Brand | Cultures for Health |
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Package Information | Pouch |
Manufacturer | Cultures for Health Inc. |
Manufacturer reference | 9572441 |
Units | 1.2 gram |
Product Dimensions | 9.86 x 4.45 x 15.7 cm; 9 Grams |
Item Weight | 9 g |
Cultures for Health Greek Yogurt Starter Culture | 2 Packets Dehydrated Heirloom Style DIY Probiotic Yogurt | Delicious for Smoothies, Granola and Berries, Tzatziki, Soup, & Other Healthy Snacks
- HEIRLOOM STYLE: With proper care, our heirloom Greek yogurt starter can be reused indefinitely to continuously culture more yogurt for as long as you want—all you need is 2 tbsp of previous batch!
- HEALTH BENEFITS: Traditional Greek yogurt owes its famously thick consistency to the whey straining process. The resulting protein-rich, low carb yogurt is packed with Vitamin B12 and riboflavin, among other nutrients.
- LEGENDARY TASTE: The first documented yogurt, Greek yogurt is popular for its creamy texture and tart taste, perfect for eating with granola and berries, blending into smoothies, or adding to a plethora of recipes.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY: Maintaining a starter is completely optional! You can choose whether to reserve some of your previous batch to culture more yogurt, or just eat it all, so you're in control.
- SAFE: Each batch is pathogen tested by a trusted third-party laboratory so you know you're getting a high quality, healthy starter to make delicious yogurt at home. This product is gluten free and non-GMO.
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Product information
Technical Details
Additional Information
ASIN | B002HPHR0W |
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Customer Reviews |
3.7 out of 5 stars |
Date First Available | June 11 2016 |
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Product Description
"Greekishly" good!
Famous for its thick, creamy consistency, Greek yogurt is one of the most versatile yogurts available
Our starter culture makes it as easy as possible to make your own Greek yogurt at home! You'll receive 2 packets of dehydrated starter, so you have time to get comfortable with the culturing process.
This culture will require the use of a yogurt maker or similar heating device to incubate the yogurt at 110°F/43°C. If you don't have a yogurt maker, you can use your oven light, a crockpot, a thermos, or another appliance for maintaining heat. Just make sure to check it's at the right temperature!
Easy to learn
Our step-by-step instructions help guide you through making your own homemade yogurt! It's easier than you might think—but you'll also receive 2 packets, so if you need a second chance, you don't have to worry.
What makes Greek yogurt so special?
Once cultured, yogurt is made "Greek-style" by straining the whey with a tight-weave cloth, similar to the cheesemaking process.
This results in a much thicker yogurt than most others, which can be consumed on its own or used for a wide variety of recipes.
- Dips, dressings, & sauces
- Sour cream substitute
- DIY frozen yogurt
- ...and much more! Yogurt enhances many baked goods, soups, and pretty much anything you can think of.
The gift that keeps on giving
This starter culture is heirloom-style, meaning you can reserve a bit of each batch and use it to continuously culture more delicious yogurt.
Heirloom starters are incredibly cost-effective, because you can use them over and over indefinitely!
- Just need 2 tablespoons of finished yogurt per quart of milk
- Culture up to 1 gallon of milk per batch
- Maintains re-culturing viability for up to 1 week in fridge
- Remains edible for up to 2 weeks in fridge
Improve your gut health with yogurt's probiotic goodness
Yogurt is a fantastic source of probiotics, the good bacteria that reside in your stomach and aid digestion and improve the immune system.
Greek yogurt is also significantly higher in protein and lower in sugar, sodium, and carbs than regular yogurt.
This recipe is super easy to make and is vegan, dairy free, and gluten free! We like to use coconut milk yogurt, but you can use whatever you like.
Ingredients: 2 cups plain Greek yogurt | 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped finely | Sea salt | 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced | 3 tsp lemon juice | 2 tsp finely chopped fresh mint (optional)
- Place the yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a bowl. Drain whey at least 1 hour, or up to several hours, for a thicker sauce.
- At the same time, add chopped cucumber to a small bowl and sprinkle lightly with salt. Allow cucumber to sit, salted, as long as the yogurt is straining.
- After several hours place salted cucumber in a clean tea towel and gently squeeze the liquid out. Add the cucumbers to a medium bowl. Add the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, and mint, and stir well to combine. Add salt if needed.
- Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for 1-2 days.
Sometimes in early summer there are more green tomatoes to be had than red tomatoes, and there is no better solution than this super simple recipe.
Ingredients: 5 small green tomatoes | 1 cup flour | ½ cup cornmeal | ½ cup bread crumbs | 1 tsp sea salt | ½ tsp black pepper | 1 cup Greek-style yogurt | ½ cup olive oil or lard
- Thinly slice tomatoes. Place on a plate, and set aside. On another plate, mix flour, cornmeal, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Spoon yogurt onto a third plate.
- In a small skillet, heat the oil until it pops when water is flicked into it. Begin breading the tomato slices by dipping them first in the yogurt, then in the flour mixture.
- Use tongs to slip breaded tomatoes into hot oil, adjusting the temperature if needed. Once the breading on the tomatoes begins to turn golden, turn them, cook for 2 more minutes, and then remove from pan. Place the cooked tomato slices on a paper-towel lined plate to drain and cool.
Note: Salting the tomato slices a little more while they cool will make the breading crispier.
Sweet and creamy and cultured, this versatile dip is simply scrumptious when paired with ripe summer fruit.
Ingredients: 1 cup thick Greek-Style Yogurt | 1 tbsp sugar | 2 tbsp honey | ¼ tsp vanilla | ½ tsp cinnamon
- In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients, using a small whisk to beat the dip smooth.
- Cover and chill for 2-3 hours.
- Serve in a bowl on the side of a plate of cut fruit; use as an ingredient in fruit salad; or use thinner yogurt and drizzle it over a plate of fruit for an attractive brunch addition.
- Keep covered in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Raita is an East Indian salad that can be eaten alone or served over meats and vegetables, and pairs well with curries or any spicy dish.
Ingredients: 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced | 1 cup Greek-style yogurt | 2 medium Roma tomatoes | ¼ cup finely chopped onion | ¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley | ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro leaves | 1 clove garlic, minced | 1 tsp ground cumin | ½ tsp Celtic sea salt | Poppy seeds for topping if desired
Note: Yogurt should be thick. If necessary, drain whey to thicken.
- Taste the diced cucumber to see if it is at all bitter. If so, sprinkle it with 1 tsp of salt and set aside for 20 minutes to drain out some of the bitter juices. Rinse before using.
- Mix chopped tomato and cucumber together. Stir in chopped herbs and garlic; sprinkle in cumin and salt, then stir together until combined.
- Fold in Greek yogurt and refrigerate until ready to serve. Sprinkle with poppy seeds just before serving.
Tzatziki is a popular and versatile topping that's easy to make
More than a classic movie, fried green tomatoes are a mouth-watering Southern delicacy
This super simple dip recipe makes any fruit pop
Try raita over scrambled eggs for a probiotic-rich breakfast treat
From the brand
A culture for every meal
Whether you're a DIY-er looking for a new hobby, a burgeoning chef, or just want a healthier gut, we have just what you need!
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Delicious and nutritious
We believe everyone's life can be improved by adding more homemade probiotics from cultured and fermented foods to their diet.
From sourdough to yogurt to kefir and beyond, Cultures For Health is here to help you start your rewarding journey into a natural, gut-healthy lifestyle.
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Customer reviews
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Top reviews
Top reviews from Canada
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-Less acidic yogurt made with this culture
I have tried many different types of starters, this is by far the least acidic plain yogurt that I have ever found, even the culture time was as much as 20 hours.
-Can be reused
One big reason I was willing to pay more for this culture is that this maybe reused many times. So far I have only made a second bowl but that was a success if not better than the first bowl. I will update this if it fails at some point.
Bad
-Take longer time to set comparing to other starters
Usually with 12 hrs I can get the yogurt set with other starters. With the exact same temperature controlled pot (Instant Pot Yogurt Mode, ~42 C), this starter can take up to 20 hrs to have some rigidity. To compensate this, the long culture time with this starter doesn't turn it too sour.
-Expensive
You get only 2 small packs of starter with >$20, while from Yogurt Mart you can get 6 packs for <$15 including shipping. I tried with re-using the YM starter, it was also working though I didn't continue to make a third bowl. So unless you can maintain making yogurt every 7 days re-using the last bowl, this starter from Cultures for Health is rather expensive.
Update after making 6 bowls:
-Still even with 20 hrs culture time, the yogurt doesn't taste sour as much as other plain yogurt.
-The yogurt somehow becomes more and more rigid. I think this has something to do with how active the bacteria is. At first they were kind of of small quantity and inactive, as you make yogurt with them, the fresh ones seem to be stronger and now give better yogurt. With my first bowl as it was a bit runny, I was initially worried if this doesn't last long - I was just completely wrong. This maybe expensive to begin with (you can actually find from vitasave.ca for cheaper price), but by re-using it, the cost will eventually be lower than keep buying any other starter.
Update after making 40 bowls:
-The first batch is still alive and kicking! This is almost 4 months after first using it, imagine the money you can save on using this!
The texture and taste is just like day one, still great and creamy.
Update after making N bowls (2018-03-02)
I am still using the same first pack here! Everything is working as it was the first day, in fact, now I think the bacteria has been activated, the yogurt sets much faster and the texture is as good, taste as well.
I am worried if this company can go bankrupt - you virtually need only a single pack of culture from them. (My second pack seems to expire soon....)
Update on 2019-01-27
Due to travels and stuff, I had to stop making yogurt and naturally the heir discontinued to exist.
Then I bought a new box of the same culture hoping to receive the same results, to my surprise, the quality has dropped massively, and I had not been able to make any yogurts out of the two packs I received.
Before coming back to this brand, I was (and now am) making yogurt with other starters and they worked, so nothing is wrong with my unchanged procedure (been employing for more than a year now). Now I see other people are also complaining, they need to look at the issue.
The quality of the yogurt was excellent in the 2 new batches.
I lost the first batch after months and the second batch wouldn't set. I dropped it one star because it's expensive and I feel that they give a meagre amount of culture. I would like to get another batch, but not at this cost.
However, the second batch was much better.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2023
I only recently began using a powdered starter.
Until I bought an Oster Mykonos Greek Digital Homemade Yogurt Maker, 2-Quart CKSTYM1012 maker in 2014, I never would strain yogurt and wasn't even aware you could. I wish I had known about it sooner because I really can't stand runny, bitter yogurt, which would frequently happen over the years. I prefer a firm, mildly tart yogurt....just short of being sour cream! 😁
Note: The Oster Mykonos Greek square yogurt maker comes in a digital CKSTYM1012 and manual CKSTYM1010 option, but both come with ONE 1-quart rectangle container and 6 small glass containers. I prefer to use only the 1-quart container, so I bought an extra Mykonos Greek yogurt maker and swapped the individual jars for the rectangle container. So I do TWO 1-quart rectangle containers per batch.
Since getting the Greek yogurt maker, I will never go back to unstrained yogurt again.
As for a starter, in the past, I would start my first batch using a plain yogurt with active cultures from the grocery store, usually Mountain High brand in So. Calif. For subsequent batches, I would use a few heaping tablespoons (about 1/3 cup) of the current batch for the next batch, and so on.
It wasn't until 2016 that I started using a freeze dried starter by Yo Gourmet that I would buy here on Amazon and use for about every 5th batch, using two heaping tablespoons of yogurt reserved from the current batch as the starter for the next batch. I looked into other brands, including this Cultures for Health, but saw the negative reviews about the first batch turning out awful, that I hesitated to try it.
However, a week ago, when I tried to order more Yo Gourmet yogurt starter, Amazon was out, so I decided to try this Greek Yogurt start by Cultures for Health and am I glad I did! I just made my first batch two days ago using my usual process [below] and my first batch came out perfect! It's firm with very little tartness 👍
The photos attached shows my first batch using ONE packet of Cultures for Health.
In the cup shown, I have about 2/3 of a cup of yogurt on top of 1/3 cup chopped up trail mix (done in my Vitamix dry container) that I keep a running batch of to add to each serving of yogurt.
This is the process I've been using for 6-years with the Oster Mykonos 2-quart yogurt maker:
* Heat 9 cups (or slightly more than a half gallon) of whole milk in our GE Microwave for 23 minutes on High to achieve 180° - 185°
- I use a 2-quart Pyrex glass measuring bowl
* Cool to between 106° - 110°
* Put ONE .5 or .6 gram powdered starter into a separate 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup and pour a cup of
the cooled milk into the starter and stir/whisk until dissolved. Add back to the main batch of milk and stir in.
- subsequent batches....I use two heaping tablespoons or about 1/3 of a cup of the previous batch's yogurt
and mix in the same as above.
* When I pour the milk into the yogurt maker containers, to ensure I achieve an optimal mix of milk and starter, I
alternate pouring the milk into both 1-quart containers, back and forth, back and forth, so neither container
has more active cultures than the other.
* Cook the yogurt for 15 hours (12 hours is the minimum I will do because I prefer firm yogurt)
* After the yogurt is cooked, cover the containers and place in the fridge for a minimum of 8-hours
* After 8-hours, transfer the chilled yogurt to the strainers and put back in the fridge for at least 6-hours.
* Pour out the strained liquid. Enjoy!
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2020
I only recently began using a powdered starter.
Until I bought an Oster Mykonos Greek Digital Homemade Yogurt Maker, 2-Quart CKSTYM1012 maker in 2014, I never would strain yogurt and wasn't even aware you could. I wish I had known about it sooner because I really can't stand runny, bitter yogurt, which would frequently happen over the years. I prefer a firm, mildly tart yogurt....just short of being sour cream! 😁
Note: The Oster Mykonos Greek square yogurt maker comes in a digital CKSTYM1012 and manual CKSTYM1010 option, but both come with ONE 1-quart rectangle container and 6 small glass containers. I prefer to use only the 1-quart container, so I bought an extra Mykonos Greek yogurt maker and swapped the individual jars for the rectangle container. So I do TWO 1-quart rectangle containers per batch.
Since getting the Greek yogurt maker, I will never go back to unstrained yogurt again.
As for a starter, in the past, I would start my first batch using a plain yogurt with active cultures from the grocery store, usually Mountain High brand in So. Calif. For subsequent batches, I would use a few heaping tablespoons (about 1/3 cup) of the current batch for the next batch, and so on.
It wasn't until 2016 that I started using a freeze dried starter by Yo Gourmet that I would buy here on Amazon and use for about every 5th batch, using two heaping tablespoons of yogurt reserved from the current batch as the starter for the next batch. I looked into other brands, including this Cultures for Health, but saw the negative reviews about the first batch turning out awful, that I hesitated to try it.
However, a week ago, when I tried to order more Yo Gourmet yogurt starter, Amazon was out, so I decided to try this Greek Yogurt start by Cultures for Health and am I glad I did! I just made my first batch two days ago using my usual process [below] and my first batch came out perfect! It's firm with very little tartness 👍
The photos attached shows my first batch using ONE packet of Cultures for Health.
In the cup shown, I have about 2/3 of a cup of yogurt on top of 1/3 cup chopped up trail mix (done in my Vitamix dry container) that I keep a running batch of to add to each serving of yogurt.
This is the process I've been using for 6-years with the Oster Mykonos 2-quart yogurt maker:
* Heat 9 cups (or slightly more than a half gallon) of whole milk in our GE Microwave for 23 minutes on High to achieve 180° - 185°
- I use a 2-quart Pyrex glass measuring bowl
* Cool to between 106° - 110°
* Put ONE .5 or .6 gram powdered starter into a separate 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup and pour a cup of
the cooled milk into the starter and stir/whisk until dissolved. Add back to the main batch of milk and stir in.
- subsequent batches....I use two heaping tablespoons or about 1/3 of a cup of the previous batch's yogurt
and mix in the same as above.
* When I pour the milk into the yogurt maker containers, to ensure I achieve an optimal mix of milk and starter, I
alternate pouring the milk into both 1-quart containers, back and forth, back and forth, so neither container
has more active cultures than the other.
* Cook the yogurt for 15 hours (12 hours is the minimum I will do because I prefer firm yogurt)
* After the yogurt is cooked, cover the containers and place in the fridge for a minimum of 8-hours
* After 8-hours, transfer the chilled yogurt to the strainers and put back in the fridge for at least 6-hours.
* Pour out the strained liquid. Enjoy!