Ingredients:
Milk Kefir Grains
1 can full-fat Coconut Milk
or a double batch of
Homemade Coconut MilkEquipment:
A glass jar or two
Metal Sieve
One of the following: Cheesecloth
, muslin, linen, Yogurt Cheese Strainer
.
Alternately, you could use a Kefir Cheese Strainer
1. Place room temperature coconut milk into a glass jar. Add kefir grains. Cover with paper towel or cheesecloth secured with the ring of a mason jar lid or an elastic band.
2. Let the kefir grains do their thing for 24-48 hours (tasting periodically to see if the culture has reached your desired sourness).
3. Strain the kefir culture through a metal strainer. Place the strained kefir grains into fresh milk to start the next culture.
4. Line a metal sieve, colander or funnel with 12-14 layer thick cheesecloth (alternately you could use a yogurt cheese bag, a kefir strainer, a piece of muslin cloth or a clean linen tea towel). Place sieve over a medium-sized bowl to catch the whey.
5. Pour strained kefir culture into the cheesecloth-lined sieve and place the entire bowl and sieve into the refrigerator. After 1 hour, check the liquid in the bottom of the bowl and make sure that it is mostly clear (it will have a little opaque white swirling around in it, but it should look alot like the liquidy whey from the top of a yogurt container). If it isn’t clear, dump it back into the cheese cloth and add another few layers of cheese cloth or a second nut-milk bag or even a coffee filter to strain out the whey.
6. Check how thick your yogurt is after about 4 hours. It will take anywhere between 4-24 hours to strain enough whey to have thick, creamy yogurt consistency (you can actually continue straining to make a fresh kefir cheese, although if you are going to attempt this, it’s better to strain at room temperature). Once the desired consistency is reached, scrape the yogurt into a bowl or container for storage and discard the whey (or better yet, use for another purpose). The yield is approximately 1 cup of yogurt for 1 can of coconut milk.
7. Enjoy the yogurt plain (maybe with some berries or paleo granola) or flavor with honey, vanilla and/or pureed fruit. To make a lovely vanilla yogurt, add 1 Tbsp honey and 1 tsp alcohol-free vanilla extract. For fruit yogurts, I typically add ¼ cup pureed fresh or frozen fruit to 1 cup of yogurt. Stir to incorporate and enjoy!
Note on straining kefir when using homemade coconut milk: The curd/fat layer of my kefir can be so solid when I use homemade coconut milk that the straining step can be avoided. Instead, I carefully spoon the thick top layer into my metal sieve, and push the curd through to separate out my Kefir Grains
for the next batch. If the curd is really thick, I might even thin a bit with the whey that naturally separates out to the bottom (I always save this whey for smoothies). If the yogurt has a bit of a curdled texture (this can happen in a cooler kitchen), a quick blend in a blender will smooth it out. So, not only is homemade kefir “yogurt” cheaper and better tasting when made with homemade coconut milk, but it’s easier too!
, to taste
, to taste
, paper towel, clean tea towel or just let it sit in a colander). Divide among plates.
