Cuisipro Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker
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List Price: Our Price: $17.95 You Save: $0.05 (0%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Cuisipro Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker
Customer Review: Compact, Sealed Lid, easy to use
Summary: 5 Stars
Why make Yogurt Cheese? For me, it's because I am lactose intolerant and I needed a way to keep calcium in my diet. When you make yogurt cheese, the whey (which drains out) contains a majority of the lactose. You can substitute Yogurt Cheese into a number of recipes.
I am aware that you can make the cheese using a sieve and cheesecloth, but why when such an awesome tool is available! I appreciate the fact that it is sanitary (sealed lid), compact (approx 5x5x5), so it fits into my fridge well and that it's easy to use, even for a novice like me! The sealed lid is especially helpful, because I find that yogurt has a tendency to pick up "odors" easily. I also like the sealed lid, because when I'm in a hurry, I can use the same container to hold the cheese until I'm ready to use it.
So far my favorite "use" for the cheese is simple. After making my own yogurt with 1% milk, I put the yogurt into the cheese maker. I then use the yogurt cheese on my morning bagel. Because the yogurt I make is "milder" than the ones in the store, this makes a very nice cream cheese substitute, and yet is very low calorie.
***Later Note - You do need to be sure to wash the mesh fairly soon after making the cheese - if not, the milk dries in the mesh and has to be soaked for a long time to get it out.
Customer Review: Works Well, Could Be a Bit Better
Summary: 4 Stars
I love the yogurt after it has been strained through this, but it is the wrong size. I bought this in conjunction with the Salton 1 quart yogurt maker. After the yogurt has cooled, I take a half of a cup out for my next culture and pour the rest into the yogurt cheese maker. The problem is that it doesn't all fit. There is about a half of a cup that doesn't fit. If it were just a little bigger it would be perfect. I'm not sure what the purpose of the wave at the bottom is, but if it were straightened out, the entire quart would fit.
It's also a bit expensive, but it is very convenient. There are many other ways to strain your yogurt including cheese cloth and a coffee filter or two in the bottom of a colander, but this is much more convenient. You simply pour (or spoon) the yogurt in, put the lid on, and stick it into your refrigerator out of the way. I like my yogurt VERY thick, so I usually leave it in over night. I've also left it in for about 24 hours and made a cheese cake from the resulting yogurt cheese.
I also used it with store bought yogurt. It didn't work quite as well with that. I'm guessing it's because of the gelatin they put in, but I'll probably never buy that yogurt again except to use as a culture. I'm spoiled now.
Customer Review: Don't buy it
Summary: 1 Stars
Sorry, I bought this from a cooking store and was very disappointed. I should have listened to some of the other reviews.
1) It absolutely does not work with homemade yogurt. The yogurt just pours through the screen.
2) The unit is not big enough (I make a quart of yogurt at a time). It probably holds about 3 cups.
3) The container that the screen sits into is not deep enough - at all. The yogurt that you are trying to drain, winds up sitting in the liquid (whey) collected at the bottom of the unit. You have to drain it several times.
4) The first time I put it in the dishwasher it showed signs of rust.
I took it back to the store.
Here's what you can do with stuff you probably already have in your kitchen.
Line a deep strainer with a coffee filter. I have a strainer basket that sits upright (similar to a collender). Place over a bowl and add the yogurt. Place in refrigerator over night. Ta Da! Yogurt Cheese!
You might have to use more than one filter to make sure filter comes up high enough on the strainer. If so, I would suggest lining the sides first, then add a filter to the bottom of the strainer. I'm going to buy some extra large paper filters (Restaurant size).
Customer Review: very nice product
Summary: 4 Stars
not much to say about this except that it makes making yogurt cheese a snap. It is sized to hold the contents of one of those bigger containers of yogurt.
Place the screened portion in the container, pour the yogurt in, close the container, put it in your refrigerator overnight.. and you have yogurt cheese the next morning. The longer you strain it, the more firm the yogurt cheese.
mix cocoa and a little vanilla with this yogurt cheese, add sweetener of your choice (I use stevia), and you have a delicious chocolate mousse! :)
about the only thing I will say is that you have to be careful cleaning the screen, not to poke any holes in it.
I have not tried the funnel makers (tried the cheesecloth method once, and it was a bit of a pain in the patoot), so I cannot compare this method to the funnel method.
if you don't know what yogurt cheese is, and just want to try some to see if you like it before purchasing something like this, then try some greek yogurt. Fage is a good brand.
I think it is a bit expensive, but I got it as part of a 4 for 3 promotion: http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=108183011 - great way to save some money.
Customer Review: works great with tweaking
Summary: 4 Stars
I have made yogurt cheese in the past with cheesecloth and thought this item would make it easier, the reviews were good so I got two.
I noticed the mesh is rather large, my reusable coffee filter has very fine metal mesh. As I suspected my homemade yogurt ran through it. I lined it with a coffee filter and that solved the problem!! It's very easy to do, you can either use the round ones and trim them, or as I recently did, get the wraparound ones for perkulators.
When I feel it's thick enough I just tump it out into a storage container and I have a little pyrimid of greek yogurt or yogurt cheese, whatever you want to call it.
I've really aquired a taste for greek yogurt and this device makes it more economical to make. The large mesh actaully is better in my opinion because it's easy to clean and the use of the coffee filter makes it easy to dump the stuff in a bowl.
I only gave it 4 stars because it could be a little cheaper for all it is. Also instructions could be better and include the tip about the coffee filter, people that make their own yogurt frequently have a thinner more fragile product and the instructions do not even address that.