Nancy's Soy Plain Yogurt Ingredients

Yogurt is a tart-flavored, custard-like food, made with milk that has been curdled by bacteria. Springfield Creamery, the Oregon producer of Nancy's Cultured Dairy and Soy, calls this soy product "Nancy's Organic Plain Cultured Soy." It is not actually yogurt, because it lacks milk and is dairy-free, but the daily cultures the soymilk in much the same way as its yogurt. Nancy's cultured soy is free of gelatin, gluten and genetically modified organisms. It also is vegan and Kosher.

Soy

Nancy's soy products use organic soymilk from Oregon. The soy products and cultures are dairy-free and have no caseins, which are proteins in milk. The soymilk in Nancy's Organic Plain Cultured Soy is fermented with beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. These dairy-free bacteria also ferment soy's natural sugars into non-dairy lactic acid. Although what usually is called soy yogurt is not authentic yogurt, Nancy's product is made using the same live and active cultures as true dairy yogurt. This makes it a healthy source of probiotics for people with lactose intolerance. Because the cultures come from non-dairy sources, it is suitable for vegans, as well.
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Sweeteners

Nancy's formerly added honey as a sweetener, but now that the brand uses organic amazake and agave nectar for sweetening. Amazake, which has a pudding-like consistency, is a whole-grain sweetener made from brown rice and amylase, a vegan enzyme that comes from an Aspergillus enzyme culture. Amazake's flavor conceals soy's bean-like flavor and adds creaminess to the texture of the soy yogurt.

Agave nectar or syrup that Nancy's uses comes from the starchy cores of Mexican agave plants, which release enzymes that are converted into sugar and boiled. This creates organic syrup that sweetens some of the company's soy yogurts.

Vitamins, Minerals and Other Nutrients

Soybeans are high in protein, dietary fiber, B-vitamins and vitamin A. They also are rich in vitamins C and E, both antioxidants that add to the soy yogurt's nutrient value and help maintain its freshness. Minerals in soy include calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, sodium and phosphorus. Nancy's adds calcium carbonate from a pure, organic source, and a 6- oz. container of soy yogurt provides 150 mg of calcium. Soybeans, soy milk and soy yogurt also contain phytochemicals, such as isoflavones, which are antioxidants that may improve health, such as reducing heart disease, cancer risk and osteoporosis.
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Cultures and Enzymes

One tsp. of cultured soy yogurt contains billions of beneficial live bacteria, which increase digestibility and the absorption of nutrients. The cultures include Lactobacillus acidophilus, which helps maintain the health of the upper gastrointestinal tract, and Bifidobacterium bifidum for the lower gastrointestinal tract. Nancy's also adds Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus rhamnosus, two probiotic cultures that help protect the human body from disease and illness by stimulating antibody production and helping the body fight invasive bacteria that can cause infections.

Stabilizer

Some yogurts are made with gelatin, which is made of the boiled bones, skins, collagen and tendons of animals. Nancy's Organic Plain Cultured Soy uses agar agar instead of gelatin as a stabilizer, which gives the product a custard-like consistency. Agar agar is derived from red algae or seaweed and contains gelose, a carbohydrate that has powerful gelatinizing qualities Agar agar is a vegan ingredient, as are all the other ingredients in this product.