How to Make Homemade Soy Yogurt

Not long ago, I began making my own tasty homemade soy yogurt. I am a huge fan of soy yogurt but unfortunately I cannot seem to locate plain or minimally sweetened versions where I live. Plus, I like cultured foods and fermentation so I guess it was a bittersweet dilemma, ultimately inspiring me to make my own homemade yummy goodness. So, naturally, the following experiment ensued.

Here is what I did: I bought a small inexpensive container of sweetened soy yogurt and a container of sweetened vanilla soy milk. The sweetener is necessary because the bacteria feed from the sugar. The vanilla is great too for a delicious background flavor.

Now, you do not require an expensive store bought yogurt machine by any means. All you need to do is put together a working incubator to keep the yogurt in a warm, cozy environment perfect for culturing. Here is exactly what I did:

1. To begin with, I obtained a little tupperware container and poured in the soy milk. I then added a few small spoonfuls of the soy yogurt . Make sure that your soy yogurt has active LIVE cultures or it will not work. I stirred it thoroughly for 20-30 seconds with a small whisk to evenly disperse the yogurt starter.

2. Next I placed the sealed small tupperware container in a slightly larger basin. I poured hot water over it until it mostly covered the smaller container. Make certain the inner container is properly sealed! Then, I placed the larger basin on an oven pad/mitt and placed another oven mitt/pad on top of it for some extra insulation. You can insulate with what you have available

3. Next I placed the incubator device several inches from a small electric room heater. This worked to keep the container at a constant warm temperature of between 80 and 110 degrees (any colder or hotter and this will not work). I started the culturing process just before I went to sleep and in the morning (8-9 hours later) I had ready to consume yogurt.

Now, one thing you have to be conscious of is that soy yogurt doesn't set up/thicken like regular yogurt does. What I did to remedy this is to simply drain the water/strain my yogurt to keep all the thick creamy part and dispense with the liquid. This works fine for me and ultimately results in a nice, creamy yogurt. You can also do experimentation with vegan thickeners of all varieties such as tapioca starch.

If you want, you can also use plain (instead of vanilla) soy yogurt to make a yogurt that you can use in savory recipes.