Salton YM9 1-Quart Yogurt Maker
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Our Price: $169.95 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Salton YM9 1-Quart Yogurt Maker
Customer Review: AMAZING!!!! Never made homemade yogurt before
Summary: 4 Stars
I will never go back to store bought. I also have never eaten so much yogurt! Daily I have some and enjoy it as a subsitute for ice cream while dieting. I have gone through so much milk! I make it as soon as I have one load finished sometimes and it is always sitting on my counter because I am using it all the time. I feel so much better eating this every day! I have more energy and just feel better. I purchased the starter from here also it is in a green/teal package and makes 2 liters(8 cups) per pacakge of starter. I am going to buy more and if you buy it with this you can get free shipping so it was easier than trying to find it around here. I watched Alton Brown make yogurt on his show and he gives some really good tips. Only once did my batch come out runny but that was totally my fault. I like to leave it on 6-8 hours. Make sure everything you use is clean and your thermometer is accurate.
Toppings I have used: granola type cereals, steevia an all natural sweetner, a good jam with little or no sugar added, fresh fruits; bananas, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, nothing, vanilla and cinnamon, the options are endless!
It usually works best to add toppings when you eat it.
Honey can be added in the cooking process as can dried milk if desired. I found it to be helpful to add a thickness and creaminess so I use dried milk a lot (1/2 cup added before you heat milk).
I loved it so much when I saw a donvier at a garage sale for $2 I grabbed it and run both at the same time. I use the single servings for travel or a quick treat. The quart size is great for so many reasons. You can put it in small containers if you want but you have the whole thing to make cheese which is really good, frozen yogurt, also sauces and a replacement for sour cream. All you have to do is set the yogurt in cheese cloth, wrap it up,put it in a fine mesh strainer and let it sit in the fridge, dripping into a bowl. Even better add a small plate with a can on top and the pressure makes it work a bit faster. Any spices added need to be in small quantities because it really takes on the flavor of the spice. I would have never purchased the single serving one unless I had this first. It just makes things easier. The only thing this machine lacks is an auto shut off/timer. There is a reminder feature at the top but it does nothing more than let you pick which hour you have to unplug it. I strongly reccomend this one and if they ever add auto shut off I would buy another one! I am so pleased that I have started this. My 11 yr old daughter is even enjoying it now!! Enjoy!
Customer Review: Great!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this wonderful contraption to make yogurt for my 10-month-old daughter. I got tired of paying $4+ for 6 4-oz cups of organic, no-sugar-added Stoneyfield yogurt at the store, especially when she started wanting 2 cups a day. The machine paid for itself in a week.
I wouldn't bother buying a machine with the seperate cups for several reasons:
-you don't flavor the yogurt until it is done anyway, at which point, you could put it in little containers
-you don't really want your kids/spouse losing those expensive glass jars, do you?
-you can buy 8 4-oz plastic leftover containers at the grocery store for under $3 from what I've found and use them over and over. Just use a post-it to label what flavor it is and you're off! If the kids lose those, no problem, you can buy more for cheap.
-you can purchase a yogurt maker like this which a)takes up less counter space, b) makes less dishes to wash, and c) makes a larger total batch at one time.
I have made two batches of yogurt with this maker. Amazon does sell yogurt starter but you really don't need it. Just pick up a small container (4 oz is good) of plain yogurt with live cultures (which will be noted on the container near the ingredients and nutrition facts). Then, you reserve a small amount of your homemade non-flavored yogurt as starter for the next batch. Simple! The recipe does call for dry milk, which is readily available, but you'll need it if you want to make yogurt as soon as the UPS truck leaves the driveway.
The appliance is very lightweight, silent, and the plastic inner container and lid are dishwasher safe. Couldn't ask for much more than that!
Some tips:
-the higher the fat content in the milk, the thicker the yogurt.
-the longer you let the yogurt incubate, the thicker it is but the sharper the flavor
-more dry milk also produces thicker yogurt. 4 C whole milk + 1/2 C dry milk + 1/2 C plain yogurt (for starter) cured for 6-7 hours will yeild yogurt resembling the consistency, texture, and flavor you buy in the store.
-flavor your yogurt when it comes out of the machine so that when you refrigerate it, it will thicken again. If you add after its been refrigerated, you might get something more suitable for a smoothie than a spoon-ready snack.
-maple syrup and all-fruit jellies work beautifully to flavor your yogurt.
Overall, I am very glad I made this purchase and see myself using this yogurt maker for years to come.
Customer Review: Works quite well for me -- my way! 5-Stars!
Summary: 5 Stars
Instead of using supplied milk "bucket" I use a cleaned Mott's 46oz. applesauce jar and a Yogourmet brand yogurt thermometer.Yogourmet Yogurt Making Thermometer I put a round cake rack in an 8qt stockpot, 3/4 full of cold water, and lower the Mott's jar (with 1qt skim milk) into it.
Previously, I squeezed the thermometer's mounting clip gently closed to relieve its spring tension so that I could slid it off and replace it with sliver of cork (sliced from the top of a wine bottle cork) for insulation. I also had tapped a small hole in a spare jar lid, and inserted the thermometer with cork sliver through the hole before screwing the lid atop the Mott's jar. I heated milk to 185 degrees F. then removed jar to cool to 110 degrees F. (GREEN target area on thermometer.)
I added a particular variety of Yogourmet yogurt starter culture (not found at Amazon) which contains skim milk powder, sucrose, ascorbic acid and ONLY the cultures L. bulgaricus, L. acidophilus, and S. thermophilus BUT NEITHER L. casei NOR any of the Bifidus cultures. [Identify this variety of Yogourmet starter by the picture of yogurt with six red raspberries in a milk-glass white bowl and silver spoon on the box; $4.99 at my local health food store. (Box contains 3 double packets; each double packet contains two 5 gram portions of starter. One 5 gram portion is used for each 1 quart or liter of milk.)] I stir the 5 grams of starter into the 110 degree quart of skim milk in the Mott's jar with an 8-inch bread knife, re-cap the jar and place it in the Salton YM9 yogurt maker. I pour exactly 7oz of warm water into the space between the glass jar and yogurt maker wall to provide a water bath. The water bath (a key feature of the more expensive Yogourmet yogurt maker) helps maintain the precise 100-110 degree F. temperature needed to grow the above three cultures.
On the advice of others more knowledgeable than I, I incubate the cultures for 24hr (Yes! 1 FULL day.) then refrigerate for another 24hr before pouring off the resulting 2oz of whey. What remains is a thick, almost firm, 30oz of yogurt which (to me) tastes as pleasantly tart as any store-bought yogurt I have ever enjoyed. The advantage, to me, for my effort is that I know exactly what is in my yogurt and what commercial additives I have avoided in my quest for good, thick, healthy (I think) yogurt.
Customer Review: Excellent value
Summary: 5 Stars
This little inexpensive contraption does exactly what it's supposed to do: keep a warm, temperature controlled environment at the ideal temperature to incubate yogurt cultures.
Unlike most other yogurt makers, which come with a bunch of little pots, take up a lot of space and cost twice as much, this one is very small yet makes a whole quart of yogurt at a time in a single container: fewer parts to wash make for a happy me, and it's easy to put away in a cabinet because it takes very little space.
I tried using starter from the health food store; didn't quite like the taste, and it was expensive. I found out the Horizon plain non-fat organic yogurt with live cultures works great and tastes wonderful when used as a starter.
I originally tried to follow the recipe supplied: heat a quart of milk and 1/2 cup of fat-free evaporated milk to 180F, let it cool off to 112F, mix the starter, plug in and incubate for 6 hours. Works great, but I just don't have the patience to monitor the milk. Lately I've been experimenting and I found this method gives great results: mix 1/2 a pot of yogurt, 1/2 cup of evaporated fat-free milk, and 1 quart of fat-free organic milk together in the pot, start the machine, come back 12 hours later, done.
I also found out that the 1 quart tall containers cottage cheese or Strauss organic yogurt come in fit perfectly in the yogurt maker, and I've been saving them and using them instead. Works great and keeps the cleaning up to an absolute minimum.
Don't pass up this cheap little machine. It costs half as much as the other yogurt makers, is more convenient and takes up less space. Salton did a great job on this one.
Update: several months later, and I've been using this great little machine several times a week. It's still working perfectly, but I've experimented some more and gathered some information from yogurt-making friends. As it turns out, I was using way too much starter: a tablespoon is more than enough.
Also, I no longer use dry milk but found out a teaspoon of molasses does a great job at thickening the yogurt. Make sure you don't leave it in too long.
Against the recommendation of some of my cookbooks, I am now using a hand blender to mix the ingredients.
My initial opinion still stands: if you eat a lot of yogurt, you will love this little machine!
Customer Review: As everyone has said, this is a good buy
Summary: 5 Stars
Have made several batches of yogurt already. As everyone has said, this product is great, well built, and it works. It actually takes a bit more than 4 cups of milk, which is great. Also, I've found, as I think others have mentioned, that I can fit an old 1 qt plastic yogurt container from the store in the device and it fits and works fine (though not sure if the yogurt container plastic leeches chemicals or not). Anyway, this way I can make a batch and put it directly into the fridge and then make another batch right away. I tried making a batch, with 1% milk, using just my pro-biotic pills (which have all the good bacteria you find in a good yogurt). And it worked pretty well, but was a bit runny, as compared to using the same milk and 1/4 cup yogurt as starter. I've also found that letting the thing go 24 hours doesn't make the yogurt too tangy, for me, but I don't mind tangy yogurt. Having said that, not sure if it really was any thicker at 24 hours than it was at 12 hours. Now trying some soy yogurt made with soy milk. From what I've read, you need some sugar in the milk for the bugs to eat (thus, unsweetened soy will need you to add some sugar, regular soy is sweetened already). Also, soy apparently makes a runnier yogurt, so you need to add a thickener - some have recommended 1T of pectin per 4c or so of milk, so trying that. Also added 1/2 c dried milk, and used some yogurt as the starter. We'll see how it works. I don't like all the sugar in full-strength chocolate soy milk, though you could probably make a great yogurt out of it (or chocolate milk), so I'm trying half unsweetened soy and half chocolate soy, with a T of vanilla and a T of chocolate milk powder as well. Anyway, it's all an experiment, but even the runnier stuff makes a great drink. Oh, one more thing, I did my reading on whey, the "water" that often separates from the yogurt in the fridge (and drips off if you strain the yogurt). The whey is way full of protein and other good stuff. And it tastes like yogurt. I just mixed it with some sugar and drank it - it was good, tasted like kefir, or any other yogurt drink you might buy. Seems a shame to throw it out if you're straining yogurt. This way I don't feel so bad about straining it, since I know I'll drink the whey. Oh, and the strainer everyone recommends works great too, and was easy to rinse, thank God :-)