I bought the Euro Cuisine YM80 yogurt maker about 9 months ago. I wanted to really try it out before leaving a review. Disclaimer – I never made yogurt before owning this yogurt maker so I can not compare it to other yogurt makers or making it in a oven or crock pot. I love this yogurt maker and have been using it once to twice a week since I got it. I find that whether or not homemade yogurt is cheaper than store bought depends on your ingredients that you are using ie: organic milk vs. regular store brand milk. I was eating brand name and store name yogurt daily and it was getting costly. This really cuts down on the cost and tastes a lot better. (Partly tastes better since I am not using skim milk – I use either whole milk or 2% and it is wonderful.)
The instructions with the yogurt maker are not necessary perfectly clear for a beginner. The area I found to be a little confusing is how long to incubate the yogurt. Example - Softer yogurt without boiling times: 8 hours for whole milk, 10 hours for 2%, and up to 12 hours for skim milk. Then under instructions it states: set time for yogurt – 8 hours for whole milk, etc. They do not give any time difference for using boiled milk or non-boiled. So that being said, I decided to boil my milk and use the times listed: 8 hours whole, 10 hours 2% and 12 hours for skim. (Haven’t bothered making the skim so I can’t say if that is accurate.)
The yogurt maker has a hours reminder on the device. It does not turn off the yogurt maker and I am not sure if it was supposed to move during the incubating process but mine never did anything. I don’t bother with it. I just put a little sticky note in front of the device of my shut off time and set an alarm on my phone.
I have been making yogurt with a 6 oz container of plain yogurt from the store. Then I make the next batch with a jar of my plain yogurt. I tried using a probiotic capsule that was a disaster and I ended up throwing out that batch. I have not tried using the freeze dried yogurt starter yet. I just priced it out and bought some that would equal $0.70 a batch and I would be able to reuse my yogurt at least once and maybe twice. I will update my review later after using it.
Now after having this for awhile I have noticed I could not find any recipes for Coconut Yogurt which was my favorite. I came up with a recipe that has consistently delivered great results
Coconut yogurt
• 1 13.5 ounce can of Coconut Milk (I have used Goya)
• Whole milk or 2% milk ( 4 cup measuring cup filled with contents of coconut milk – add the milk so that it comes up to the 4 cup point)
• 1 scoop (1/3 cup) of dried instant non-fat milk (I have used Carnation milk)
• 6 oz container of plain yogurt or yogurt starter
• ½ teaspoon of coconut extract
• 8 packets of Stevia in the Raw (or sugar)
Add coconut milk, regular milk and dried milk to the saucepan and heat till the milk starts boiling and climbing up the pot. I place the pot in the sink with an ice bath to cool down faster. Cool to 95 degrees F (stir a few times to reduce hotspots – use a thermometer to check the temp). Then pour some of the liquid in the 4 cup measuring cup and add your starter. Blend til smooth and add back to the pot. I then add the coconut extract and sweetner. I put in the Eurocuisine containers and place in the yogurt maker. Incubation times depend on milk used – Whole milk is 8 hours and 2% is 9 hours. (The fat content in the coconut milk is similar to whole milk so I used that as a judge when deciding the times.)
Please let me know if my review was helpful or if you enjoyed my recipe. Click the button below if this helped you at all. Thanks
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