[melissel]

Is it worth the money? I know that I'll never make it from scratch without the machine, but do those of you who've invested in the machine actually use it? Is the end result good? They're on sale at Amazon right now, the Salton is only $17 plus shipping. That's the equivalent of 5 big tubs of Stonyfield vanilla

Mainly, I'm considering it because I can't find a good yogurt that doesn't have SO much sugar but that doesn't also have some kind of artificial sweetener. I figure this way I can customize it. Is it worth buying the kind where I can make multiple small batches at the same time so I can also make the baby's yogurt simultaneously?

TIA for any input!

 

[Daphnes_mama]

I've made homemade yogurt quite a bit, and I've never owned a machine. It really is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. I follow AmyD's recipe from the Tightwad Gazette.

I use:

a heating pad
an 8-quart pot
a towel
a candy thermometer
a quart-sized glass mason jar or a recycled quart yogurt container
2 tablespoons plain starter yogurt
28 oz. of milk (use can use 1 or 2%)
1/2 cup powdered milk milk

1. Put 2 tablespoons of starter yogurt in a small glass or ceramic bowl and let it warm to room temp.
2. Pour milk into a medium pot and stir in the powdered milk and mix thoroughly with a wisk.
3. Heat the milk to 185 degrees, stirring often (use the candy thermometer to gauge temp)
4. Let milk cool to 110-115 degrees. I often take the pot into whatever room I am in to watch it cool (you don't want it to get cooler than the desired temp). This takes about 45 minutes.
5. Add a little of the milk to the starter yogurt and stir well with a whisk. Then stir this small bowl of culture back into the larger bowl of milk. Whisk well; make sure the starter is well-distributed.
5. Pour the milk into the mason jar or yogurt container (or whatever storage container you choose) and put the lid on.
6. Turn the heating pad on low; put the container with milk and culture on it; cover the container with a towel; place the 8-quart pot inverted over the top of it like a dome. Leave undisturbed for 8 hours.

I did this exact process two days ago and made wonderful yogurt! You can do this in the evening, or do it in the morning so the yogurt is ready in the evening (and then refrigerated and cooled for breakfast the next day).

This makes plain yogurt. I added some sugar (3 tbsp) and some vanilla to the finished product. Next time, I plan to add it during the cooking process and see how it sets up.

AmyD says that if a batch of yogurt is too runny, you can make popsicles out of the culture. I've never tried that. However, with my ice cream maker, I make lots of frozen yogurt.

 

[rootzdawta]

I agree it's simple enough to do without any special contraptions. I use the method from Cathe Olsen's book Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook

3 cups milk
1/2 cup yogurt (store bought or from previous batch)

In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the milk till it just starts to boil. Cool it until you can stick your finger in it comfortably. I stick mine in and if I can count to 10 without having to take my finger out, it's good. To help it cool, I stick the whole pot in a sink filled with cold water. Once the milk is cool enough, whisk in the 1/2 cup of yogurt. Transfer the milk to a clean container and put a lid on it. At this point, you need to incubate it. If you have a stove with a pilot light, you can stick it in there for about 8-10 hrs. Otherwise, if you have a cooler, fill it with warm water (comfortable to the touch) and stick your container in there. Make sure the water doesnt come up high enough to reach the lid, i.e. so water doesn't enter. Leave for 8-10 hrs. and that's it. I've made yogurt lots of times following this method and have never had a failed batch. I was going to go get thermometers and stuff but I found I didn't need anything at all.

 

[srain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by melissel Is it worth the money? I know that I'll never make it from scratch without the machine, but do those of you who've invested in the machine actually use it? ......Mainly, I'm considering it because I can't find a good yogurt that doesn't have SO much sugar but that doesn't also have some kind of artificial sweetener.

Some people scald the milk before putting it into the yogurt maker. If you'll feel the need to do this, getting a yogurt maker would be an utter waste, IMO. I make yogurt without one, but definitely understand the appeal, but not if you're going to be scalding milk anyway!

As for customizing store-bought yogurt, you should be able to find plain yogurt without too much trouble, and sweeten it to taste. We used frozen juice concentrate to sweeten.

 

[melissel]

Thanks everyone, I just know that I won't make it without the machine. I can barely manage to make sandwiches most days (and that's not an exaggeration

).

Quote:

Originally Posted by srain Some people scald the milk before putting it into the yogurt maker. If you'll feel the need to do this, getting a yogurt maker would be an utter waste, IMO. I make yogurt without one, but definitely understand the appeal, but not if you're going to be scalding milk anyway! As for customizing store-bought yogurt, you should be able to find plain yogurt without too much trouble, and sweeten it to taste. We used frozen juice concentrate to sweeten.

You know, I've tried sweetening it myself, I just couldn't seem to get it to taste right and finally gave up. Actually, my real favorite is Colombo vanilla, but I'm trying to stick to organic dairy these days. And I'll keep that in mind about scalding the milk. A very nice mama PMed to offer to sell me hers at a really good price, so if it turns out not to be as simple or useful as I'd hoped, I won't be losing much (especially since I can probably resell it on the TP).

Thanks everyone!

 

[frogguruami]

Personally I feel it is TOTALLY worth the price. I got mine from Amazon for 17 dollars. It works great. I make yogurt from powdered milk and it is great. Powdered milk is pretty foul otherwise but makes great yogurt. Also makes things cheaper.

AM

 

[ustasmom]

I have a couple of Donvier yogurt makers. I prefer to use the yogurt makers as I want consistency. And I needed 2 so that I could make 16 jars of yogurt in one shot.

My kids love it and it is so great to not feed my kids high fructose corn syrup.

 

[eleven]

I had high hopes for my yogurt maker, but it turns out I'm not that great at making it. I can never get a *perfect* consistency.

We drag it out and make a batch every so often, but we still end up buying regular stuff.

 

[p.s]

A Salton yogurt maker from Best Products (are they around anymore?) was my 13th birthday present. My guess was it cost more than it does now from Amazon. I used it regularly on and off, sometimes in fits, up to the time I got married. It went with me to college, where I would check on a batch between classes, and stored the little pots in my room frig.

What I like about it was the flavor, which I couldn't achieve in test trials with makeshift equipment and an oven. Given how much i used it, I think it was worth it esp considering the saved energy costs of heating a little machine vs the whole oven.

it sits on a shelf in my kitchen and I've actually been eyeing it while pottying DS, thinking I should get it out again, as soon DS will be eating yogurt.