EasiYo Yoghurt is delicious, fresh yoghurt that you can make at home in 3 simple steps. It contains no artificial ingredients, is full of calcium and friendly bacteria that's good for the gut and is gluten-free, wheat-free, has a low GI and is suitable for vegetarians.

How To Guide

FAQs

Why make your own yoghurt?
EasiYo is not only the freshest yogurt you can get, with more beneficial live cultures in every spoonful (probiotic cultures that you need for your digestive and immune health), it contains no artificial ingredients and more calcium than store bought yogurt.

In fact, it was the health food shops that introduced EasiYo to New Zealanders in the first place! It was so popular with people looking for a healthier option, that the supermarkets then took it up nationwide!

What is in the yoghurt?
The contents of the yogurt sachets consist of the highest quality New Zealand milk powder and lactic cultures. They do not contain stabilizers, emulsifiers, artificial colouring or preservatives. All the flavours are natural or nature identical (meaning they are derived from the plant or fruit they are named after, or from other vegetable or fruit with similar elements). You just add clean drinking water.

What if I live at high altitude?
Fill the Yogurt Maker right up to the top with your semi-boiling water. If this is insufficient heat then you could try using warm water in the jar as well (not hot or it could kill the cultures).

What if I use my sachet after its best before date?
If it sets – it is perfectly ok to eat. It is a suggested best before date only, not a use by! If it makes yogurt then it has produced lactic acid which bad bugs can't live in.

Can the product differ between batches?
EasiYo is a living thing and can change with changes in the tap water temperature for example. Also there can be slight changes in the milk powder between seasons ie the cows stop milking between April and November in NZ so the milk powder at the beginning and end of a season does vary a small amount.

Sometimes the yogurt needs to stay in the Yogurt Maker a little longer in order to set. In the colder months you can add a
little warm water to the cold tap when first mixing the yogurt powder in BUT make sure the water remains cool (tepid) and not warm or hot. This should make the product work faster.

However in warm climates you need to watch that the temperatures do not get too hot inside the Yogurt Maker. Leaving out 1 cm of the boiling water in the Yogurt Maker should work.

Should I top up ther maker with more boiling water if my yoghurt doesn't set in time?
No. Do not do this. It will only make everything too hot. Just leave a little longer and it should set.

Can I use milk?
We suggest no…….the EasiYo system is designed to eliminate the dangers of
incubating milk and the hassles and time involved in stabilising milk. Imagine, if you left fresh milk on the bench in the sun for six hours you wouldn’t want to drink it. EasiYo Base Powder is heat treated to eliminate all unwanted microorganisms.

Can I use water from the fridge with my yoghurt mix?
If using chilled water from the fridge in your jar then you should take the chill off ie warm it up to at least 15ºC

Can I use bought yoghurt as a starter?
This is an expensive and unreliable method of making yogurt at home and will not ensure you of all the lactic cultures present in EasiYo yogurt. Only one yogurt strain will come through….L.Bifidus, L. Acidophilus almost certainly being lost….these are the ones that are so very good for your intestine and immune system.

Can I use the EasiYo base and culture in my own yoghurt maker?
This can work if the yogurt maker is designed to keep a constant temperature over the required period of time to allow fermentation to occur.

Can I just put the mix in the jar and put it in hotwater in the cupboard?
This is not recommended as it is critical you make the mix go through fermentation to make a safe product. Always test a small amount of the finished product first if using methods other than the EasiY System.

What can I sweeten it with?
With the desired amount of sugar, artificial sweetener, castor sugar, icing or brown sugar when making, or once it is made, you could add EasiYo Real Fruit Squirt toppings or melted honey.

Why hasn't my yoghurt set?
Check the following steps, it could be one of these reasons:
1. The water in the jar should be cold, not freezing, nor warm or hot (clean cold tap water is fine). See 6 below.
2. After the powder is mixed in, the jar is filled to the brim with cold water: - then put lid on and reshake.
3. If you like thicker yogurt, add part of another sachet. Do not use less water in the jar as the mix could get too hot and kill off the cultures.
4. Make sure the disk baffle is pushed down as far as it can go and does not rise up when the boiling water is added.
5. Make sure the jar is put into the Yogurt Maker after the boiling water has been added.
6. Boiling water must be filled to the line and no further (this is indicated at the top of the disk baffle).
NB. exception for VERY COLD WINTER WEATHER:
You can add more boiling water around the side of the jar inside your Yogurt Maker,
when the water out of your tap is close to freezing.
Alternatively you could take the chill off the freezing water you use in the Yogurt Jar i.e. use tepid tap water.
NOTE: DO ONLY ONE OF THE ABOVE, NOT BOTH, AS BOTH TOGETHER WILL MAKE THINGS TOO HOT
7. If the yogurt is not set in 6-8 hours, please leave the yogurt until it has set; up to 12 hours. Do NOT add any more boiling water.
8. Real Fruit Squirts should be added when serving, not during the making.
Low Fat pre-flavoured sachets are now produced without sugar, so you can add sugar or sweetener to suit your own taste. Add approximately 50-80gms (approx. 3 tbsp) of sugar or equivalent artificial sweetener while mixing sachet.

Why can the setting time be inconsistent?
Because EasiYo yogurt is a ‘live’ product and contains no thickening agents there is a variation in normal setting times depending on how quickly the temperature changes inside the Yogurt Maker. This depends on whether you live in a warm or cold climate to a small extent.

Can you put pieces of fruit or topping in while you make it or before it sets?
No, because it upsets the pH balance in the yogurt which shortens the life of the cultures.
This defeats the purpose of making fresh yogurt. Always add these when serving your EasiYo.

What if I forget to take it out of the yoghurt maker?
The yogurt will keep in the Yogurt Maker for up to 24 hours without it being adversely affected.

Why does the yoghurt sometimes separate into solid and whey?
Whey being expressed from the yogurt is part of a natural process. Commercial yogurts contain thickeners or stabilisers to absorb the whey expressed. However, EasiYo contains no such additives the whey is best mixed back into the yogurt as it is full of B vitamins and very nutritious.
Alternatively, you may like to strain the whey and make use of it in your cooking. There is no loss of the culture content in the whey.

How long will made-up yoghurt keep?
Up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

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