Making yogurt from probiotic supplements (safe?)

[FairyRae]

Ok, I'm kind of a cheapskate at times, and wild when it comes to my ferments. I have made coconut milk yogurt using a dairy free probiotic supplement in the past (instead of yogurt starter) and it worked flavorwise. Do you all think this is a safe thing to do/ok? I'm really interested in using primal defense w/ my kiddo and would love to use it to make yogurt. Safe or not? What are your thoughts??

TIA!

[Smokering]

How do you mean - do you just add a few spoonsful of probiotics to warm milk and let it sit? If so, cool! I have probiotics and have been wanting to switch to raw milk yoghurt instead of - ahem - Easiyo.

[WuWei]

I am not comfortable with this as you don't have a lactic acid base to start, which (basically) controls for pathological bacterial overgrowth. There isn't a symbiotic colony of microbials to keep the balance safe when culturing with limited strains of probiotics.

I'm especially concerned with the Primal Defense due to the spore forming nature of the microbials. http://www.listen2yourgut.com/blog/?s=primal+defense


Pat

[Llyra]

I've made yogurt with my probiotics before. It was for me a way to stretch the very expensive probiotic to last a little longer. (Mine are VSL#3, which can run like $100 a month if I use it in the quantities I really need.) I use cow's milk to make it though, not coconut milk. I didn't give it to the kids, because I can't afford to share it. It's medicine, for me, not food.

I use an electric yogurt incubator-- scald the milk, cool, add the contents of the VSL#3 packets, plus a cup of plain commercial yogurt, and then put in the incubator for 24 hours.

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by WuWei

I am not comfortable with this as you don't have a lactic acid base to start, which (basically) controls for pathological bacterial overgrowth. There isn't a symbiotic colony of microbials to keep the balance safe when culturing with limited strains of probiotics.

I'm especially concerned with the Primal Defense due to the spore forming nature of the microbials. http://www.listen2yourgut.com/blog/?s=primal+defense


Pat

I just clicked on this link, and above the Primal Defense article was one criticizing the efficacy of VSL#3. Interesting... Here's me, off to find out more...

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by Llyra

I just clicked on this link, and above the Primal Defense article was one criticizing the efficacy of VSL#3. Interesting... Here's me, off to find out more...

Disclaimer: I'm not sure she doesn't sell her own version of probiotics. But, the theory/discussion was disconcerting enough.


With some 1000 *different* microbials in the gut (last I heard), I'm not keen on big dumps of individual strain probiotics, personally. That seems like "snipers" attacking the gut microbials. And we don't know what all they are killing off.

With symbiotic colonies of whole food probiotics (kefir, kombucha) and those which culture organically from the microbials on raw produce, raw dairy, and have been consumed for hundreds and thousands of years, I just feel that makes evolutionary sense that our guts are designed to consume them.


Pat

[FairyRae]

Well, I've not ended up getting the primal defense--I'm not convinced it's gluten free (there is wheat used in the culturing, along w/ dairy!)

I *have* used probiotics which were dairy, corn, gluten etc free from kirkman's (or another company--can't recall!) for making my own *coconut milk* yogurt. I was just checking to see the safety of using probiotics in place of non-dairy yogurt starter, as I just didn't want to shell out the bucks for the GI pro health non dairy yogurt starter (or whatever it's called!)

Thanks for the opinions! Maybe I'll buy the starter at some point...I've been ok w/ just kefir and fermented veggies for quite some time now... Although coconut milk yogurt *is* tasty...

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by Smokering

How do you mean - do you just add a few spoonsful of probiotics to warm milk and let it sit? If so, cool! I have probiotics and have been wanting to switch to raw milk yoghurt instead of - ahem - Easiyo.

WARNING--I don't know if this is safe or ok to do at all, and I'm not recommending trying it, just want to start w/ this.

What I've done (which I have no idea if it is safe or not) is take a can of coconut milk, heat to 180 or whatever, let cool to 110ish (it's been a while since I've done it, so check to be sure the numbers are correct), then stir in the contents of 1 to 2 probiotic capsules and some honey (to feed the good buggies--about a tbs or less). Then I would keep it in my yogurt maker on the counter for 24 hours until it was tangy. You can add gelatin at some point during the beginning process to make it thicker, and you can also do other things to thicken it (add potato starch, etc.).

I have NO IDEA if this is safe or not--I haven't died doing it, but not recommending it--could totally be risky to do... BUT it DID make the coconut milk tangy and yogurt like (except for consistency which won't happen w/ coconut milk w/out some sort of added thickeners...)

Not sure how it would work w/ regular milk, or if it would work. (I'd just use plain yogurt to culture if I were using actual milk personally, or starter. It's just hard to get your hands on non-dairy starter and I already had the probiotics at home when trying it...)

ETA: I would totally use storebought coconut milk yogurt as a starter, but I just think it tastes TERRIBLE (and it's ridiculously expensive) so haven't tried it. It's just getting a big chunk of cash for the non-dairy starter that has kept me from buying it...