One conclusion I have reached through my recent dabblings in this 'O' type / SCD crossover diet is that cows milk is not my friend.
I love cows dearly, grew up hand milking some particularly gorgeous auburn flanked, long lashed jerseys and really appreciate the gift of steak, but milk, nah-ah.
Now you can buy delicious goat and sheep yogurt if you don't want to make it yourself. I recommend St Helen's Farm goat yogurt - (a silky, thick, mild and creamy yogurt) and Woodlands Park Dairy sheep yogurt - (a thick set, mild yogurt with a creamy crust on top, the non organic version tastes less sheepy). However, we SCD folks (and anyone with lactose intolerance) need to eliminate the lactose in our yogurt, and that means allowing the lovely yogurt culture 24 hours to gobble it all up.
I have heard many SCD folks say that they struggle to make goat yogurt that isn't sour and thin. The late Elaine Gottschall even claimed that it was impossible to make SCD yogurt with pasteurised goat's milk. Well I'm here to tell you that (in my humble opinion) it is possible!
Making satisfactory goat's yogurt at home took quite a bit of tweaking, but the most important discovery I made is that you need to evaporate the milk in order to thicken the yogurt and avoid that unpleasant sour taste. This is a process of trial and error, finding the right pan, having a stove with a gentle enough flame not to scorch the milk.
As goat's milk is more delicate than cow's milk you mustn't allow it to boil at any point in the process, or you will harm the structure and taste.
I advise you to start with a small batch - just 1 litre - and go from there.
SCD Goat's Milk Yogurt
1 litre Whole Goat's Milk
140ml Live Goat's or Sheep's Yogurt (see recommended above) or yogurt starter as per instructions
wet the inside of a clean stainless steel or enamel pan, pour out excess water and pour in the milk.
Put on the lowest possible heat and don't be tempted to raise it in order to get the milk up to temperature, just be patient.
Go and do something else for 20-30 mins. Then shake the pan to loosen the skin that has formed on the top of the milk. Repeat this until the milk has reduced by about a third - about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Allow to cool to blood temperature (hold your finger in the milk for a count of ten - if it is comfortable when you get to ten then it's ok). It's better to err on the side of caution temperature-wise to avoid killing your culture.
Remove the skin from the top of the milk and give it to your cat - or similar - who will love you for it.
Whisk in your yogurt or starter culture and pour into your yogurt maker.
Leave for 24 hours and then chill for at least four before eating. Keeps for 10 days at least.
If you don't have a yogurt maker then pour into pots, or a large pot and wrap up warmly, keep in the airing cupboard for 24 hours. This will only work if you have a really warm airing cupboard of around 20c. If you live somewhere hot then just wrap it up.
My Severin yogurt maker gets too hot for delicate goat yogurt so I put a circle of cardboard box in the base and leave the lid very slightly ajar for the proving time.
You can also add 150ml goat's cream to the yogurt when you add the yogurt starter. This produces a slightly thicker and creamier yogurt - but is higher in calories, so bear this in mind.
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21 comments:
Great to read - I have just been perfecting my cows milk yoghurt and have been interested in your blood group diet blogs - if I can remember which blood group I am I am tempted to have a go.
I'd love to make my own goat milk yogurt because the commercial ones all have added ingredients such as pectin. The problem is that the only 2 brands of goat milk I can find are pasteurized and with added vitamins (since most of the vitamins naturally found in the milk are lost during pasteurization).
So I use raw cow milk for now with different strains of yogurt (mostly filmjolk and matsoni).
Thickening the milk seems like a good idea even though you get less quantity at the end. I also suppose that your yogurt has a stronger taste this way.
Umatji,
You can also mix goat and cow to make the goat yogurt thicker, if you can tolerate cow's milk that is.
Alchemille,
The St Helen's Farm yogurt doesn't have anything except milk and bacteria in it. If you live in the UK you should have no trouble finding that. Raw milk is always going to be better than pasteurised, I'd love to find some raw goat milk, but it looks like I might have to get a goat at this rate!
The yogurt has a very slightly caramel hint to it, depending on whether the bottom of the pan caught a little during the evaporation.
x x x
Now that you've mentioned, I think my body processes cow's milk a little funny too. I'll get some goat's milk to try soon and let you know how I feel xx
I make cajeta with evaporated canned goat's milk; it must be time to try yogurt!
Celine,
It really is worth knowing your blood type - even if you think the blood type diet is a load of cobblers, you can try out the theory and then pronounce it rubbish! Many people seem to have trouble digesting cows dairy and it is always ideal to eat your dairy cultured, as it is partially digested for you.
Chou,
I had to look up cajeta, and now I can't stop thinking about it! I think it's the same or similar to what I would call dulce de leche. Either way, yum! If you concentrate the milk for long nough it does take on that cajeta taste - very faintly - which I find immensly comforting.
x x x
I like you am following the SCD and the Blood type O diet - oh, and I can't diget nuts or chicken eggs right now, but I've been on more restrictive diets, so I'm happy - and ever since my disasterous attempts to make goats milk yoghurt (one pint of milk = one tablespoon of yoghurt) I've been wondering if I couldn't just take the great supermarket yoghurts we get in the UK and keep those warm for a few hours. All we're trying to do is get rid of the last of the lactose. I might try it and see how I get on. Leaving it on top of my fridge for a day before eating didn't really work - still too sweet.
This is a great idea! I have eaten only goat yogurt since I started the SCD -- already knew I was intolerant to cow's milk, and a recent test of Parmesan cheese shows that hasn't changed. We can't buy raw milk in the store here in Maryland, so I used pasteurized for 5 months and put up with very thin yogurt. Then I joined a farm co-op. Since then, my yogurt has been getting nice and thick on its own, but if I ever run out I will remember this.
I was happy to see this. We can only get the store bought goat yogurt and yes, it's very runny and tart. I will give this a try this weekend.
Hello,
I came across your blog when I was searching for tips to make goat yogourt. I am very good in making homemade yogourt from cow milk. I recently decided to try making goat yogourt as well. I was able to find organic goat milk but not goat yogourt from the local stores. So I tried to make goat yogourt using goat milk and cow yogourt! I was not very optimistic about the outcome and I was right: After 10 hours of nesting in a bundle of warm blankets my yogourt was still as liquid as milk. I nevertheless placed it in the fridge without opening its lid. I think this will not make any difference but let's wait and see. In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate if you could give me some tips about how to succeed in making goat yogourt without having any goat yogourt in the first place.
Lorna,
An interesting idea to leave it on top of the fridge - I think you would need to get it up to 20C to activate the bacteria again, but it might work..... Just don't poison yourself ok?
Heidi,
I'm jealous of your farm co-op - I could get lots of unpasteurised cows milk, but as yet no sheep or goat...
Tracee,
let me know how you get on.
Anonymous,
The cow's yogurt will actually thicken your goat yogurt more than using a goat starter. I think you probably didn't keep your yogurt warm enough for the bacteria to develop enough. If you can tolerate a little cow's milk, try making a 50/50 mix of cow and goat - this should turn out lovely and thick as long as you keep it at around 20C for at least 8 hours.
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Hello,
Thanks for your prompt reply:)
I usually get great results when I prepare cow yogurt. I therefore kept the same bundling warmth and leght when preparing goat yogurt. Yet it did not work out. Perhaps goat yogurt requires to be kept in a warmer environment for a longer period of time. I will keep this mind when I try it next time:)
If you usually get great results with cow milk then it may be that you are heating the goat milk too high before you add the starter, goat milk should not be heated to boiling point - I think it's 80C or something instead. I don't measure it but I try never to let it get above steaming - not even to a trembling simmer.
Try reducing the milk first too and you should be just fine. Goat yogurt is always thinner than cow due to it's structure, but you should be able to iron out your problems. x x x
If you want Raw Unpasteurised Organic, Biodynamic Goat's Milk or Yoghurt have a look at www.red23.co.uk they seem to sell both. It's sourced from Moonlin Dairy Goat Herd at Hollypark, East Sussex
Thank you! I'll try giving them a call and see if they have a stockist near me. x x x
I just found a video about how to make goat yogurt if there are others still fumbling through it:
http://www.youtube.com/v/D8pkrTr6kUw&rel=1
http://www.petstouch.com/index.html
(click on the "yogurt" tab on the second video)
Hi Naomi
I've been reading your blog for a couple of months and loving the creativity in your recipes. I've a son of 5 with autism and he's been on the SCD for a year and a half now with tremedous success. I love going through your recipes as sometime it gets boring preparing the same dishes over and over.
I've some questions regarding the goat yogurt. I use the GI probiotic which I purchase from America to use as my starter. It's quite dear and the yogurt is very thin. I read that you use the Helen Farm's goat yogurt as a starter. There seems to be a controversy regarding using goat yogurt as a starter. I'm a bit lost.. could you advise me please, will this work okay for children with autism.
Many thanks in advance
Maria
Maria,
I'm so glad you enjoy the blog and your son has improved on SCD!
We are quite lucky in the UK that our labelling laws are so stringent - much more so than in the states. Some of the advice that applies there, simply doesn't apply here.
My opinion of the yogurt as starter controversy is that it doesn't apply to a 100% milk plus bacteria yogurt, only to those with additives such as starch, pectin, sugar or Bifidus bacteria which Elaine believed was likely to run wild in a gut with dysbiosis.
The St Helen's farm yogurt does have bifidus in it, but as your son has been on the diet for over a year, if he is digestive symptom free, my understanding is that his gut can cope with some bifidus.
Whether you use yogurt as a starter or the probiotic powder, all the lactose will be digested out at the end of the 24 hours, so the result will be the same. The only difference is the mix of bacteria.
You can also use kefir or a yogurt plant to make yogurt with. Kefir grains make a very thin yogurty drink and I have no experience of yogurt plants - anyone who does, please comment!
If you can find some unpasteurised goat milk then you'll get a better yogurt and you can also add St Helen's goat cream to make it richer (delicious if you strain it - like greek yogurt).
Email me if you need any more advice. naomidevlin at f2s dot com.
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This is great! Where do you find this stuff?
You said that your Severin yogurt maker gets too hot for delicate goat yogurt so you put a circle of cardboard box in the base and leave the lid very slightly ajar for the proving time. Well, as I have one of those yogurt makers and was about to start making goat yogurt, I wrote to Severin to ask what temperature their yogurt makers operate at and they said 42° Degree Celsius (which should be fine for goat yogurt). They told me NOT to put cardboard in the base or leave the lid ajar and said that you can´t minimize the temperature in the yoghurt-maker.
Anyway, I made my goat yogurt using the unpasteurised milk from red23.co.uk and the GI ProStart starter from USA. I left the lids off the individual containers, but covered them with the overall lid on the yogurt maker and left them for 24 hours (as I am on the SCD) and they came out really thick and creamy and lovely.
So, I don't know why your yogurt maker gets too hot - maybe it is in a hot room? or maybe it is faulty? or maybe the pasteurised milk needs a lower temperature than the raw milk?
Anonymous (put your name next time?),
I think you're right and that my Severin yogurt maker was faulty. A manufacturer will always tell you not to amend their product because then it could malfunction - I think mine was already malfunctioning and it's now not working at all.
Great to know that they do work at the right temperature and that you successfully made goat yogurt in one!
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