Before buying a yogurt maker, consider if it will be used consistently. Homemade yogurt is cheaper and allows for more control over ingredients and texture. Capacity and ease of cleaning should also be considered, and automatic shut-off or timer settings may need to be adjusted for ideal results.
A homemade yogurt maker can be a great appliance or another thing scurrying around in the back of cupboards taking up space. It’s important to find a yogurt maker that works well for a household, and confirm that you need a yogurt maker in the first place, to ensure that a yogurt maker will see years of consistent use.
For people who love yogurt, especially plain yogurt, there are some benefits to getting a yogurt maker. Making your own yogurt is much cheaper than buying commercial versions and allows for more control over the ingredients and texture of the final product. It is possible to make yogurt at home without a special machine, as the key to making yogurt is to heat the milk, pitch it with the starters, and then incubate it for several hours while the yogurt forms, but using a yogurt maker is much easier .
People who don’t use yogurt much may find that a yogurt maker is a wasted purchase. Good yogurt makers can get expensive and don’t do much good sitting in the back of an unused cabinet. For households who prefer flavored yogurt, making yogurt at home can be time consuming, as the yogurt has to be prepared and then flavored, and this can take a lot of effort.
Once you’ve determined that a yogurt maker is truly desired, there are a number of things to think about when making your purchase. The first is capacity. If a family regularly goes through a couple large tubs of yogurt each week, a large yogurt maker will be needed. Yogurt makers also have two different configurations that should be taken into consideration. In the first, the yogurt is prepared in small serving cups, while in the other, the yogurt is prepared in a large central tub.
Ease of cleaning is another thing to think about. Ideally, a yogurt maker should be dishwasher safe so all cups can be sterilized regularly, and the base should be easy to clean. Milk can get icky when it sits around for a while at room temperature, and an appliance with cracks or textured surfaces will trap the milk and create some very unpleasant odors.
Some yogurt makers have an automatic shut-off or timer that alerts people when the yogurt should be done. However, different bacteria ferment at different rates, and subtle variations can change how long it takes for yogurt to ferment. If the yogurt is underfed, it will be thin and watery, while overfed yogurt will be thick, which can be a desirable trait. If a device has a timer or automatic shut-off, cooks need to confirm that they can tweak the settings to achieve the ideal brew time.
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