£7.75 £5.25
Amasi yoghurt, which is sometimes called amasai, is traditional, fermented milk beverage that is very similar to Milk Kefir. It has the consistency of a liquid yoghurt and has a fairly mild, slightly tart flavour. A nutritional staple for most South Africans for hundreds of years now. Organic amasi yoghurt starter cultures have recently come into the mainstream more as fermented foods have continued to gain attention and praise.
Amasi is commonly consumed throughout most of South Africa. Fermentation has a long history in Africa as a means of preserving foods naturally, even without conveniences of modern life such as freezing or refrigeration. Amasi yoghurts taste is described as a cross between yoghurt and vinegar; as with other fermented/sour foods, most people say that you either love the taste or hate it.
Amasi yoghurt starter is a mesophilic yoghurt, it ferments at room temperature and requires no special heating equipment. Just combine milk and our freeze-dried organic amasi starter culture, and wait for the magic to happen.
Allergens – Contains milk (cows).
Please note that we do not send printed copies of instructions with your purchase. If you would like to have a printed version, you can open a printable PDF by clicking here.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Yoghurt starters are freeze dried and can be stored at room temperature until the activation date on the back of the packet. If you do not plan to activate the yoghurt before that date, it can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 years.
A glass jar and a breathable cover such as a muslin cloth or paper towel.
Pasteurised whole milk.
To activate the organic amasi yoghurt starter, boil 150ml of whole pasteurised milk and allow it to cool back to room temperature. We recommend boiling the milk for the activation stage so that any microbes in the milk are killed off, giving the starter the best chance of success, Put the milk into a jar (ideally 1 litre capacity). Place the sachet of freeze dried yoghurt into the milk and cover the jar to stop dust getting in. Do not cut off the airflow completely. A paper towel fastened with a rubber band works well. Leave it at room temperature for 24-72 hours until you notice that the milk has set. Then proceed with the steps listed below.
Feel free to experiment with flavouring your yoghurt. The important thing to remember is to always remove enough yoghurt to reculture the next batch before you add any flavourings.
This yoghurt will work great with any type of animal milk. This includes goats, sheep and buffalo milk.
In regards to milk alternatives, all of our mesophilic yoghurt cultures will usually ferment anything with sugar in to some degree (soy milk, coconut milk etc). However, this weakens the yoghurt culture over time.
As one time batches most people find it works out just fine. NEVER try and reculture a new batch from a batch made with a milk alternative! Make one time batches only. ALWAYS make sure that you have a supply of animal milk cultured yoghurt as a backup. For this reason, this starter is not suitable as a vegan alternative.
People have different levels of success with milk alternatives and we can’t really offer any advice other than to experiment to see what you can get to work with your yoghurt starter.
Yes you can. However we would still recommend you follow the activation process with pasteurised milk. Another thing to note is that due to the high microbe and bacterial levels present in raw milk, the yoghurt starter will compete for dominance. This can lead to a thinner yoghurt overall.
You can freeze the yoghurt for short periods of time (1-3 months). Beyond that the bacteria will start to decline.
You can also dehydrate the stater by pasting a thin layer onto parchment paper and leaving it to dry in a well ventilated area. Dehydrated starters can be kept in the freezer for a number of years without losing potency.
Sadly neither of these methods are full proof and we can not guarantee they will always work. Overall though success rates are very high. The best way to preserve the bacteria in the starter it to use a freeze dry method which requires specialist equipment.
