Do the cultures in yogurt survive freezing? page

[Amica]

I was given a set of popsicle molds and I'm thinking of making popsicles out of blended yogurt and fruit. I was just curious if freezing would kill the bacteria in the yogurt.

Oh, and if you've made good primal popsicles, why not share your recipe?

[Neckhammer]

Just gonna say good question. I have not researched it...from making homemade yogurt I know not to add the culture at temps higher than 110F or you may kill them and that they proliferate best between 90-110. I believe that lower levels stop proliferation, but do not kill them, BUT I only base that on refrigeration not killing them. Hope someone can give you the final say so.

[Forgotmylastusername]

Yes. people freeze their starter culture for later batches, the culture still survives.

[catdance62]

that^ I make yogurt and the new cultures are kept frozen til I use them. HOwever, I usually just reculture from my old batch

[Catharsis]

I'm not sure on anything other than brewer's yeast, but with brewer's yeast freezing the culture in the freezer merely slows the yeast cells down, it doesn't put them into "stasis" or anything like that. Leave them in the freezer long enough, usually 6 months or so, and they'll morph and change. Granted, brewer's yeast is a different beast, but a yeast is a yeast. In order to completely suspend your yeast, you have to freeze them to -30F or colder.

Sorry that's useless info!

[Primal in Korea]

I buy a brand of plain yogurt here called Denmark yogurt. It comes in these tiny plastic individual containers of 150 ml. But I buy a big box of them (16) at Costco and I only use them as starter for the making my own homemade yogurt. Hence, I need to freeze most of them because I only need them as fresh starter over the course of many weeks.

So, I defrost and use them as needed and they work as starter just fine. However, I should mention that freezing and defrosting causes it to separate into 2 parts -- liquid part and thicker part. I guess that means it has been turned into Greek yogurt, yes? Anyway, I use both of those parts in my starter. No problems. Great results.

Cheers.

[Amica]

Yes. people freeze their starter culture for later batches, the culture still survives.

Cool, thanks.

However, I should mention that freezing and defrosting causes it to separate into 2 parts -- liquid part and thicker part.

Cheers.

Hmm... I wonder if that will affect my popsicles. I remember making yogurt pops a long time ago that worked fine but it was unnatural sweetened stuff.

[Primal in Korea]

Hmm... I wonder if that will affect my popsicles. I remember making yogurt pops a long time ago that worked fine but it was unnatural sweetened stuff.

Not likely. It's the defrosting that leads to the separation, not the freezing (I think), and you'll only be defrosting them with your tongue, right? Let us know how your experiment turns out.