That could be due to your nice high coconut fat level. I still need to give this a try. I just found another source for no-sugar-added coconut cream (high coconut fat content coconut milk). Pacific Asian Market....89¢/can

Yeah, the stuff at asian markets is super cheap and usually extremely thick.

I have a feeling the coconut yogurt doesn't actually get thickened by the fermenting process, it's probably just the fat going solid in the fridge.

It tastes pretty good though.

Well, taste is the important part.

just add probiotic powder into the coconut milk
( I read about that somewhere)

I have used yogurt start in coconut milk but judging from the taste, it probably didn't accomplish all that much. I might try both the pineapple vinegar and the yogurt starter.

I'd be surprised if bacteria that dine on lactose found anything to eat in coconut milk.

Well, that was sort of my idea - I figured coconut and pineapple grow in the same climates, so maybe the same bacteria will like them. But it's not quite as simple as you put it - many of the bacteria involved are "lactobacillus" meaning they produce lactic acid. But it doesn't necessarily mean that lactose is the only sugar they can eat.

True enough. Have to admit I've assumed that the lactic acid is a metabolic byproduct specifically out of the breakdown of lactose...sounds like a research project to find out whether the lactobacillus was named for its digestion (primarily?) of lactose AND if the lactic acid is specific to lactose breakdown (if so, can they digest other sugars AND what acid is produced out of, say, fructose breakdown). Yikes, another chicken and egg question.

Speaking of which, what is the primary acid (not acetic acid as is readily available in plain old white vinegar?) in the pineapple vinegar and is the primary fermenting bacillus identified? i.e., what's the mother?

Sigh.

Sauerkraut and brine pickles are both very high in lactic acid. It is actually the primary acid in most fermented vegetables. Have you ever noticed that many olive ingrendients lists include "lactic acid starter culture?" That's because olive curing involves lots of lactic acid too.

I can't tell you for sure what these processes start with - sauerkraut for example has a complex sequence of organisms that starts with e. coli and proceeds to lactobacillus and other stuff. I wonder if a lot of lactobacillus acts on bigger starches as opposed little sugars like fructose.

Most fruit is very prone to yeast fermentation, producing alcohol, but under the right circumstances it can produce lactic acid too.


To me the pineapple vinegar tastes like it has both acetic and lactic acid, but much more lactic acid than typical vinegar has.

A vinegar mother is a very special thing; not all fermented things have one. From recent articles I think it's actually a "biofilm" - a colony of organisms that hold each other together with sticky chemicals they produce. Vinegar mother, kombucha mother, and kefir grains are all symbiotic colonies of bacteria and yeast - SCOBYs for short.

If you're really curious, find someone in your area who's studying microbiology. Making sauerkraut is actually a common class project in microbiology, and they identify the organisms involved.

I should have a look at more of the "natural" products on my next shopping trip (hunting for smoked tofu! yum!).



Ay, THERE'S the rub. Rather sounds as if one series or organisms dominates, cleans up and clears the way for the next....hmmm. If it really does start with e. coli and ends with lactobacillus et al, there's another indirect vote of support for probiotics in the GI tract!


So now I wonder what is the arbiter, the difference between biofilm colony ferments and "non-biofilm" (for lack of a better word yet) ferments, such as the pineapple "vinegar" ferment.




Well, yup. though the sauerkraut is quite well known already, and accessible, it's that fascinating and somewhat different pineapple ferment that interests me right now, and just what probiotics are active therein, and where are they coming from (from the "air" like the classical sourdough yeasts?), and why pineapple (what's the special thing in pineapple, the fruit sugars, the fruit acids?).

Thanks for engaging in this interesting discussion!

I don't think lactic acid requires lactose to be formed since the human body produces lactic acid. It's just a normal process for certain cells/bacteria etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid
Whatever is at work in the pineapple vinegar is probably on the skin of it. I'd guess it eats the fructose and/or glucose in the pineapple.

I've posted some recipes that make use of the coconut milk yogurt!

Tandoori Chicken

Raita

I Love Tandori So Much I Have To Use Capslock!