Coconut yogurt is one of the best ways to add dairy free, good fats for energy and gut boosting probiotics to your morning ritual. Making your own and fermenting it overnight is super easy and also wonderful for your gut health. Coconuts are one of my favourite ingredients, not only are they extremely delicious, they are antimicrobial, full of MCT’s - medium-chain triglycerides which are good fats that are digested as energy and less likely to be stored as body fat. I use to scrape out the inside of fresh coconuts to make yogurt when I lived in Singapore, but now you can buy frozen coconut meat in the freezer section of most organic stores, or even use canned coconut milk, which makes making it so much easier!
2 x packs (2 lbs) organic raw coconut meat
OR 4 x cans organic coconut milk (cream only)
1 cup spring water or coconut water (more for blending)
7 x drops of liquid stevia
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
1 tbsp organic maple syrup (optional)
2 x vegan/ plant based probiotic capsules (powder only)
1 tsp lemon zest
1. Thaw out your frozen coconut meat packets in a bowl of water for approx 1-2 hours. Or place coconut milk cans in fridge to set the cream from the liquid.
2. Using a vitamix or high powered blender, pour thawed coconut meat and one cup of liquid/ or your canned cream only and 1/2 cup liquid, stevia and vanilla.
3. Blend on high until a thick coconut puree forms. You may add a little water if not mixing well - be careful not to make it too runny, you want a thick yogurt like consistency.
4. Open your probiotic capsules and pour the powder only into the coconut mixture and discard the empty capsules. Blend again for around 30 secs to 1 min. You don’t want the probiotics to heat.
5. Pour yogurt mixture into glass container that can be sealed with an airtight lid, and evenly spread out using a spatula.
5. Sprinkle lemon zest on top.
6. Cover with a light towel or cheese cloth, and store in a dark ideally warm place to ferment overnight or up to 12 hours.
7. Once fermented, it can be stored in the refrigerator with an airtight lid and keeps for up to one week.
