I know what you're thinking. You can replace all the milk you want, but some dairy products are a whole lot harder. Cheese is one, and it stumps a lot of people. But, yogurt made from alternative milks is not exceptionally difficult. And, it creates a lot of options that you would not otherwise have, when you need sour cream, yogurt or even buttermilk.
The fact is, when you want a nice, yogurt parfait, alternative milk just is not going to cut it. Well, wait no longer, for I have a pretty simple cashew yogurt recipe you may be able to recreate in your home tomorrow.
Why cashews? I like cashews for a lot of desserts and alternate dairy products because the cashews blend smooth. There's no straining when you make cashew milk and cream. Not only does this eliminate some hassle and cleaning for you, it also gives you better control over the final product. You may not know the final nutritional content of your almond, coconut, oat or rice milk. That's because you do not strain out the same amount every time. Cashews eliminate this guesswork.
Let's get started. You're going to be making something that is somewhere between cashew cream and cashew milk. I found it was easier to make the milk a little thicker, since the yogurt doesn't thicken or separate in the same way that animal milk does. Follow my instructions for cashew milk. But, instead of adding four cups of water, add two. Once it is blended smooth, you are ready for the next step.
Now, you are going to take a saucepan and heat up your cashew milk to the right temperature. If you were using regular animal milk, you might heat it up to 200 degrees to eliminate some of the bad bacteria growing in the milk. With cashews, it's obviously not the same thing. But, to try to replicate the yogurt most effectively, I found heating it up and cooling it first worked best.
The mixture is thick, so it will heat up very quickly. Once you get to 180 or so, feel free to remove it from the heat. I like to sit the pan in my sink with a couple of inches of ice water to cool it quickly. If you whisk it frequently and add cool water to the sink (do not pour it in the pot by accident), you will get to the right temperature quickly. You want all your temp readings less than 110 degrees Fahrenheit, but around 105 degrees is ideal.
At this point, you can whisk in your probiotics. For three cups of cashew milk, I added the contents of four probiotic capsules. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you let the mix cool enough before you put the probiotics in. If the cashew milk is too hot, it will kill your probiotics and you will end up with cashew milk, nothing more. After the probiotics are in, I divide the cashew milk into two quart-size jars and cover them with lids and screw bands.
You are about to discover the many intricacies of making yogurt. Everybody has a different approach. I like to make mine in a water bath in the crock pot. Some people set their oven to 100 degrees and leave the jars in there for hours. Since I have a gas oven and do not want natural gas flowing through my house for hours, I use the crock pot.
If you want to follow my method, put a couple inches of water in your crock pot and set the dial to warm. Place your jars in the crock. I put the crock pot lid on top of the jars, even though it sits a couple inches above the top of the crock. I found this works very well to keep the temperature around 105 degrees, which is really your aim.
Then, you just let it sit. Yogurt takes a long time, so apart from periodically checking to make sure the temperature isn't rising or dropping too much, just give it a break. That said, yogurt gets more sour the longer you leave it. I found that cashew yogurt tastes more like real yogurt if you leave it longer. So, where I might leave dairy yogurt to sit for nine hours, I was happier if I left the cashew yogurt for 12.
And, that's it! I haven't found a particularly meaningful way to strain the yogurt, so you might as well make the milk thicker if you want thicker yogurt. Otherwise, this will be nice and tart for all your yogurt purposes.
Cashew Yogurt
1 cup raw cashews
2 cups water
4 capsules probiotic powder
Soak raw cashews overnight. Drain and rinse. Blend with two cups water until smooth. In a saucepan, heat cashew milk until temperature reaches 180-200 degrees. Remove from heat, and cool until temperature is less than 110 degrees. Add the contents of four probiotic capsules and whisk until incorporated. Pour into two quart jars. Place in crock pot with a two-inch water bath. Leave crock pot on warm for 12 hours, or until desired flavor is reached. Refrigerate.
No comments:
Post a Comment