How effective are probiotic yoghurts for gut health. It is widely recognised that naturally fermented foods, like yoghurt, contains probiotic cultures which promote a healthy gut ecosystem. But how much of the ‘friendly bacteria’ are we actually getting from each little pot of yoghurt?
After reading Marianne Teitelbaum’s book: Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda, I decided to make my own. Teitelbaum emphasises the importance of a healthy gut not only to prevent and treat thyroid conditions, but also a multitude of other health problems.
I was amazed at how easy and delicious it is:
To start you need a good quality probiotic ‘live” yoghurt. I used goat yoghurt and goat milk, but you can use what you like the taste of.
.
Heat 1L milk to around 87ºC (just before it boils if you don’t have a thermometer). Allow it to cool to 46ºC. Until you can hold your finger in it for a few seconds.
Slowly add the warm milk to a couple of tablespoon of your shop bought yoghurt…this is the last time you’ll need to buy yoghurt as you will use a few tablespoon of the one you have made to repeat the process.
You now need to maintain this temperature for at least 8 hours. I used a dehydrator which can hold a low temperature. You could also transfer it to a thermos flask or warm sunny window ledge in summer.
I maintained the temperature for around 15 hours. The result was a delicious, thick, creamy, probiotic yoghurt, which passed the most difficult taste test of all. Will the children eat it? It passed.
.