Ask Allie
What is “Ask Allie”?
Ask Allie is our fermenting-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!
Due to the overwhelming volume of submissions currently, I will be answering more than 3-4 questions each week so I don’t lag more than a week behind during the pandemic. Many of you will also get an email from me as soon as I see your submission, if I think your question needs an immediate reply.
For those of you who are still having some trouble finding the activation pages, please use this link for those pages. “Where are my activation instructions” is the one question I am no longer answering when it’s submitted, because we have links for it all over the website now, including the announcement section (where you get the promo codes) at the top of the homepage.
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!
For troubleshooting active issues with a culture you’re working with, please write us at support@positivelyprobiotic.com - you’ll get your answer faster that way!
I would like to purchase fresh Milk Kefir grains. There are so many varieties and there's no detailed information on each different one. Does each one have a different mix of good bacterial strains? How do I choose?
— Philip
We’re in the process of updating the product descriptions throughout the shop, so please be patient on that front. I’ve got to make every single one, try it, have my kid try it for child ratings, and then do the write up. I’m sure you’ve seen how many products we sell, so you can understand that although I’m working as fast as I can, it’s going to be a bit longer before I’ve worked through everything.
That said, we have this very cool new feature on the site called What’s Your Flavor? This feature does some double duty for us, because it gives shoppers a very fast guide on what fits their preferences for each category of cultures while simultaneously stop gapping the product description updates issue.
Every single milk kefir culture has oodles and oodles of diverse bacterial strains, so all you need to do is pick based on what you’d like it to taste like!
How I can turn back my yeasty milk kefir grains to normal?
—Sanad
Oh, I really hate it when that happens! The easiest way to fix this is to ferment without a lid. Generally, lidded kefir will be yeastier than that fermented without one. You can also tuck your finished product in the fridge for a couple of days to smooth it out, and lastly you can ferment your kefir in the fridge! All you need to do is make enough for a week or two at a time, because it’ll take about that long to ferment in the fridge. If you want a bit more info on foul-tasting milk kefir, please see the milk kefir FAQ.
Will the milk kefir grains work with plant based milk? If so which plant based milks would work best?
— Debra
They will, Debra, but you need to feed them with date paste. Directions are in the milk kefir FAQ.
I only eat dairy in cheese and butter forms if I’m not testing a product, but I feel confident the addition of passionfruit could get me to quickly change my tune on that!
What's the difference between the geographically named sourdough starters (Colorado versus San Francisco versus Berkshire)? I just want to start making sourdough using flour from the local grocery store - that's what I have access to right now.
— Joe
I’m glad you asked, Joe! The differences are in where they were created. Each little region (and even home) in the world has a different set of microbes with which to make sourdough starters, and so each starter we sell is unique to its area. The reason, for example, that San Francisco sourdoughs are so famous is because they have 5 microbes that only live in the Bay Area.
All of that said, the only starter you need is the one you like the flavor of! You can totally try all of our starters, if you like (be like me!), but in reality you only need one unless you do want your sourdough loaves to come in different flavors and microbial profiles from bake to bake.
When I am starting a coconut flour sourdough what consistency should it be. Mine seems like it needs more liquid. It is kind of like a brown sugar consistency.
— Missy
Yeah, so gluten-free flours can be a little weird. Coconut, I find, needs about 5x more water than basically anything other than oat (this one too, yes). What I do is shoot for a kind of thick pancake batter, which sometimes requires I come back later to see what happened and whether I need to add some more water.
This may legitimately be the saddest bread picture I’ve ever seen, because it is so real life right now.
I love the yogurt the way it is, but the kids would like it slightly sweeter. How and when would I add a sweetener, and is there a particular one to use or not to use for that purpose, i.e. honey, brown sugar, fruit juice, etc. Thanks!
— Rochelle
You can pretty much add whatever you want. I personally only add it to the portion that’s being eaten, because I cook and bake with plain yogurt often, but my kid really likes honey, jam, sometimes a sprinkle of sugar, occasionally maple syrup, etc. Whatever sweetener your kids prefer is just fine. Some people do add sweetener during the culturing, and they report no ill effects to flavor or texture from doing so.
I am new to making yogurt (1st time yesterday) and would like to get better at it. I'd like a creamy, thick, somewhat sweet (not tart) texture and taste, ideally. My first time on your website and there are so many types to choose from (I narrowed it down to Thermophilic). Is there a way to search your site by texture or could you please recommend a starter culture that most likely will yield the above preferences? Thank you Allie!
— Lesli
Definitely use the What’s Your Flavor? feature! It’s really great for giving a lot of info on the various cultures. If your thermophil doesn’t make yogurt that’s quite as thick as you want, go on ahead and give it a couple hours in a strainer in order to get it thicker! Make sure you pull it after a couple of hours, or you’re more likely to wind up with yogurt cheese if you forget this is all happening. Yogurt cheese is delicious, which is good, but it’s not so ideal when that’s not what you meant to make.
A little somethin’ somethin’ to get you started on ideas for all that yogurt!
