VIVO Probiotic Yogurt Starter Natural (5 Boxes, 10 Bottles) Makes up to 30 Quarts of Yogurt

This is of course very neccasary and works well.

I've been making yogurt from previous batches and/or starter for many years now. So I know from yogurt starters, and this one is excellent! My search has ended. I'm not ever looking further for any other brand.My instructions are a bit longer, more complicated than VIVO's but health issues demand it. Using 1 plastic bottle (2 per box) of starter "grains", I brought 1 liter/2 qt whole organic milk (not ultra pasteurized!) to 180° then let it cool in a glass bowl to 110 - 115°. I then put some of that milk into a small bowl and whisked in the starter, then returned that to the large bowl of cooled milk, whisking it all together.Nice that it doesn't have excessive packaging (unnecessary capsules) and it dissolved readily. May not do this step with the extra bowl next time, just whisk it in directly. Other brands necessitated that step due to their more granular quality.Into the gas oven (off) but with the oven light on, wrapping the bowl with towels to insulate. Tho it can be finished sooner, I wait a full 24 hours to get the full antihistamine benefits and make it thick.Holy moley! This yogurt came out as thick as the faddish "Greek" yogurts! And the taste is amazing: not too tart, not too sweet. Best of all, this brand does NOT have dextrose (sugar) or milk solids or thickeners added. Just the beneficial bacteria - and a nice, wide variety of them!I have an overproliferation of Candida in my gut leading to leaky gut syndrome. BTW if you have unresolved GI issues the Western Drs can't find via their $$$ tests, look that up and follow the diet. After years of suffering, many Drs and tests and lotsa $$$, I figured out what it was myself thru web research. Within 1 week of following a Candida diet I already improved! But, you need to be careful on which bacteria you're adding back : bulgaris, dubrecki, casei, reuteri, Buchneri, helveticus, and hilgardii all can defeat the purpose (degrading whey, inhibiting IgE response, etc). Or so I read in extensive research. Are those bacteria in this brand? Yes, but I figured with so many others that are definitely helpful, the smaller amounts of the bacteria potentially hurtful are less.. And with these many varieties of bacteria, something has to help! So far, so good. I'm tolerating it well, a serving each day, at different times of day and no reaction at all! Phew!So happy to find a yogurt starter that suits ALL my many requirements: price, packaging, bacteria types and of course a tasty and thick end product! YeeHaaa! Highly, highly recommend.

Super thick yogurt when making fat free. Whole milk is more creamy but tastes great.How thick? I could scoop out the fat free milk version with an ice cream scoop

In my search for starter, this was one of my choices. I remember it worked well. Price and quantity, I think made me move on.

I bought my first box of this starter last month, Jan 23. So far I've made 4 batches of thick and creamy yogurt with a nice mild tang using lactose free milk. My method is to heat the milk to185°F in a glass container in a microwave, then transfer the glass container to a large pot of water that is just boiling for 30 minutes. This keeps the milk just above 180°. The 30 minutes at or above 180°F denatures the whey proteins making it easier for the milk to thicken. I then cool the milk to 104°F, add the starter, and incubate for 12 hours in a Brod & Taylor proofing box at 104°F. Two batches of yogurt were made from the powdered starter. Two batches were made using two tablespoons from a previous batch.Updated 07/05/23I'm on my second box of product. I've made around 14 batches so far and each one has been great. I was initially uses 1% lactose free milk but am now using non-fat lactose free milk and still consistently getting mild tasting, smooth and creaming yogurt. All batches were made using 30 minutes at 180° F, then cooling to 104°F, then adding the starter and incubating for 12 hours at 104°F.

I'm delighted with this yogurt starter! I use it in my instant pot on the Yogurt setting along with Ultra Filtered milk. It's worked every time, easy peasy. (As someone who is lactose intolerant, I am utterly delighted to have easy, creamy, dairy goodness without a fist full of pills.)This is not a tart yogurt. In fact, the flavor is so mild you could mistake it for mascarpone.In fact, the Vivo Probiotic Starter's flavor is so mild that I've taken to straining it overnight and using the resulting extra thick yogurt as a substitute for cream cheese in baking. Sometimes I add some savory spices and use it as a sandwich spread or labneh substitute.No matter whether I drain off a little bit of whey and stir in flavor or drain it overnight until it's a solid brick, the texture is always smooth, creamy, and an utter delight.I've experimented with a few starters and this has become my hands down favorite.

I waited more than a year to review this. The reason is I wanted to consume all bottles before I review. They all worked perfectly and as you can imagine I used the last bottle 12 months later. Yogurt is thick and taste is perfect. That is how I make it - I use creamline milk. I almost boil (180-190F) the milk and leave it at that temperature for about 20-30 minutes. As I use creamline milk, I have to occasionally stir the milk not to have thick layer of the cream (if this builds up it'll show up on the top of the yogurt as well). After 20-30 mins, I transfer the milk to steel pot (instant pot) and put the pot in cold water. I stir the milk and like 3-4 minutes later milk is at 115F. I empty one bottle in to the milk directly and stir it again for a minute or so. Put it in the instant pot for about 8h. DONE. Best is to store in fridge for 24h before you consume that way you will have super thick yogurt to start with.Now for the next batch, I store about 3-4 tablespoons of yogurt (for about 2qts) and mix this yogurt in the milk. You have to agitate the milk enough to make sure yogurt mixes nicely with milk. Also I add yogurt at 120F as 3-4 spoons of cold yogurt brings the temperature down to 115F. Also make sure you start your future batches within 5 days or so. This way yogurt starter remains perfect and there is no my-yogurt-is-not-thick-anymore moment and you can continue for months!! Good luck!

It made a nice yogurt and thickened properly. However I had problems with it - It gave me a migraine headache, so there must be some ingredient in it that sets me off. I tried two separate times, with two different types of half and half. If you are hypersensitive or have chemical sensitivites, this probably is not the yogurt starter for you. This is not returnable.

Excellent yogurt...