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I want to make a yogurt similar to a brand I like (Siggi's Plant-Based). It's very thick and holds its structure extremely well. The ingredients are:

Cultured Coconut Milk (Water, Coconut Cream), Pea Protein, Coconut Oil, Macadamia Nut Butter, Cane Sugar, Tapioca Flour, Fruit Pectin, Natural Flavor

Given the ingredients, I believe pea protein and tapioca flour are the thickeners in their yogurt.

Regarding tapioca flour, many online recipes say to mix in tapioca flour before fermentation. Tapioca flour must be heated to 145F (62C) to thicken, and yogurt cultures will die at 120F. So I wonder if tapioca flour is being used effectively here.

Looking closely, Siggi's uses "cultured coconut milk". I'm not sure how the tapioca flour would be activated in this case. Could the tapioca flour be included in a separate non-cultured mixture, heated to activate, and post-fermentation, mixed in with the yogurt?

Regarding the pea protein, The Science of Great Yogurt says "Protein is Key to Thickening. The more protein in milk, the thicker the yogurt." This tells me that pea protein should be included in the fermentation process.

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  • On a side note, I'm having trouble finding scientific resources for making plant-based yogurt, and a lot of internet recipes seem suspicious. Many recipes call for adding sweetener before fermenting, yet this could introduce unfriendly bacteria. Any good resources are appreciated.
    – michael.greenwald
    Commented May 17, 2023 at 21:55
  • It's highly unlikely that you'll be able to reproduce the texture of an engineered product like this one by simply mixing the ingredients together. The list of ingredients doesn't tell you anything about the processing steps necessary, and there are myriads of possible variations, you cannot test them all.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented May 22, 2023 at 10:29
  • @rumtscho I was actually able to replicate it fairly easily by including tapioca flour and pea protein in the ferment, and then straining out the whey afterwards. I don't know how my version would fare in a taste test, but I thought it was remarkably similar.
    – michael.greenwald
    Commented May 24, 2023 at 3:54
  • OK, so this case was simpler than I pessimistically thought, nice! If you tried it and it worked, you're very welcome to write and accept an answer to your own question, this is seen quite positively on the site.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented May 24, 2023 at 15:43

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I tried this method to very good results. The yogurt was thick and creamy.

  • combine tapioca flour, pea protein, and a bit of milk in saucepan. heat to 180F to activate tapioca flour and to kill any harmful bacteria.
  • let cool to 110F. add in starter and milk(s). I used a can of coconut milk and a few cups of soymilk (not in the Siggi's ingredients)
  • ferment 6hrs
  • strain out whey in a nutmilk bag or cheesecloth
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