The History of Yogurt

Welcome to the world of Vegan Yogurt Makers!

Yogurt-making started around 9,000 years ago in Central Asia. Each summer nomadic farmers drove their cattle on the journey, sometimes many days travel to a pasture, usually high in the mountains. Surplus milk on the journey was kept in bags made from tightly-stitched animal skins slung over the backs of cattle.

The transformation of milk to form yogurt in this way was in fact the discovery of a unique, sophisticated way of prolonging the food value of milk, and this was soon copied far and wide.

Today, the yogurt industry is recognised as a highly profitable enterprise; little could the nomadic pioneers have imagined how their discovery might change the world’s eating habits. It is still possible to make yogurt according to the original process, but yogurt bought in supermarkets today is a very distant relation, both in terms of production process and taste, to yogurt in its original form.

Milk made from plants is popular today, but a relative newcomer in the world of yogurt-making, and ‘Vegan Yogurt Makers’ (VYM) is dedicated to sharing experiences of fermenting plant milk. Readers should be aware that advice given in the following pages applies to soya milk, and may not apply to other kinds of plant milk.

Questions and comments on issues related to making vegan yogurt are welcomed on the Facebook page ‘Vegan Yogurt Making’.
With best wishes for your adventure in making vegan yogurt at home.

John Baker, VYM founder, October 2025