This recipe is takes no effort to prepare – it just takes a little waiting time. There are no preservatives, gums, or binders in this recipe – its just pure coconut milk, probiotics, and fermenting time. We add a little bit of vanilla and maple syrup to make it sweet, but if you decide not to add any sweetener the end product is a pretty awesome dairy-free sour cream!
We added only about 1 Tbsp coconut water which gave us an extra thick yogurt (think: thick cream cheese haha) . But it was sooo tasty and melted into coconut goodness when added to warn oatmeal.
For this recipe, be sure to use the full fat coconut milk, since we will be working mostly with the fat layer. We like to use Native Forest Organic Coconut milk or Thai Kitchen coconut milk – both are brands that don’t add any sulfites. As well, in this recipe, we use 2 different probiotics, just to get a wide range of ‘good bugs’ – Pure encapsulations Probiotic 50B and NFH Probio SAP are two high quality professional brands that we like. They both came in capsules, so we just cracked them open and used the powder inside. Check with your local health food store or naturopathic doctor to see what professional lines of probiotics they carry since any high quality probiotic will do.
- 1 can of Full fat organic coconut milk
- 1 tsp (2 capsules) high quality probiotic powder
- optional ingredients:
- powdered vanilla bean or pure vanilla extract
- maple syrup, agave, honey or other sweetner
- Leave a can of coconut milk in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight. The coconut milk will separate into a thick layer (fat) on top and a thin watery (water) on the bottom. We want the thick layer, so avoid shaking the can before and after cooling. However...you can omit this step if its cool enough in your cupboard that the fat layer will stay separated from the water. (sometimes if you give the can a gentle shake and you feel no movement, you can pretty much be sure that the two layers are separate).
- Open can, scoop out the thick layer of coconut milk, and place it in a medium sized bowl. Its convenient to use a bowl that has a lid so you can just transfer the yogurt straight to the fridge when you're done.
- Add 2-4 Tbsp of the coconut water to the coconut fat and mix together well. The less water you add, the thicker the yogurt will be. You can use the rest of the coconut water for a smoothie.
- Add probiotic powder to the coconut milk fat and stir it well until it is smooth.
- Cover bowl with a clean dishtowel and place it on the counter, in the stove or toaster oven (turned off) for 24-48 hours to ferment.
- At the end of your fermenting time, remove the dishtowel and stir in a small amount (about 1 tsp at a time) of any sweeteners or flavours that you want in your yogurt until you reach the desired taste. Or leave it as is and use it as sour cream.
- Store in fridge and enjoy with cereal, oatmeal, mixed berries and fruit, in smoothies, or on its own.