Yogurt Starter Cultures - Pack of 10 Freeze Dried Sachets For Plain Yogurt

Makes excellent thick natural yogurt - see the photo. We make ours in an Instant Pot with the yogurt maker accessory - a trivet and five containers with lids. Any extra goes into snap lid pots that go on top of the first layer.We are now on our second batch, the first batch did 10+ "generations" over a period of two months. We have found the first generation started from the powder is very thin, more like a yogurt drink. Starting the second batch with the most liquid pot of the previous batch produces a nice firm yogurt, as in the photo. I guess this is because there is a greater density of bacteria than in the original powdered starter. Subsequent generations are started with two tablespoons of yogurt in 2 pints of standard homogenised milk.We have made yogurt with skimmed UHT milk, helped along with couple tablespoons of powdered milk as a low fat alternative. The results were as good as whole milk.Our method.1 Heat milk to just short of boiling. Various reasons are given for this, the most likely is it breaks down the lactose. We also do this with UHT as that is only flash heat treated. Kills the bugs but not long enough to effect the lactose. Allow milk to cool. We stick it in a bowl of water to accelerate the process.2 Preheat Instant Pot whilst the milk is cooling. Allow starter to get closer to room temperature if you can.3 When the milk is between 43C and 46C thoroughly mix/whisk in 2 tablespoons of starter, or sachet of powder if a new batch.4 Transfer into pots, load the Instant Pot and 'cook' for 10 hours. At 10 hours, rather than 8, a thicker slightly tart yogurt emerges.5 Keeps for at least a week in the fridge.

I've been playing around with various brands of soya milk & live yogurt as starters both dairy & dairy free with success rates that varied from straight-down-the-sink to Ok-ish. Although this isn't dairy free it had good reviews so decided it would be worth giving it a try. So glad I did. I followed the advice that came from the email I received following my purchase and got lovely thick, delicious soya yogurt. It remains to be seen whether the dairy in it affects me.Here's what I did:1. Sterilised my yogurt maker. I use my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker but would expect the same results from any yogurt maker.2.1 litre of soya milk from Holland & Barrett - just water & soya beans.3. Took out about 200ml & added 1 level tablespoon of Agar Agar & brought it to the boil4. Added it back to the rest of the milk.5. Stirred in 1 level tablespoon of sugar (because it's soya milk so not enough sugats that tip was new to me).6. Stirred in the yogurt starter.7. Left it to cook overnight for about 12 hours on the yogurt setting.8. Opened it up & was amazed that I could tip the bowl on its side without the set yogurt falling out.9. Tip it into a catering size coffee filter, the type that looks like a giant cupcake case - 250ml across when opened up. I have it sitting in a kitchen sieve over a deep bowl.10. Allow it to drip for 1.5 hours in the fridge.11. Used my stick blender to smooth out the texture as it looked a bit curdy (though tasted great) & added a tablespoon of the whey back in to get the right consistency.12. Transfer into little pots and refrigerate.13. Enjoy with some frozen berries on top.I was amazed how good this yogurt tasted because the milk I started with certainly didn't taste nice. The tablespoon of sugar helped of course though I will try it with 1/2 a tablespoon next time & also miss out the Agar Agar as I'm not sure the yogurt needed it (previous batches using live yogurt as a starter definately did as they came out very thin).I can't seem to be able to add photos to this review for some reason but I'll take photos at each stage next time I make yogurt and post them here.

This is my first purchase of a yogurt starter culture and I am getting excellent results having prevoiusly been buying the EasiYo sachets.With an EasiYo maker I put 125g of dried skimmed milk powder and the culture into the container, add water to 700ml level, stir very well with a fork (shaking at this point would just fill the remaining space with bubbles), then top up with more water, put the lid on and shake well. Put in the EasiYo for 13-15hrs.The first batch is OK but even better are the next batches - 125g of milk powder and 2 dessert spoons of the previous batch. Super thick and the best taste ever! I take it to 5 generations before using a new starter. Now I have gorgeous live yogurt every day.I have found 2 of these starters did not perform so well and I don't think it was anything I did differently so the quality varies a little. But still I am very happy and will order again.

Doest work, tried 3 times, I'm reasonably experienced at yoghurt making so am confident it's the product not the process. I don't seem to be able to get a refund either to add insult to injury.

Previously used store bought active yogurt as a starter and after my last batch didn't set I thought lets get some REAL Yogurt culture. It worked alright, I use an 18 hr ferment after the sterilization process, and then three hours in the strainer to make a nice greek yogurt, or so I thought, It was the most bland Yogurt I have ever tasted, even the Whey had very little flavour(I drink the whey like squash). Going back to my Lancashire farm, Asda bought live yogurt, now that has real flavour!