Yoba probiotic yogurt – a yoghurt starter with a story

Probiotic yoghurt starter – Yoba for Life

A yoghurt starter with a story. Yoba probiotic yogurt lets you ferment milk into probiotic yoghurt at home. The culture was originally developed not only to make yoghurt, but also to improve nutrition and create small local yoghurt businesses in parts of Africa.

Supporting the project

All profits from the sale of this starter culture are donated back to the Yoba for Life project.

What is yoghurt?

Yoghurt is a fermented dairy product produced by bacteria that convert lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid. This acid thickens the milk and gives yoghurt its fresh, slightly tangy flavour. Most yoghurt is made from cow’s milk, but goat, sheep or buffalo milk also work well. Each type of milk produces slightly different textures and flavours. Different starter cultures create different yoghurt styles.

About the Yoba probiotic starter

The Yoba starter culture was developed as a probiotic yoghurt culture that can easily be used anywhere in the world. It contains selected lactic acid bacteria that ferment milk and support a healthy gut microbiome.

Content

• 1 gram probiotic yoghurt starter culture
• Enough for up to 100 liters of milk

Why a dried starter?

• dried starters have a long shelf life
• easy to ship/take with you, also abroad
• does not deteriorate due to transport
• light in weight (shipping costs)
• you can buy the starter even if you do not intend to make yoghurt immediately
• you can save a part in case the quality of your fresh yoghurt deteriorates
• after activation, the effect of dried yoghurt as a starter is identical to fresh yoghurt

Storage instructions

In the freezer. Save the dried yogurt starter in a Ziploc bag after use, or vacuum-sealed. The starter is highly hydrophilic – if moisture gets into the package, the quality will deteriorate. Shelf life is at least a year in the freezer, but probably longer.

Activating your Yoba yogurt starter

1. Bring 1 liter of milk to a gentle boil at about 90°C. Be careful not to burn the milk, or the yogurt will have a burnt taste. This step is necessary to kill existing bacteria in the milk that might react with the starter. Heating the milk also denatures the proteins and the fat molecules are rearranged so that this produces a better yogurt.
2. Heat for ten minutes, stirring. This provides an extra firm yoghurt later. If you use sterilized (UHT) milk, this is not necessary.
3. Allow it to cool to the desired temperature (around 42-43 ° C)
4. Add to the starter. Stir the milk gently, without whisking, because whisking introduces air bubbles in the milk, which will slow down the incubation.
5. Keep it overnight (ca. 12 hours) in your yogurt maker at 42-43ºC. Check if the yogurt is thick, if not, leave it longer and check every few hours, and once the yogurt is firm, turn off the yogurt maker, and let the yogurt cool for 2 hours.
6. Further chill the yogurt for at least 6 hours in the refrigerator. Cooling the yogurt makes it thicker and tastier. Enjoy!
7. For thicker Greek yogurt, drain the yogurt for several more hours in a cheesecloth and colander.

The story behind Yoba for Life

In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, diarrhoeal disease remains one of the leading causes of death among young children. Limited access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and restricted healthcare services make prevention and treatment difficult. At the same time, malnutrition weakens children’s resistance to infections, creating a vicious cycle.

Scientific research shows that certain lactic acid bacteria can strengthen the intestinal barrier, support a healthy gut microbiome and reduce both the severity and duration of diarrhoeal episodes. Fermented milk products such as yoghurt are an accessible and culturally accepted way to deliver these beneficial bacteria, while also providing high-quality protein and essential nutrients.

Microbiologist Remco Kort from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam sought to translate this knowledge into practical impact. Together with Wilbert Sybesma, he co-founded the non-profit initiative Yoba for Life. Their approach was deliberately sustainable: rather than distributing food aid, they focused on transferring knowledge and providing a locally producible probiotic starter culture. Communities could then produce their own nutritious yoghurt.

The project began in a village near Lake Victoria in Uganda. From there, it expanded steadily. Today, approximately 300 small-scale yoghurt enterprises operate across several African countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania. These micro-businesses use the Yoba starter culture to produce affordable probiotic yoghurt for local markets.

The impact is twofold. First, communities gain access to a nutritious, probiotic food that supports gut health and overall nutrition. Second, local entrepreneurs generate sustainable income, strengthening economic resilience. By combining microbiological research with local entrepreneurship, Yoba for Life demonstrates how science-based solutions can address public health challenges in a practical and scalable way.

Online Yoghurt making course

You will learn all about making yoghurt (and other fermented dairy) at home, without the need for special tools, in this online English spoken course by the founder of startercultures.eu. You will learn to ferment any yoghurt, promote your probiotics and save money by never having to buy yoghurt again!