Ask Allie!
What is Ask Allie?
Ask Allie is our food-related advice column, where you can ask all your fermenting, cooking, baking, and pantry-related questions to get digestible answers! No question about food is off limits!
Most of you will receive an emailed reply prior to your question hitting the blog, since I frequently think you need a more immediate answer. You should anticipate 1-2 weeks between submitting your question and its appearance on blog. Although emailed replies normally take between 1-3 days, it can take up to a week.
To have your question answered in Ask Allie posts, please use the form on our website. If you prefer to be anonymous, just say so in the form and we’ll leave your name out when we answer it in the blog! Note that some submissions may be edited for clarity.
For troubleshooting active issues with a culture you’re working with, please check the FAQs or write us at support@positivelyprobiotic.com - you’ll get your answer faster that way! Please also take advantage of our Facebook group for troubleshooting, conversation, and getting to know more members of our community!
I am making plant-based yogurt and wonder if your starters can be used with plant-milks (ie soy, almond, coconut, oat, etc)? If so, are there specifics available about use of your starters with various milks and results?
—Kristin
I looped Sabrina in on this, because she does make yogurts with alternative milks and I could not remember what she told me about them. Sabrina said:
Alternative milks can be used with varying amounts of success. The key to this success is thickeners.
Always activate with coconut cream/coconut milk. Be sure it is fully active (1-3 batches should do it).
Use a portion of that to experiment with your choice “milk”. If it sours, you’re good to go. There are so many variables with alternative milks. I’ve tried soy, coconut, almond, and oat milk. These are all successful with thickeners minus the coconut. Cashew, on the other hand, is a hit and miss.
As for thickeners, there are many on the market. Gelatin, Xanthan gum, ect. If you are using coconut no thickeners are needed as you can add as much coconut milk to the cream to get the desired consistency.
If you are using thickeners be sure to use our raw milk yogurt guide to keep your culture pure and undamaged as sometimes thickeners and sweeteners can damage the cultures. Once damaged they may or may not reculture again.
I can’t guarantee that other alternatives milks will work but these are my experiences.
I received my Mesophilic yogurt and my buttermilk culture today, and I am unable to use them now. What is the best way to store them.
— Linda
Freezer is best.
I have been making Matsoni mesophilic yogurt about once a week for a while now. I'm kind of tired of it and want to take a break from the Matsoni and just have my Buttermilk Blend thermophilic yogurt for a bit. I do have some Matsoni in the freezer as an emergency back-up. When I restart the Matsoni, how should I go about it?
— Jan
Since you’ve got your backups in the freezer, all you’ll do (if backups are wet) is treat that frozen yogurt like it was the bit you’d saved from the last batch. I don’t even thaw it first; I just plunk it right in the milk! If dehydrated, you’ll follow the activation instructions to restart.
