Yogurt is so versatile and delicious. As someone who has pursued a healthier lifestyle for a while, focusing on nutrition as a method of healing, I find home-fermented yogurt to be one of the most important foods to always have handy. It’s a great alternative to commercially made sour cream, as well as a great addition to healthier versions of a whole variety of deserts. With this method, it is such an amazing source of probiotics.
My favorite thing about yogurt is that it is so easy to make, and it is basically a convenience food once it’s in your fridge. In a pinch, you could have it for breakfast or lunch, or turn it into a cheese or make a dip out of it. It can add a boost of flavor and creaminess to sauces and can keep a hungry toddler happy before dinner. In my mind, having extra yogurt handy is always a win!
What is the best yogurt for probiotics?
The best yogurt for probiotics is homemade yogurt that comes from raw milk. The raw milk is not heated, but is inoculated with Kefir, then fermented for at least 24 hours.
Why is this type of yogurt best for probiotics?
This yogurt is made to build up the greatest number of probiotics without destroying any of the good guys through heat. It preserves the integrity of raw milk while also inoculating the already-very-probiotic raw milk with kefir, an incredibly rich and diverse source of different microflora. The 24-hour ferment gives the probiotics time to completely transform the milk into a powerhouse of microflora. It eats away the lactose, making it a potential option for people with severe lactose intolerance to consume.
Why raw milk?
Cows have an incredible amount of probiotics. If you leave raw milk on the counter at room temperature, it doesn’t go bad. It ferments into clabber. There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding raw milk from a health and safety standpoint. People worry that raw milk is unsafe or prone to carry disease.
But this is based off of certain extremely horrific conditions that the cows have endured in the past, making them sick and exposing the milk to powerful toxins. I will need to get into this elsewhere, because it’s one of those big misunderstandings, like the animal fat scare I talk about in my post on rendering lard, that has hugely affected how our country looks at cows in general.
Suffice it to say, if raw milk comes from a healthy cow given proper living conditions, and if the milk is kept clean and fresh, there is no danger from the milk whatsoever. In fact, the milk will never go bad. It will just ferment to a point where it is too sour to enjoy eating, but not bad for you.
Why not heat the raw milk?
Heating raw milk above 110 degrees destroys the enzymes and most of the bacterial life. There is no point in using the raw milk for yogurt if you want the benefits of unpasteurized dairy if you are going to kill the good guys anyway. I have however set aside about a cup of raw milk, and then cooked the yogurt to get a thicker end result, then re-inoculated the cooked milk with the cup of milk that I had set aside. This gives back the benefits of the probiotics while also having a thicker end result.
The only problem with this method is that I don’t know how this affects the enzymes living in the milk that help you digest it properly. While it might have lots of healthy bacteria, the best yogurt for probiotics is yogurt that leaves all microbial life intact.
What is kefir?
This is the best explanation of kefir that I have found:
“Kefir is a cultured and microbial-rich food that helps restore the inner ecology. It contains strains of beneficial yeast and beneficial bacteria (in a symbiotic relationship) that give kefir antibiotic properties…the finished product is not unlike that of a drink-style yogurt, but kefir has a more tart, refreshing taste and contains completely different microorganisms…kefir does not feed yeast, and it usually doesn’t even bother people who are lactose intolerant. That’s because the friendly bacteria and the beneficial yeast growing in the kefir consume most of the lactose and provide very efficient enzymes (lactase) for consuming whatever lactose is still left after the culturing process.”
From the book “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon. This is a quote from Donna Gates “The Body Ecology Diet”
If you are trying to cook traditionally healthy food, the best resource is Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions.
Why kefir instead of yogurt?
Kefir and yogurt are different now than they used to be. Commercially fermented foods are not truly fermented. For instance, to make yogurt, bacteria that makes yogurt unique are extracted in a lab and added (not inoculated) to pasteurized milk. Then thickeners are added to create a similar texture to that of fermented dairy. I don’t know much more about it, and I’d rather not know. It’s one of those things that turns your stomach if you get a glimpse behind the curtain. (For instance, do you have any idea how nasty pasteurized milk is before they “fix” it to make it palatable? There’s lots of information in the Nourishing Traditions book by Sally Fallon. Suffice it to say it’s not an edible food until it is made to look, smell, and taste edible.)
It’s almost impossible to access a yogurt culture that is not lab-made at this point. To my knowledge, at least here in the US, there is nowhere that you could get your hands on an authentic yogurt. Kefir, on the other hand, is so specific in its many different types of bacteria and yeast that I doubt there would be a way to really replicate kefir grains in a lab. The grains are like a SCOBY for kombucha. SCOBY stands for symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. Just like a SCOBY, kefir grains are rubbery and can’t be squished through a sieve.
About the grains:
The grains of kefir grow as you use them over and over to ferment milk, and soon you have plenty to share with all your friends. I actually bought kefir grains one time on Etsy of all places. People actually make a business out of their extra kefir grains!
There are one-time-use grains you can buy, such as on the Cultures for Health website, and those are definitely lab made. I would recommend getting grains from a friend or on Etsy like I did.
I don’t have Kefir grains, what’s an alternative?
You could use a jar of yogurt from the store, replacing the kefir in the recipe for 8 oz unflavored yogurt. Make sure it says it has active live cultures and try to get whole milk yogurt if possible. My favorite yogurt brand is Chobani, but I just like the taste the best out of all the commercial yogurts I’ve tried, I don’t know anything about how it’s made.
What are probiotics?
Probiotics are bacteria, like what makes a sourdough starter. There are different types of bacteria and yeasts and molds, and all have a certain purpose. When food is fermented, it is preserved in probiotics, a type of beneficial bacteria. When it rots, it is being broken down by other kinds of bacteria.
Thankfully, the proper understanding of probiotics is slowly returning, but for a while, the general understanding of bacteria was that all germs are bad. Hence the widespread use of antibiotics and antibacterial soaps and disinfectants.
Generally, people are starting to understand how important bacteria is even for our bodies. People are also starting to understand how bacteria will always be present. It just depends on what bacteria wins.
The castle analogy:
The way I visualize this is to think of bacteria like a knight’s castle. It has walls, it has a mote, and it has impassible buildings. The stronger and larger the bacteria, the more like a knight’s castle it is. It’s really hard to kill, because once its castle is barricaded, there is almost no way to get inside. This is how sourdough starter, or other fermented foods work. There may be mold, yeast, or bacteria that would like to hang out in the flour-water mixture sitting on your counter. But the good guys in the sourdough starter have built such strong walls that they kill any pathogens instantly.
If you understand probiotics like a castle, you can start to understand what’s wrong with medical antibiotics. Antibiotics wipe out anything living in your digestive tract, making you more vulnerable than you ever would be otherwise to pathogens taking over your gut. And once they have built their castles in your gut, it is really hard to heal.
This is such a common problem these days, and manifests itself in all kinds of health issues, like leaky gut, allergies, autoimmune conditions, etc. My favorite resource for this is Natasha Campbell-McBride’s two books on GAPS, here and here.
Kefir and yogurt:
This is true for yogurt and kefir as well, although kefir is much stronger. Like the quote says above, it has naturally antibiotic properties, killing bad guys and inoculating whatever it touches with good guys.
Why do probiotics matter?
If you have at all followed the GAPS diet or read anything from Natasha Campbell Mcbride, you would know that probiotics are probably the greatest determinants to a person’s health and well-being.
In our world, bacteria is ever present. It is very powerful. And it is all about survival of the fittest.
This means that if you have an overgrowth of a certain kind of bacteria, it rules your gut. This can be really bad if it is what Natasha calls “abnormal gut flora,” or bacteria that feeds off of sugars and starches.
Gut bacteria is so powerful that it can trigger cravings in you for healthy or unhealthy foods and destroy the gut lining, allowing food particles to enter your blood stream from your digestive tract.
Probiotics matter because the more variety of bacteria that lives in a symbiotic relationship in your gut, the better. You do not want one certain bacteria to rule, you want them to keep each other in balance.
This is why my yogurt making method is the best for probiotics, because it gives the greatest variety of bacteria to flourish in one simple food.
Where to find Kefir to make the best yogurt for probiotics?
I found mine on Etsy. I know it sounds crazy, but kefir grains multiply when they are fermented often, and people like to sell or give away their extras.
How long should the kefir have fermented?
Kefir usually ferments in 24 hours, and that is the recommended amount of time to leave it to ferment into yogurt as well.
With this recipe, the goal is to ferment it long enough that it reaches a yogurt consistency. But you need to be careful that you don’t over-ferment it either. Kefir will separate into curds and whey if over-fermented. This isn’t a bad thing, in fact it just means there are more probiotics. But it changes the texture and makes the whole thing more sour and lumpy.
While I recommend fermenting kefir yogurt for 24 hours, it may depend on the health of the kefir, the temperature in your kitchen, and the incubation process to determine how long it actually takes. I think you will know you have fermented long enough when the milk looks like yogurt.
How to make kefir
Kefir is really easy to make. Sometimes it won’t be totally active the first couple feedings, but just keep going and you’ll get it to work eventually.
Most people feed their kefir daily. I’d rather keep it in the fridge and feed it a few days before I need it. But it depends on your lifestyle and future kefir consumption plans.
Lots of people have specific proportions for how many grains to milk, but I just sort of wing it and it turns out fine. The reason people care so much about the proportions is because if you have too many grains to milk, it will separate into curds and whey more quickly. If there are two few grains, it could take a few days to ferment and never really reach the proper consistency.
How to make kefir step one:
Obtain grains. Dump them into a mason jar and pour milk over them. Put a lid on and shake the jar to combine everything. Let sit on counter or warm spot in the house for 24 hours, or until it thickens.
How to make kefir step two:
When the kefir thickens, you can separate the kefir from the grains by pouring the kefir through a sieve. You will need a spatula or spoon, and you will need to push any curdles through the sieve. What remains are the grains. I like to rinse the grains in the sieve with cold water just to get a better idea of how many I have. Then you repeat the process or put the grains in water or milk and stick in the fridge until you want to make kefir again.
How does yogurt from kefir taste?
It’s pretty sour! I’ve tried to make this into a cheesecake, and it sort of flopped because it was more sour than sweet. But you can’t have the Best Yogurt for Probiotics if you aren’t allowing all those good guys to ferment! If it’s too strong for your taste, try one of the variations below.
Best yogurt for probiotics variations to the recipe:
Note that the variations are very healthy and delicious, but to my knowledge they do not pack the same punch of probiotics.
- Follow a heated yogurt recipe but set aside 1/2 cup raw milk and add it once the cooked milk has cooled below 110 degrees.
- Inoculate the raw milk yogurt with other yogurt as your starter instead of kefir. My favorite recipe to do a no-heat yogurt recipe is from Bumblebee Apothecary.
- If you don’t have a problem with the lactose in the raw milk, you could ferment it for less time to get a less sour result. However, it will not be the best for probiotics if you don’t let it ferment for the full 24 hours.
- Finally, my favorite way: ferment the yogurt according to the instructions in this post, then drain overnight. It will become like cream cheese, and much of the whey will be drained out. (I love to use the whey for all kinds of things. More on that later.) Then I will take the yogurt and add fresh raw milk back into it. I put the whole concoction into the blender to make it smooth and like store-bought yogurt. It is so delicious!
How long does probiotic yogurt last? Will it go bad?
It will last up to one week in a refrigerator without changing its taste. It will not “go bad” but it might get less appetizing.
What if you don’t like how watery the yogurt is?
In the recipe I give instructions for how to drain the whey and make a thicker yogurt. There are so many uses for whey that I’m always happy to have it around. However, if you drain the yogurt you will have less in the end product, so keep that in mind.
My favorite uses for whey:
I like to ferment everything with it.
- soak beans
- soak meats
- add to stock
- add to warm drinks
- freeze into ice cubes and add to smoothies
- add to sourdough starter
- replace a portion of the water in bread with whey
My favorite ways to eat this yogurt:
- warm up frozen blueberries on the stovetop and add to the top. (My kids call this pink yogurt, and it’s really good paired with oatmeal or granola and drizzled with a little honey)
- drain to make mock cream cheese, or “dream cheese”
- add to bread to give it a probiotic boost
- use in replace of sour cream as a topping to many dinner dishes
- add to smoothies (great if it tastes too sour to you)
The best yogurt recipe for probiotics instructions:
The best yogurt for probiotics is made by mixing raw milk with active kefir and then kept warm for 24 hours. You need to figure out what you will use to incubate the yogurt. People use their instant pot, their slow cooker, their dehydrator, and there are many other methods to keeping the yogurt warm.
My method for incubating yogurt off-grid:
Because we live off grid, I can’t keep an appliance on all night. So I have to come up with different ways to keep things warm or cold in my house. My favorite off-grid tool is my cooler. I fill it with warm water (about 120 degrees) and shut the lid to my yogurt jar very tight and submerge it. I have to refresh the water depending on the temperature in my house, so I have to keep an eye on it to make sure that it ferments properly. The plus to using an appliance to do the work for you is that you will know that the yogurt fermented for the full 24 hours.
The Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 gallon raw milk
- 1 cup active kefir, grains taken out
Supplies:
- whisk
- half-gallon jar or a few quart jars. If you are using the instant pot or slow cooker, you can just use the insert instead of jars.
- way to incubate the yogurt (look at my method for incubating off-grid if no other options work.) Some options include: slow cooker set to keep-warm setting, instant pot set to yogurt setting, yogurt maker, dehydrator, and an oven with the light on and with the jars wrapped in towels (I’ve tried this one many times before and it doesn’t keep the jars quite warm enough.)
The best yogurt for probiotics step one:
Pour one cup of active kefir with the grains filtered out into a large glass jar or distribute evenly among two one-quart jars. You can also pre-mix everything together in a mixing bowl, or put into the instant pot or slow cooker insert.
The best yogurt for probiotics step two:
Pour one half-gallon of milk over the kefir. Combine the milk and kefir thoroughly with a whisk by stirring vigorously for a minute or so.
The best yogurt for probiotics step three:
Incubate for 24 hours, or until the milk has thickened into a yogurt consistency. Follow the instructions on whatever machine you are using, or do it my off-grid way:
- fill a cooler with water heated to about 120 degrees.
- tighten the lids on the jars so that water doesn’t leak into them, and submerge them into the water.
- shut the lid and let incubate. Sometimes, depending on the cooler quality and the original water temperature, you might need to check on the water in the cooler every now and then to make sure it isn’t cooling off too much. It takes much more troubleshooting but as long as the water stays warm and the yogurt thickens in the end, it’s pretty straightforward.
The best yogurt for probiotics step four:
This is an optional step: Drain the yogurt.
I love to do this because I get extra whey, and I like the thick consistency of Greek yogurt better than watery runny yogurt. I use a flour sack towel, but any thin cotton dishtowel will work. There is no need to get fancy.
The best way is to put all the yogurt into the towel, gather it up into a ball, and hang the ball somewhere above a dish to catch the whey. I’ve tried just putting a towel in a strainer, but it doesn’t drain as evenly.
I have not been able to drain the yogurt at a consistent timeframe to get consistent results. So far, I just have to watch the yogurt until it reaches the right thickness, which is totally a personal preference.
Before I drain the yogurt, I taste it. If it’s super sour, and I don’t want it to keep fermenting, I put the yogurt in the fridge to drain to halt the fermentation process. If it’s not to sour, I leave it on the counter.
The best yogurt for probiotics step five:
This is also optional: Blend the yogurt.
This really helps get a smooth store-bought-yogurt consistency, especially when making yogurt out of kefir. I often leave the yogurt to drain too long because I forget about it, and then it’s thicker than I want it. I just pour some raw milk into it and stick it in the blender and I have perfect, smooth, delicious, probiotic yogurt!
