Kefir Peach Yogurt

Eat your heart out yoplait.

I have been wanting to make my own yogurt for quite a while now.  I've read and read and read all the different methods, techniques, results, and how to's.  They've all left me feeling like yogurt making wasn't for me.  One of my biggest concerns was heating my lovely raw milk and killing some of the good things I loved about my raw milk.  I did order a 'raw milk' yogurt culture from Cultures for Health.  Gave it a shot once and it didn't really turn out.

What I HAVE been very successful with is my kefir making.  For the past few months I've been very faithful in tending to my kefir each night and incorporating some into my diet everyday.  I love it.  So I decided to use my kefir to make my own fruit 'yogurt'.  Now, I'm not sure it would technically be considered yogurt, but that's what I'm calling it.

First I strained about 64 oz of raw cow's milk kefir by lining a colander with unbleached muslin, putting that over a bowl and pouring the kefir in.  Once that strained a bit I was able to gather up the corners, clip them together and rig it up in my kitchen to continue straining.  I let it drip for about 8 hours and got about a quart of whey from it.  I scraped the kefir cheese off of the cloth and put it in the fridge.

Today I took 3 ripe peaches, slightly peeled (some didn't come off), pitted and put them in the blender. Add 1/2 cup of canned whole coconut milk and six drops of liquid stevia.  Blend that up till it's a smooth puree.  Then I added in all the kefir cheese, which was about 2 cups.  Blend that for another very smooth consistency.  I wanted some chunk to my yogurt so I took another ripe peach and chopped it into small pieces.  Mix that in with the yogurt.  Divide into eight single serve dishes and refrigerate. 

It is SO good!  Smooth, creamy, fruity, not to tart, raw, probiotic and delicious!!!!  I'm so happy that I found a way to enjoy yogurt again.  And this is a yogurt I can feel good about.  I'm just imagining all the fruity possibilities.

So, here are the ingredients to yoplaits original peach yogurt:

Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Lowfat Fat Milk, Sugar, Peaches, Modified Cornstarch, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, Kosher Gelatin, Natural Flavor, Citric Acid, Tricalcium Phosphate, Pectin, Colored With Annatto Extract, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3.

Here are the ingredients to my kefir peach yogurt:

Raw milk kefir, peaches, coconut milk, stevia.

YEAH BABY!!!

This post is part of REAL FOOD WEDNESDAY.

Comments

[Jen]

That looks awesome! Now I know what I'm going to do with my kefir cheese. :) That ingredient list for Yoplait is NASTY!!!

[Meg]

Mmm... I'm going to try it with the plums I just picked up from the Farmer's Market yesterday!

I've shuddered several times reading the Yoplait/Dannon ingredients... let alone the stuff they put in the KIDS yogurt!! Eeek.

[Tammy McConnell]

I've been wondering how to enjoy yogurt without losing all the benefits of raw milk. Thank you so much for this post! I will definitely be taking your recipe for a spin soon! :)

[Sherry]

I have a very easy way to make yogurt with raw cow's milk. It's very imprecise...

-put a quart or so of water on the stove to boil.
-in a seperate pan, heat a couple of cups of raw milk to about 110-115 degrees.
-I pour it into a clean quart sized mason jar and
-add about 1/2 tsp of existing yogurt (yes, I started with plain, store-bought yogurt). Cap it tightly.
-Shake or stir until the preexisting yogurt is melted.
-pour boiled water into seperate, equal sized, mason jar and cap.

Now, I have a 'cooler' that fits my mason jars pretty closely. Not much more room than for just the two jars. I wrap the 'boiling water' jar in a dishtowel and put them in (upright) together. After the 'boiling' jar has cooled to room temp, I have a loose yogurt, suitable for salad dressings, adding to smoothies, and the like. If this is good for you, put yogurt in the fridge until you need it. I usually stop here. If I want it thicker, I refill the water jar with boiling water after 12 hours or so until I get the consistency I want. I guess room temps and whatnot could affect this, so it may take some trial and error, but if you look, it really is pretty easy and you never have to heat the milk past 118 and kill everything you love about the raw milk.

This is obviously for plain, tangy yogurt. I usually start this way and add stuff later... never tried to add stuff while it was becoming yogurt!? Now I'm wondering if I could...

Hope this helps :D

[Yolanda Breidenbaugh]

Thank you so much for this! I will make some as soon as I can get some peaches.... or maybe I should just try the blueberries I have in the freezer? Hmmmm...:) Fabulous recipe.

[Amanda]

I had heard that you are not supposed to "blend" the kefir because it destroys the strains, any thoughts?