Barb Hodgens
Barb Hodgens

Barb Hodgens loves to cook with alternative, healthy whole food ingredients, with a focus on gut health. Barb has overcome her own gut health issues through healthy eating. Share your ideas, comments and photos at the end of this post :)

Types and strains of homemade yogurt

Tailor your yogurt making experience. 

Eating yogurt is associated with many health benefits and is one of the simplest ways to get more probiotics into your diet. When you make it at home the probiotic benefits are elevated because you can introduce specific cultures and tailor the fermentation process to suit your specific dietary needs and health goals. In this post, we explore the different types of homemade yogurt you can make in your Luvele yogurt maker.

TRADITIONAL HOMEMADE DAIRY YOGURT

First, there is traditional dairy yogurt made with cow, goat or sheep milk. Traditional yogurt uses three main strains of bacteria, these are Lactobacilus Acidofalis, Lactobacilus bulgaricus and Streptacoccus thermofilis

Traditional yogurt is super easy to make at home, is very reliable and is amazing for your overall gut health. We currently sell Yogourmet and Culture Cupboard traditional starter culture on our website. We recommend incubating for up to 24-hours to maximise the good probiotics.

The most popular yogurt recipes using traditional strains are:

Easiest homemade yogurt
24-hour homemade yogurt
Goat milk yogurt recipe

Types and strains of homemade yogurt

DAIRY-FREE HOMEMADE YOGURT

The next category is dairy free yogurt. This yogurt is made with plant-based milk, made from either nuts, seeds, grains or legumes. Plant based yogurt is great if you do not want to consume dairy in your diet, but still want the amazing health benefit of homemade yogurt. These yogurts are all lactose free and depending on the thickening agent used in the method, can be vegan.

Dairy free homemade yogurt can be made with the same starter culture as traditional dairy yogurt, or you can choose a starter culture that is grown in a non-dairy medium. We currently sell Cutting Edge Cultures, Yogurt Plus and Culture Cupboard’s Plant Based Starter if you prefer a vegan starter culture. 

On the Luvele blog you will find a yogurt recipe using nearly every plant-based milk available. The most popular dairy-free yogurt recipes are:

Homemade soy milk yogurt without added thickener
Almond milk yogurt
Culture Cupboard easy soy milk yogurt
Homemade cashew yogurt
Guaranteed perfect coconut yogurt without any thickeners
Culture Cupboard coconut yogurt

Types and strains of homemade yogurt

PROBIOTIC HOMEMADE YOGURT

Finally, we have the new, non-traditional probiotic yogurts, made popular by Dr Davis and his best-selling book, Super Gut. These recipes are not officially yogurt but fermented dairy. Unlike traditional yogurt making, these yogurts add prebiotic fibre to the milk which feed the bacteria and boost the probiotic potential. 

The two most popular probiotics strains are Lactobacillus Reuteri and Lactobacillus Gasseri, but there are other probiotic strains being tested and used in yogurt. Another example is the Sugar Shift probiotic starter culture by Biotiquest. Making homemade yogurt with these probiotic strains can be more challenging and may produce inconsistent results. While the end product may resemble yogurt, it is important to keep in mind that the taste and texture may be different to the traditional yogurt you are used to.

The most popular probiotic yogurt recipes are:

Sugar Shift probiotic yogurt
L Reuteri superfood failsafe recipe
How to make yogurt with Lactobacillus Gasseri
SIBO yogurt recipe

We currently sell Cutting Edge Culture, L Reuteri and L Gasseri superfood starter culture on our website and we looking to add more non-traditional probiotics options to our store over the coming months. 

Types and strains of homemade yogurt

LEARN MORE HERE


VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS

Many of our recipes include a video demonstration, which makes it super easy for you to learn how make yogurt at home. All the yogurt recipe videos can be found on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe to this, so you don’t miss out on all the ways you can use your Luvele yogurt maker.

There are many types of yogurts, all with amazing health benefits, so get adventurous and try different recipes and starters, and enjoy the variety available to you. Your guts will thank you for it.

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Types and strains of homemade yogurt explained