.
- For this recipe, you need to use pasteurized honey because raw honey naturally contains bacterial species that will compete with your yogurt cultures.
- This yogurt is cultured for 12 hours, so plan ahead and make sure you will be available when it’s done!
Here’s the recipe for homemade coconut yogurt
Homemade Coconut Yogurt
Equipment
- 1 yogurt maker OR
- Sous vide stick and large stock pot OR
- Instant Pot with a "Yogurt" setting
- 2 (quart) mason jars with lids washed and sterilized
- 1 nut milk bag, a strainer, and a 6-cup glass measuring cup (or equivalent)
- high-speed blender such as Vitamix OR nut milk machine
- Instant-read thermometer like Thermopop
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic raw coconut flakes unsweetened
- 5 cups filtered water
- 1 tbsp pasteurized honey
- 1-2 tsp gelatin or vegan thickener such as tapioca starch
- 1 capsule allergen-friendly probiotic such as BiotiQuest OR
- 2 tbsp PLAIN UNSWEETENED coconut yogurt OR
- 1 packet commercial freeze-dried yogurt starter according to package directions
Instructions
- Place the coconut flakes and water in the container of a high-speed blender, such as Vitamix. Cap it tightly and blend on high speed for 45-60 seconds, until the mixture is smooth and uniformly white. Alternatively, you can use a nut milk machine.
- Fit your nut milk bag into a strainer over a medium glass bowl and pour the coconut mixture into the nut milk bag. Allow the liquid to drain into the bowl and gently squeeze the pulp to extract most of the liquid. Discard the coconut pulp and save the liquid for making the yogurt.
- Stir the honey into the coconut milk and if you are using tapioca starch as your thickener you can add it now. Heat the mixture to 190 °F in the microwave or a pot over the stove. Once it reaches 190 °F place the milk in the freezer to cool down to 100 °F while you prepare the heat source.
- If you are using a sous vide stick, clip it to a large stock pot and add tap water to the minimum water level indicator on the stick. Set the unit to preheat to 98 °F, and set the timer for 12.5 hours (to include heat-up time). Sterilize your jars.
- If you are using an Instant Pot, add about two inches of tap water to the pot. Set the timer for 12.5 hours (to include heat-up time). Sterilize your jars.
- If you are using a yogurt maker, sterilize the glass container and follow the instructions for preparing your yogurt maker.
- Once the coconut milk has cooled to 100 °F, put about ½ cup of the milk into each of the two-quart mason jars (or the yogurt machine container). Add your chosen yogurt starter (probiotic capsule, prepared yogurt, or freeze-dried starter) to the coconut milk in each jar and stir with a non-reactive spoon (wooden or silicone) to combine. Then divide the remaining coconut milk between the jars and give it another stir.
- Loosely cap the jars with the mason jar lids, plastic wrap, or the lid from your yogurt maker. Follow the instructions that come with your yogurt maker for what to do next, and set the timer for 12 hours.
- If you are using an Instant Pot, gently place the uncovered jars into the Instant Pot so you don't get water from the pot into the jars. Loosely cap the jars. Place the cover on the Instant Pot, press the "Yogurt" button, and adjust the time with the "+" or "-" buttons until you reach 12 hours.
- Once the 12 hours is up, remove the yogurt from the yogurt maker / InstantPot / sous vide bath. Dry the jars and then pour all of the yogurt into a blender along with the gelatin. Blend for about 30 seconds, then pour the yogurt back into the jars. Loosely cap the jars again and place the yogurt in the refrigerator to cool and thicken for several hours.
- There may be some separation of the liquid and yogurt as it chills. You can simply mix it back together with a spoon. Serve within five days or freeze immediately.
What to serve along with this recipe
You can serve this homemade coconut yogurt with gluten-free SCD granola and tolerated fruit for a yogurt parfait, drain it over cheesecloth overnight to make yogurt cheese, or use it in recipes.
Leftovers
Leftovers keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, but if you have histamine intolerance or MCAS you will want to freeze leftovers right away to make frozen yogurt. You can also strain this yogurt through cheesecloth overnight to make yogurt cheese.
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Disclaimer
The preceding material does not constitute medical advice. This information is for information purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, cure or treatment. Always seek advice from your medical doctor.