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Yogurt Makers

Ah, fermentation. What can't it do? Fermentation gives us many delicious treats -- beer,  wine,  miso,  sourdough bread  . . . and yogurt!

Yogurt is a tangy, delicious and nutritious treat. Yogurt is the end product of fermentation of milk by friendly bacteria. Making your own yogurt is as easy as mixing a little bit of store-bought yogurt  or commercially available yogurt starter  with fresh milk.   The critical part of the reaction is that it needs to be kept at a steady temperature for the entire process. This is where yogurt makers  come into their own. Rather than guessing (how warm is it on top of your refrigerator, anyway?) or using more energy than necessary (the process takes several hours, which is a long time to keep your oven on "low"), a yogurt maker will evenly heat your milk and starter combination at just the right temperature. By adjusting the starter components and the length of "cooking" time, you can get a wide variety of yogurt textures, such as drinkable kefir -style yogurt or thick Greek-style yogurt. 

Making your own yogurt offers all the goodness of store-bought yogurt with many advantages, such as:

  • You can control the sugar or sweetener levels. You can also use alternative sweeteners, like maple syrup,  agave nectar,  or Splenda. 
  • It's free of preservatives, thickeners, and artificial colors and flavors.
  • Always has live L. acidophilus cultures (or whichever bacteria you choose to culture, there are many!)
  • Making your own yogurt is cheaper than buying it, and you can reduce the number of yogurt cups in your garbage can.
  • You control the fat content, moisture content, richness.
  • The number of flavor is limited only by your imagination. Create your own yogurt inventions -- sweet, fruity, salty, savory -- anything you can imagine!

For more information, this article from 101 Cookbooks has a lot of interesting information from someone who makes a lot of yogurt. There's also a recipe towards the bottom of the page that you can try out with your new yogurt maker. He recommends YoGourmet powdered yogurt starter  and has had great success with the Salton YM9 yogurt maker,  which is highly rated on Amazon.com.

Buying a Yogurt Maker

  • Home yogurt makers  are not expensive or complicated. Expect to spend from $20 to $40 for your average model.
  • Yogurt makers are basically a heating device which warms the yogurt while it cooks. Cooking takes awhile, sometimes up to 10 hours.
  • Some yogurt makers have several small cups for making individual portions of yogurt.
  • Some models have a single large chamber; you will be able to make a large quantity of yogurt at once, but you will also need to have additional storage jars available for keeping the yogurt in the fridge.
  • Keep an eye out for handy extras like recipe books, digital timers and automatic off switches.

Recommendations

  • There aren't any recent reviews of yogurt makers in consumer-oriented publications. The best source of information is Amazon.com,  which has hundreds of reviews. Epinions.com  only has a handful.
  • The three highest-rated yogurt makers on Amazon.com are:
  • The majority of reviews for all three products were good; common complaints in the negative reviews were poor-fitting lids, difficulty of cleaning, lack of accurate temperature control, and poor results. (The poor results might not be the fault of the machines.)

Major Manufacturers

Related Products

Yogurt Starter 

Yogurt Cheese Makers 

Soy Milk Makers

Ice Cream Makers

Juicers

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