I'm excited to share with you my perfected thick and creamy Greek-style Lactobacillus reuteri cashew yogurt! Over the past year, I've experimented with various ingredients and techniques to make this yogurt that is full of probiotics, healthy fats, and prebiotic fiber. My journey began when I heard the transformative power of Lactobacillus reuteri from Dr. William Davis on my podcast. After my first batch with soy milk, I knew I had to perfect it! Through trial and error, I've found the perfect recipe that is thick, creamy, and full of healthy probiotics. I'm excited to share this recipe with you so you can experience the same health benefits I have!
Disclosure:
There are some affiliate links below, and I may receive commissions from purchases made through links in this post. These are all products I use and highly recommend. Thank you for supporting me, my family, and my podcast by purchasing through the links below!
Materials:
- Food Thermometer (https://amzn.to/3KxGh8o)
- Vitamix or High Powered Blender (https://amzn.to/3m4iC60)
- Instant Pot Pro, either the 6 or 8 Quart (must be this model to adjust the temp in the Yogurt setting manually) https://amzn.to/3JCQlcn
- Spatula (https://amzn.to/3ZHbIkQ)
- Large bowl able to hold 6 cups or more
Ingredients:
- 8 cups of raw organic unsalted cashews (https://amzn.to/3ZHZNDF).
- 12 cups of purified water (This is my favorite brand of pitcher filter that removes 99% of all the bad stuff from your tap water! (https://amzn.to/3zuWipd)
- 1/2 Cup 100% Pure Organic Maple Syrup (https://amzn.to/3KEDBWz)
- 8 scoops of a potato inulin powder called Gut Health I get from my friend Leah's online store. I really like this particular prebiotic fiber because it does a great job feeding the Lactobacillus r and is a vital part of the recipe. Leah can help you buy it if you have any questions. If you need help ordering the Gut Health powder, call Leah at (425)894-0264.
- (https://www.arbonne.com/us/en/arb/LeahHouser26198015/shop-all/nutrition/powders/guthealth-prebiotic-fiber/p/2075%20US)
- 10 tablets of the L. Reuteri (https://amzn.to/3EbtAeG) OR use 3 – 4 cups of the last batch. You can use part of the previous batch about nine times before reinoculating with the tablets.
Before we jump into the recipe, I want to share a quick background story.
When I first learned about Lactobacillus reuteri during my second interview with Dr. William Davis on my podcast, I was going through some major emotional healing. Several things had happened in my life that had me experiencing daily PTSD attacks while processing grief and loss.
I had done all I knew to do to heal healthfully, yet my body was stuck in a reactionary mode where I would cry at the drop of a hat and fall apart throughout the day.
Everyone who knows me knows this is not me. I am a very happy, strong, and outwardly focused woman who doesn't crumble easily. So I was baffled at how my brain, heart, and body were stuck bouncing between depression and fight or flight.
In our interview, Dr. Davis describes Lactobacillus reuteri as having such amazingly powerful effects on multiple systems of the body. I was intrigued. He described people noticing they slept much better, had vivid dreams, increased sex drive, and felt happier and more alive. People also noticed better hair, skin, nails, and digestion due to eating this specific probiotic strain!
After I hung up from our interview, I immediately ordered the ingredients to make my first batch.
My family is allergic to cow dairy, so making the traditional dairy recipe was out of the question.
I only had some unopened organic soy milk in the kitchen, so I tried making a batch with that. It was horrible! Sour, very tart, and curdled. But, like any good health nut, I am willing to try things that are so healthy they taste horrible. So I gulped it down and consumed about 8oz a day.
On my very first day of drinking the fermented and cultured Lactobacillus reuteri, I felt a shift in my mood. I stopped crying at the drop of a hat.
Three days into consuming the cultured Lactobacillus reuteri, I felt happy! I felt so happy in fact; I imagined this was what anti-depressants would feel like if they worked and didn't have any toxic side effects.
Soon I ran out of the first batch (Thank God), so I tried making it using high-fat canned coconut milk, hoping to make a delicious thick coconut yogurt. Unfortunately, the second batch was almost as bad as the first. Very tart and sour. It was really hard to eat. Still, I was getting the positive effects of the cultured Lactobacillus reuteri, so I knew it was worth it.
On my third try, I had an idea to make a thick cashew cream and use that as the base. SUCCESS! This batch was amazing!
I've been making the cashew version every two weeks for over a year and have perfected this recipe!
I'm in a much better place emotionally than I was a year ago. I've plugged into a Christian church that has been a wonderful outlet for spiritual growth and community. I've discovered a system of phototherapy protocols using Traditional Chinese Medicine that has been a real game changer for my family, clients, and me. But it all started with adding this Lactobacillus reuteri yogurt to my life, which allowed me to get a foothold and get unstuck.
I'm so grateful for my journey and everything I've learned from all my guests on my show, especially Dr. Willam Davis, for introducing me to Lactobacillus reuteri.
If you cannot make the Lactobacillus reuteri yogurt check out Dr. Davis's new supplement, which he developed called Gut To Glow, he gave my listeners coupon codes so you can save.
Gut To Glow Supplement by Dr. William Davis:
10% off first orders: LTH10
15% off subscriptions: LTH15
As I shared during my latest interview with Dr. Davis, a close family member also experienced remarkable results from eating this yogurt.
For years she suffered from chronic diarrhea so bad she was afraid to leave the house and often could not reach the bathroom before ensuring an accident. Her pants were often stained from these accidents. The MDs had nothing that would help.
I had given her a batch to try because I wanted to help her with her depression and sleeplessness. Three days later, she called me and said her diarrhea was gone. Then, a week later, she said, “Please make me another batch. I never want to be without this yogurt; it's the only thing that has helped!”
She has been eating this for breakfast daily for about a year, and her chronic diarrhea has not returned!
If you want to know more, you can listen to my first interview about the transformative power of Lactobacillus reuteri here:
476: Antidepressant Probiotic Homemade Yougurt Lactobacillus Reuteri, Dr. William Davis
Let's jump in and make some super healthy L. reuteri cashew yogurt!
Begin by sanitizing/sterilizing all equipment. We want to make sure that we are culturing the right bacteria! You can do this by running equipment (Instant Pot insert, spatula, and Blender pitcher) through the hottest/sanitization cycle in the dishwasher. This will kill 99.99% of bacteria. You can also use hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol.
Once everything is sterilized, take the container of cashews (about 10 cups) and add them to the Instant Pot with 11 cups of water and about half a cup of maple syrup, a little more if you like it on the sweet side, but remember, you can always add more at the end.
This syrup helps feed the good bacteria and reduce the tart taste. The sugar helps feed the bacteria, so there's far less sugar in the final product, and it also helps make it taste better.
If you do not want ANY sweetener, skip adding maple syrup. If you do this, add another scoop of the inulin powder to feed the bacteria.
Set the Instant Pot using the Pressure Cook setting to high pressure for 6 minutes. Make sure the lid and vent are sealed. When done, let it naturally release.
Then remove from the Instant Pot and let sit or place in the freezer to cool down to about 100F. It is necessary to split the batch, so pour/scoop half the contents into a sterilized bowl. Keep the ratio of cooked cashews and water to about the same. If you have space in your fridge or freezer, you can split the batch, place the bowl, and insert either the refrigerator or freezer to cool them off quicker.
Check the temperature every 10 min with your foot thermometer. We don't want the temp to go far below 100F. We should wait till it is below 108F to start the blending so we do not kill the bacteria when we add it after the blending.
The batch is too big for my 64oz Vitamix container, so I blend in two batches.
Once cooled to between 100F and 108F, I blend the batch from the Instant Pot insert first in my sanitized Vitamix along with the following:
Four scoops of a potato and inulin powder called Gut Health.
I blend till smooth and add it back into the Instant Pot insert.
It will be a thick consistency. Adding more water makes blending easier, but I prefer thick yogurt, so I use as little water as possible.
No need to clean or scoop the remaining cashew cream from the blender. Once you have dumped it into the Instant Pot insert, pour the remaining cashew and water mix from the bowl into the blender and blend with four more scoops of the Gut Health powder.
Blend till smooth. Add a little more water if you need to. You may need to stop blending a few times and let the air bubble out from the bottom of the blender.
Once well-blended, use the spatula to empty the blender into the Instant Pot insert.
Now, let's recheck the temp before adding the L. reuteri. Ideally, the temp is between 100F and 106F. But if it has fallen below 100F, that's ok. It's better that it's not too hot, or all is lost. The Instant Pot will warm it to 100F in the next step, which is the perfect temp to culture and grow our L. reuteri!
Take ten tablets of the L. Reuteri and crush them in a ziplock bag with the bottom of a mug, then stir the powder into the batch.
I set the Instant Pot Pro to custom yogurt settings of 100F for 36 hours. This is the only Instant Pot that will let you manually set the temperature that low. Remember, a temperature of 109F or higher will kill the bacteria.
VERY IMPORTANT:
Be sure close the lid but open the vent so it does not pressurize.
I checked my batches temp with a yogurt thermometer and noticed I needed to set the custom temp of my Instant Pot to 103F. We are good as long as it's below 109F and above 99F for 36 hours! Some Instant Pots will be very slightly in their temp, so it's good to check your batch till you understand how your IP does.
When your batch is done, place about three to four cups aside for the next batch in a sealed container. This helps prevent contamination. You can inoculate the subsequent ten batches with this method before using ten tablets again.
The yogurt will last for two weeks in the fridge and much longer if frozen. However, it still tastes excellent when frozen, so don't worry about making big batches and freezing some for later!
When you go to eat it, do not blend the final product as Dr. Davis says that kills the bacteria.
Here's a video of what the final product looks like. Come join my Facebook group so we can discuss this further together! My community of listeners loves sharing and learning from each other, so you will fit right in and be welcomed.
Video:
finished product
