Making Soy Yogurt @ Home
I have developed a simple method to make delicious soy yogurt at home using a really high quality organic unsweetened soy milk from Edensoy. I recommend Edensoy because it is the highest in whole soy protein of all soymilks with 12 grams per serving. Also it ranks number one of sixty-two brands in an extensively researched soy report, The Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Soy Report. If you cannot find Edensoy, an acceptable substitute is Westsoy Organic Unsweetened Soymilk, which I can find in the health foods section of my local grocery store.
The only other equipment I use are a stainless steel 2-quart pot, a kitchen cooking thermometer, a half-cup measuring cup, a whisk and a Dash Bulk Yogurt Maker.
It takes just 10 minute preparation time and 4-8 hours to incubate to turn a quart of Organic Edensoy Unsweetened Soymilk into a quart of delicious organic unsweetened soy yogurt. I have made this yogurt without the Dash Yogurt Maker by putting the mix in a warm oven with the oven light on, but, now that I am making yogurt regularly, I find it easier to have a small countertop device rather than taking up the whole oven.
When WholeSoy went out of business in 2013, there was a great void in commercially available soy yogurt that has has only recently been filled. Silk now makes a plain, non-GMO soy yogurt that, while it is not organic and uses cane sugar, is good to eat.
Recently on the Internet I heard of others making soy yogurt at home so I decided to try a batch on my own. I purchased a packet of yogurt starter called Yogourmet and a quart container of soy milk and went through the steps I recalled from my days of making dairy yogurt with remarkable success. All my subsequent batches of yogurt have used a half cup of the previous batch of soy yogurt (mixed with a teaspoon of sweetener like sugar, maple syrup or honey to feed the microorganisms). I usually keep two quart containers of soy yogurt in the refrigerator, and start a new batch with a half cup from the full container when the one I am using is finished.
I spoon out a half cup from the previous batch and mix it with a teaspoon of sweetener and set it aside. Then I pour a quart of Organic Edensoy Unsweetened Soymilk into the pot and put it on the stove under a high flame to heat. When the milk reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit, I remove the pot from the stove and whisk in the half cup of starter. I pour this mixture into the one quart container of my yogurt maker and turn it on. Anywhere from 3 to 8 hours later the mixture has set into a delightful pudding-like consistency, and I remove it to a container to refrigerate. Then I just Eat, Enjoy, and Repeat.
If you are concerned about leading a completely vegan lifestyle, the small amount of skim milk powder in the Yogourmet starter may be a stumbling block for you. If so, you can ask a vegan friend to give you a half cup of their soymilk yogurt as a starter or purchase a container of Silk’s plain soy yogurt. If this is not possible, there have been some interesting articles about using wild microorganisms from plant sources to culture yogurt. One most promising is the use of chili pepper stems to ferment milk into yogurt. See “Yogurt cultured by Chili peppers” by Sandor Katz in the Wild Fermentation Newsletter for a start on exploring these options.
Is soy safe? I often get asked about my consumption of soy food products by people who have heard that soy foods are unsafe. Foods made from whole organic soybeans are safe. These include soybeans, tofu, miso, tempeh, soy sauce and soy milk as long as they do not contain soy protein isolates. Chinese and Japanese cultures have eaten soy products for generations safely. Questions do arise when one eats Soy Burgers, Soy Energy Bars and “Frankensoy” products made from soy protein isolates. Check the ingredients and eat sparingly (or avoid) foods made with “soy protein.” Enjoy organic whole soy products in safety. If you would like to read more about soy food safety, just search the Internet for “Is Soy Safe.”
