Lactobacillus reuteri yoghurt

Last weekend I attempted to make L. reuteri yoghurt. This is a yoghurt that is meant to have any number of fantastic benefits from appetite suppression, shiny hair, increased testosterone (for the men 😉 ), improved healing and youthfulness. Of course I was intrigued. In the past I have made kefir (coconut kefir – yum!) and even tried just ‘normal’ coconut yoghurt to varying degrees of success.

Unfortunately you can’t just buy this strain of yoghurt. Actually the probiotics are hard to get and taking the probiotics is not as effective as making a yoghurt and increasing the population of the bacterium. I understood I was to buy BioGaia tablets as they had the strain I was after. But I didn’t read into the details…

Buying the probiotic L. reuteri

I understood I could buy the BioGaia tablets from iHerb and since I already purchase a whole lot from them, I bought the Gastrus product but alas it was actually out of stock. So I bought a different BioGaia product. The orange box.

It wasn’t till tonight I realised that it was the wrong strain of l. reuteri. Hmmmm.

Someone else has made using the one I did and seemed to get good results so I don’t think all is lost. More below.

I made a dairy and a coconut version.

Coconut L. Reuteri yoghurt

The coconut one was because I didn’t have any milk in my home as it’s not keto friendly. But making yoghurt the fermentation uses the sugar so should be ok. So my first batch was using powdered coconut milk powder.

I used two packets of the powder, 2 tablespoons of the inulin powder, 1/2 packet of the sugar, and then up to 600mL of the hot water after adding the powder.

I first mixed the dry ingredients before adding the hot (not boiling water) and then after cooling significantly the probiotic powder. I created the powder from crushing the tablets in the mortar and pestle. I used 5 tablets.

You should probably cool it and using a thermometer to about 40 degrees Celsius or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I just cooled it till it was cool to touch and hold. And then sprinkled in the crushed tablets.

You are meant to then keep it at about 40 degrees Celsius for about 24 hours. I happened to have a “stew” pot that has a keep warm function. The keep warm function was on the hot side… But I don’t think it killed off the bacterium as it thickened up to be yoghurt-like!

I also turned off the pot every so often. So it would be warmed by the still warm water.

The original recipe details I was following had a similar non precise way of making the yoghurt too 🙃. One which I followed for the dairy version.

One recipe I used for inspiration can be found on the Luvele website.  I happened to like that one as it referred to Australian based ingredients rather than “half and half”!

Apparently the first batch is always hard and coconut not as easy.

I ended up fermenting it for 36 hours. And then putting the pots into the fridge. The yoghurt was still runny but thicker than the milk I started with.

First taste of L Reuteri Yoghurt

I poured a bit into my mug and drank it. It was yoghurt-like and nice. Not sweet and not very creamy but ok. Maybe like a yoghurt drink with a couple of thicker bits. I know it doesn’t sound great but if you have had a bubble tea it was similar to something like that without sugar. 😆

The effect of l. reuteri ?

I felt full. And not wanting to eat. What? I know I’ve been full before but I tend still wanting to eat. But I didn’t have that urge. So I still had some dinner but only half my salmon (rest is for dinner tomorrow) and the broccoli.

I’m also burping. Not sure it’s that’s a good or bad thing! Assume something is happening and reacting. I don’t think it’s necessarily great. I know gas is a side effect of lactose intolerance but this was the coconut version!

I’ll see. It could also be due to the wrong type of l. reuteri.