SCD-legal yoghurt is delicious and easy to make!

Refer to page 131 of Breaking The Vicious Cycle for complete instructions, and refer to annotated SCD Listserve discussions below for more ideas and suggestions.

Excerpt from a fax from Elaine Gottschall
To: Lotte Wackerhagen

Date: September 8, 1997

(...) I would like to address this main issue: why commercial yoghurt is unsatisfactory and SHOULD NOT BE USED. This question has been repeatedly asked of me by many people and I have almost run out of patience in going over the biochemistry of this. So, if Mik Aidt would put it into his repository of information on the SCD, I would be most grateful. [Editor's note: Done :-)]

Commercial yoghurt
Practically every dairy in Northern America has Dept. of Agriculture instructions for making commercial yoghurt. They may start with liquid milk straight from the cow (pasteurized) or they may start with milk solids. However, at the beginning, they ADD additional milk solids. This automatically increases the lactose content. For example, if cow's milk originally has 10% lactose (10 gms per 100 mls) then the addition brings it up to 20% or even 30%.

The second step is to introduce the bacterial cultures (usually Lactobacillus Bulgaricus and Steptococcus Thermophilus). At this point the acid/base - the pH of the milk - is much like human fluid, around 7.2-7.3 (almost neutral on the pH scale). The bacteria immediately start converting the lactose to lactic acid which is the primary step in making yoghurt. This brings the pH down from neutral to about 4.5 as the lactic ACID accumulates. (Acid lowers pH as our stomach acid brings the pH of our stomachs down to about 2).

When the pH hits about 4.5, the bacterial enzymes cannot further convert the remaining lactose. Bacterial enzymes (as is true of all enzymes) are very fastidious as to the acid/alkaline enviroment. Because of the additional lactose added at the beginning of the process, the yoghurt often contains at this stage as much, and probably more, lactose than a glass of milk would.

The companies also use a very short incubation time which is not even sufficient to convert normal milk lactose completely.

Dr. Sidney Haas instructed us to make our own yoghurt. I DID!!! When I studied, I had to learn manufacturing techniques and I did to the best of my ability. I never dreamed that people who are sick as those with IBD would challenge and question and balk at this. It is beyond my ability to understand.

 Making homemade SCD yogurt

Opskrift på hjemmelavet yoghurt (how to make your own yoghurt - explained in Danish)

The book doesn't mention this but you really should boil everything that comes in contact with the yoghurt for a few minutes. The same principles as canning are applicable. If you are using plastic items, you can use a dishwasher with a chlorine based detergent with the heat set on high. Try to time your yoghurt making activity to when the dishwasher cycle finishes.
You need to boil for just a minute or so or hold the temp above 60 degrees celsius for at least 15 mins. (this is what the dishwasher should do).
As for the milk, its probably best to let it stand covered, for 15 mins before cooling in a tub of water.

There are several easy-to-use electric yogurt makers on the market.

First and foremost, SCDkitchen.com (aka Lucy's Kitchen Shop) is one of the most popular online resources for the Yogourmet electric yogurt maker. 

Regarding the Yogourmet product:

• ".. I have noticed many seem to be having trouble making the homemade yogurt. This particular brand of yogurt maker was recommended to us by another lady on the SCD. It is the YOGOURMET II ELECTRIC YOGURT MAKER. It makes two litres at a time in one large batch. The yogurt quality is excellent. For
  anyone who may be interested, I purchased mine from a local health food
  store for about 70 dollars Canadian. If you have difficulty finding one,
  the supplier address is as follows:
  Lyo-San Inc., 500 boul. di L'Aeroparc,
  C.P. 598, Lachute, QC, Canada, J8H 4G4 .."

For Europeans, there is Lakeland Plastics.

• "I bought my 1 litre yoghurt maker from Lakeland Plastics (telephone: 01539 488100) which is an online and mail order store here in the UK and it also sells the U.S. "cup" measure which you'll need to convert the recipes. Yoghurt maker costs about £17. It came within a few days and there are also stores all over the UK. I just plug mine in for at least 24 hours and use long-life UHT milk in 1 litre packs which I buy from any supermarket - I also use Yeo Valley organic plain yoghurt as my starter or you can buy a dried packet starter from Lakeland when you get the yoghurt maker." - Sarah

 More Yogurt maker and food sources here