Coconut yogurt - First attempt

Coconut Milk vanilla yogurt

3 14oz cans of coconut milk (I used the full fat milk, since the LF version is mainly water)
1/4 Cup commercial plain yogurt with the active bacteria in it
2 Tbsp Honey ( I could have done 3, and I could have done agave)
1Tbsp Vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Vanilla paste

1- brought the milk to 150 F- I was aiming for 125F but it went up faster than I anticipated.

2 - Removed from heat stirred in the vanilla past, and the extract {also accidentally added in the yogurt :(}

3- Cooled to 110 F and added the yogurt to a part of the cooled coconut milk mixture. (yep, I added more since the bacteria were killed in the first mistake)

4 - Mixed the two together, the yogurt paste, and the coconut milk. Stirred thoroughly.

5 - poured the milk into the sterilized containers, and placed in the yogurt cooker unit. Let stay for 10 hours.

So, this was a combo of two different recipes and my yogurt is tasty, but very thin.  It's almost a sauce, so next time I will leave it for longer, and I might add in the Non-Fat dry milk that the other recipe asks for. I would also leave for the 24 hours.  I would have to work with my machine though and add time once I could since my machine only goes up to 19 hours.  I'm not personally dealing with allergies, and I can have some dairy fat in my diet, this is not a huge amount.  If I was doing a completely dairy free I would have to order the correct bacteria to add.

After being removed from the machine - see all the extra liquid, the full fat is thin enough

I liked the flavor much more than the milk version of this recipe though, it is more sweet than tart, and I like that.

Coconut Milk Vanilla Yogurt over banana with honey

Now I have a yogurt maker that has plastic containers, it was economical where I got it at the time, not even close to the same price as on Amazon.  I needed to make sure I would use the machine first, before going all out.  There is one I keep looking at on the Williams Sonoma site, and I found replacement glass containers for that machine.  So, I ordered some, and the yogurt starter.  I'm fairly certain that the starter is a dairy one, so the previous post has other sites to look up for the other type of starter to use.  There is a pectin that you can add to make your yogurt firmer, but I'm trying to leave mine as natural as I can and I don't mind it being a bit thinner.

There are other glass replacements you can look at online, and there are more economical ways to make yogurt than using the machine, although mine was a great deal at Tuesday Mornings, so there are ways to find them that will work with in your budget.  Thrift stores, ebay, amazon etc.  You have to decide if you are doing this for economy, or for health, or just for fun.  If it's only for fun, you will most likely loose interest.  There is a long process to making yogurt and if you can buy it quickly for cheap elsewhere you most likely will.  If it's for you health, and you are looking to reduce the amount of additives and fillers in your food, then do what you can to get a system that works for you.  I like having a yogurt maker, and now I will be even happier with the glass jars.  BPA messes with hormones, and that is something I need to eliminate.

So for those of you with food allergies or other health issues aside from PCOS, this is a way to have a non-dairy yogurt.  I will be trying the full non-dairy version at a later time. 

As an aside here, I was just browsing through the items for yogurt here on amazon and I came across this thermometer which also has a clip for the side of your pot, something I have appreciated about the candy thermometer I currently have.  But here is the link and picture if you want to check it out as well.