My friends and family are always asking me what our next dessert will be at Pudology. Will I ever make anything that’s not a dessert?!
My sister Charlene and I are both big Coyo fans since we first discovered them.
Charlene then started asking me why didn’t I start making yogurts (freebies for sisters, eh?!).
In the end I ran out of reasons why not.
The best answer I could come up with was: “well someone is already making them.” (Yes, I realise how silly this sounds now.)
Just imagine if Pepsi had said the same thing about Cola?! Same, same, but different. Choice is such a wonderful thing! Personally I prefer coke, and Pudology (but maybe I’m biased).
So that set me off on my dairy-free yoghurt mission
I wasn’t sure at first whether we would be able to make yoghurts AND our Puds. It would certainly change the way we did things slightly – but we love a bit of change at Pud-Central. (We do, Dad- OK?!)
Now I have a sweet tooth. So it went against all my tastebuds to decide to make the yoghurt without any sugar. But I wanted to create something that was really pure. A yoghurt that could form the basis of other products in the future. A yoghurt that could be the starting point for people at home to create their own recipes with our yoghurt. <<I’ve posted some recipes here>>
We already use a lot of coconut milk and I started to get very excited about culturing that bad boy up and seeing what results could be achieved. Next on the agenda was the search for a suitable culture that was vegan and dairy-free and also kosher. We had just gained our kosher accreditation and I didn’t want Kosher yoghurt fans to miss out.
There were a number of different options available with different mixes that give different results. When you think about it, there are yoghurt drinks, set yoghurts, Greek style yoghurts, stirred yoghurts – and they all require slightly different culture mixes to get the consistency just right.
There are obviously LOADS of dairy yoghurts out there, but not so much when it comes to coconut. I knew it was a case of trial and error to find the right one for us.
I knew I wanted to achieve the perfect consistency that would give us a full bodied, creamy textured yogurt that definitely wasn’t too thick. A Greek yoghurt consistency was definitely on my mind… It’s all about the indulgence after all.
I knew that I’d also need to give the coconut milk a little bit of help over the shelf life to maintain consistency. I soon realised that the thickener we use in some of our desserts would be ideal, as it’s made from a selection of plant-based ingredients that give a great consistency. This (coupled with the cultures I had chosen) resulted in a rather successful first attempt of Pudology Yoghurt.
Then I wanted to see what everyone thought of my new diary-free yoghurt
First port of call was Sam (my husband) and Mum and Dad. I got a great reception, even from Sam who is never a willing participant in my tastings. (I know – there’s definitely something wrong with him!)
Next, I decided to widen the net and try my nephews. Charlene has three boys under eight and they’re always deadly honest but big fans of Banoffee.
I was really worried about the lack of sugar for these three! But it was a big thumbs up from all three boys and the only complaint was why wasn’t I leaving them with more for tomorrow… fantastic!
Next came my sister. She literally devoured the pot and told me how clever I am. Now I know how biased she was (in a big sister way) of course, so she’s not the most reliable tester to be fair!
Luckily we had a trade show coming up, so I thought what better place to really test my latest adventure and also see what interest was out there.
We got another really positive response and the fabulous Mark, the man behind our design, had also worked his magic by this point and had really brought the Yogs to life with fun Pudology colours.
I say Yogs with an ‘s’ because… yes – there are more to come!
I created some fruity, sweeter, yoghurts to sit alongside the original natural Yog, and if all goes well hopefully you will see these other flavours soon!
I shouldn’t have favourites I know, but Yoghurt is rapidly stealing my heart. It’s a pleasure to make, it’s a joy to eat, and you can create so many other wonderful recipes with it…
… Oh and did I mention it’s gluten, dairy, egg, nut and soya-free?
What’s not to love?!
Our new Yogs are available in Holland and Barrett and the recipe journey starts here.
We’ve already added a few recipes to our website and now we’re waiting to see what you can do!
Tell us all about your recipes and who knows… we might even add your recipe to the website and send you some more Yogs to keep you inspired!
Please do tell us your recipes and what you think of Yogs. We’re rather pleased with them – and we hope you are too.
Lucy x
No comments yet.