The Culture of Yogurt 

When life gets crazy and rough, stay calm. Life is what you make it, so let’s make a keto favorite: yogurt.

This morning after reading news about the deterioration of civility, and international belly bumping, I have to admit I was in a funk. I’m hoping our collective good minds and hearts will figure it all out.

But, not willing to wait for solutions, this morning I made yogurt and it magically pulled me out of that funk.

Overly dramatic? Maybe, but it seemed to work.

We’ll cover

• Benefits of yogurt for a healthy Keto diet
• What do to if you are milk intolerant
• Simple list of ingredients
• How to do it
• Inulin – the surprising additive

Benefits

Making your own yogurt may seem unnecessary. But it is a simple routine that seems to add quiet sanity to mind, body, and restless heart.

Here is where you find an easy way to take control! For instance, you will know exactly what is in it. You can control the amount of tang. You choose the milk (or non-milk). You can even play with the active culture. And it is tasty and full of beneficial nutrients in the form of healthy microbials, nutritious inulin and easily digestible protein.

If you are dairy intolerant

Good news for people with dairy sensitivity: You can make your own yogurt with canned or fresh coconut milk. If you want to go this route, here is a nice tutorial and let us know how it turned out.

Ingredients for creamy dairy yogurt

• 1 Quart of Milk. Use locally sourced raw milk if you can. It has a wonderful flavor and health benefits. If not able to get the raw stuff, pasteurized/homogenized will work, too.
• Starter. Your choices are 1/4 cup yogurt saved from your last batch, OR 1/4 cup from a plain commercial yogurt, OR a purchased probiotic that is specific for making yogurt.
• 1 Tablespoon Inulin. See below for info about this special addition.

Instructions

1. Pour the milk into a pan and heat it over medium heat on the stove top to reach 180 degrees F. This “scalding” will neutralize competing enzymes allowing the good bacteria from your starter to grow.
2. Remove from the heat to cool to about 110 degrees F.
3. In a small bowl mix 1/2 cup of the warm milk with the starter of your choice and inulin. Mix until there are no visible lumps.
4. Add the starter and inulin mix to the rest of the milk, stir, and pour into jars – one quart jar or several small jars. Place the lids on the jars and you are ready to incubate for about 24 hours. You have several choices.
   1. Place small jars in an Instant Pot set at the yogurt setting.
   2. Use an insulated cooler. To keep the temperature inside warm enough for incubation, place 2 or 3 jars of hot water inside with the yogurt.
   3. Use a dehydrator as recommended here.
   1. If you have a drying setting on your oven, set it at 105 degrees F. This is the method I use.
5. Incubate for about 24 to 30 hours. The longer is incubates, the tangier it gets and the lower the amount of carbohydrates because the bacteria consume the milk sugars. I have no idea how many carbs are in homemade yogurt. Just know “tangy equals fewer carbs”.
6. Once it has reached the desired taste, place the yogurt in the fridge. After a couple of hours, the yogurt will reach its final thickness.
7. I like to label the yogurt with blue painters’ tape and a Sharpie. Thanks to Michele Tam for that excellent tip.

Here is a video of the whole process with some extra tips.

Inulin – the surprise “additive”

Inulin is a soluble fiber. It is technically a prebiotic, meaning it is food for the good microbiome in the yogurt and in your gut. Consequently, this healthy addition allows the human microbiome to thrive and repopulate.

Although it forms a gel when mixed with liquid, like psyllium husk (Metamucil), it will not have a strong laxative effect especially when in the small amount that is in your yogurt.

This surprises many people, but Inulin is a nutritive, not Fake Food. So, you may be wondering why it is added to processed foods. That would be because of its thickening properties. It is one of those rare additives in processed foods that improves health.

Inulin has been found to reduce the risk of colon carcinogenesis. And not only that, it also improves management of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Containing only about 1/4 of the calories of white sugar per gram and has minimal effect on blood glucose levels, making it helpful for diabetics.

They don’t really know why but inulin has a role in normalizing blood sugar and balancing lipids.

For Extra Credit…

Please send me your favorite uplifting quote in the comments section below. And thanks for being there!