Substituting Coconut Milk for Bovine Milk in a Yogurt Recipe

Objectives:

• Test the yogurt forming ability of coconut milk

• Compare the nutrient contents of cow's milk yogurt and coconut milk yogurt

• Compare bacterial flourishment in cow's milk yogurt with that of coconut milk yogurt

• Compare subjective characteristics such as appearance, taste and mouthfeel between the two varieties

Purpose of Experiment:

The purpose of this experiment is to the determine whether plant-based milks are sufficient replacements for bovine milks when used in cooking, and as a substitution for bovine milk for health and dietary restrictions such as lactose-intolerance.

Limitations & Delimitations:

• Limitations:

• The use of a preset electronic pressure cooker

• Household measurements will be used to measure out each ingredient, this could yield slightly different results if experiment is conducted with the use of scientific tools for measurement.

• Delimitations:

• Only one variety of each milk (plant and bovine) will be tested. These varieties are full-fat coconut milk and whole milk (cow’s milk).

• Only one type of yogurt starter will be used in the recipe. This is a yogurt starter intended for bovine milk yogurts. The bacteria in this starter may or may not survive in plant-based milk.

• Exact measurements will be used to substitute coconut milk for cow’s milk in a yogurt recipe.

• No flavors or toppings will be added to the yogurts for subjective testing.

• The experiment will be conducted in an Instant Pot.

Method:

• Ingredients:

• 5 g Yogurt starter

• 32 oz Whole milk

• 32 oz Coconut milk

• Steps:

• Boil milk to 180 F

• Cool to 115 F

• Add starter

• Incubate 6 hours

Testing the Yogurts:

• 1 Subjective and 3 Objective Tests

• Subjective: Rank on Appearance, Taste, Mouthfeel, Overall Acceptance, Overall Preference

• Objective: Line Spread, Nutrient Composition, Microscopic Bacteria

Objective Results:

• Line Spread:

• Cow's Milk: 13.75 mm

• Coconut Milk: 18.25 mm

• Nutrient Composition:

• Microscopic Bacteria:

• ​L. Bulgaricus

• S. Thermophilus

• L. Acidophilus

• While both microscopic evaluations showed evidence of all 3 bacteria, only the cow's milk yogurt contained live bacteria. The 3 bacteria were detected under microscopic evaluation in the coconut yogurt, however the bacteria had little to no movement, proving that they could not survive in this environment, and therefore would not yield any benefit to the human microbiome.

Subjective Results:

The above subjective results were based on appearance, taste, mouthfeel, and overall acceptance of the Coconut Milk Yogurt

The above subjective results were based on appearance, taste, mouthfeel, and overall acceptance of the Cow's Milk Yogurt.

Above is the comparison of subjective results based on appearance, taste, mouthfeel, and overall acceptance of the two yogurt varieties. The light green represents the Cow's Milk Yogurt, the dark green represents the Coconut Milk Yogurt.

Conclusion:

• Coconut milk is not an acceptable replacement for cow's milk in a yogurt recipe.

• Coconut milk yogurt has poor nutritional value when compared to that of cow's milk yogurt.

• Coconut milk yogurt is not as widely accepted as cow's milk yogurt due to differences in appearance, taste and mouthfeel.