Making Almond Yogurt Without a Yogurt Machine

Since starting the garden, I have been obsessed with food blogs.  So that you know, I don’t have an ounce of recipe creativeness in my pinky finger.  My favorite recipes are ones that make everything from scratch. Hard, yes.  But really fun and sometimes less expensive. So, I jumped at the chance to make my own almond yogurt. It is not as daunting as it sounds.  Pretty straight forward.

Why not Make it Like Grandma?

Over the last month, I have been mulling over making my own coconut and/or almond yogurt without having to buy any more equipment.  Which means no yogurt machine.  Now, before you do the “Anna, are you serious?  Why on earth would you want to make your own yogurt” bit with me, hear me out.

I am lactose intolerant and sometime even yogurt bothers me.  Almond yogurt is delish.  So much better than soy yogurt.  Want to know how delish?  Try Amande cultured almond yogurt. Once you go almond, you will never look back. The blueberry version is to die for.  So, I figured.  I can make my own.  Right?

Why Make My Own?

Back to the proverbial question.  Why make your own if you can buy Amande?  I have an issue with plastic waste.  Sure, I can recycled my #5 yogurt cup at Whole Foods or give it to my school if they collect yogurt cups.  (Remember, Terracycle collect yogurt cups and other products for cash from schools.)    But here is the deal.  Although recycling is great, it is still uses energy to collect and up-cycle into new products.  Why add another cup to the heap?

While we are at pondering the proverbial question, here is another thought to chew on.  I am trying to avoid plastic touching my food.  Who knows what plastic chemicals could be leaching into my food?

So the next best thing is to make your own.  I stepped up to the plate and swung.  Read on to see if I got to first base or struck out.

(Such, suspense Anna.  I am not use to this with you.  Go on.)

Here Goes Nothing.  Strike 1 Or Base Hit?

As I search the internet for an easy almond yogurt recipe, I found Renegadehealth.com’s almond yogurt video.  Unfortunately they use a yogurt machine.  However, if you have a yogurt machine, I found the video really informative.   I finally settled on Gentle Earth Man’s video.  Simple and easy to understand.  I varied his recipe as follows:

The Recipe, Please

1.  First soak a cup of almonds for 24 hours.  Cover the almonds with water.  Change the water after 12 hours.

2.  After they soak, the skins will come right off when you pinch the almonds.  I didn’t pay attention to this part and was basically skinning the almonds.  What a pain.  After watching the video again,  I figured out that I could just rub the almonds with my thumb and forefinger.   The skins stared to come off really easily.  In Renegade Health’s video, they only blanch the almonds in hot water and don’t take off the skins.  I would suggest removing the skins.

3.  Craig says in his video put your almonds in a blender and cover them with water.  This is where I don’t agree with Craig.   I think you need more water since once you dehydrate the yogurt with such little water, the yogurt comes out like cheese.  I would suggest to use using about a cup of water to one cup of almonds.

4.    Craig adds the probiotics (my step #5)  to the nut milk at this point.  Here is where I would differ.  You should buy a nut bag or use a cheese cloth and strain the milk from the nuts before putting everything in the blender again. I found the yogurt with the nuts a little gritty.  Everyone else strains the milk from the nuts.  Note, you can use the leftover nut pulp to make crackers or  bake the pulp to make flour. (Yep.  Another post, people.)

4.  Once you separate the nut pulp from the milk, add the powder of 2 probiotics pills.  I use PB 8. (Chef  Tina says in her video you don’t need any probiotics since it ferments naturally.)    Some people say your milk must be at body temperature.  Clearly, Craig’s yogurt was not at body temperature.  Also, some people use a yogurt starter in lieu of probiotic capsules.  What is your opinion about room temperature versus body temperature for the probiotics?

5.   Pour the milk back into the blender on a low speed.  Blend for a short period.

6.  Place the milk  in the dehydrator at 100 degrees for 12 hours. Put a paper towel or nut bag on top of the yogurt.  (I have a Weston Stainless Steel Dehydrator. Just warning you, the dehydrator is noisy since it is so big.   I didn’t want a plastic dehydrator.)

7.  Alternatively, you can sit the yogurt in  a warm dark area for 12 hours.  Don’t put a cap on it and simply put  a tea cloth over it.  Craig puts a nut bag over his yogurt bowl.

Results? I found it to be quite sour since I am used to sugar laden yogurt.  In addition, I found the yogurt really thick and cheese like.  I added more water to the yogurt to give it a better consistency as well as a soaked date.  It still needed honey, agave, or whatever.  Maybe the sourness is an acquired taste?

So, what do you think?  Did I get a base hit?  Next time, I am going to try the no machine version and see if this makes a difference.

Just in case you want more information, here are a few other recipes:

• Spunky Coconut’s almond yogurt recipe  
• Chef Tina’s cashew recipe.
• Pecanbread’s recipe

 Join the Conversation

• Have you ever made nut yogurt.  Does it taste sour?
• If so, what is your recipe?
• Do you use a yogurt maker, dehydrator, or leave your yogurt out to ferment?
• What do you add to yogurt to make it less sour?

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