Thursday, August 26, 2010

Homemade Yogurt and a Yogurt Maker Review

Cherry Vanilla Bean Yogurt

I received this great Tribest Yo-Life Yogurt maker from the folks at CSN stores last month and I've had fun playing around with it.

I've been wanting to make homemade yogurt for so long...and I just couldn't see myself dealing with the whole heating pad in the oven routine. It was just to sketchy for me. The idea of a yogurt maker is great--because it's a controlled environment...I know that I will have a great (or safe) outcome every time.

The hands on time is very minimal. It's really just the 'wait' time that takes forever. The yogurt maker said 8-12 hours of set time. I checked mine at the 8 hour mark and it just seemed a bit too runny. So I would recommend the full time.

I made my yogurt with organic skim milk, and fat free plain organic yogurt. The yogurt still seemed a bit runny. There could be 2 issues: the skim milk or the fact that I used plain yogurt as a starter rather than a concentrated yogurt starter. (I couldn't find a yogurt starter anywhere). Anyone know where I can get one? I am going to try this once again to see if I can get the yogurt thicker--this time with a 1% milk.












Plain yogurt before draining

I did drain some of the yogurt over paper towel and colander. That seemed to help.

I will say, it was fun playing around with flavors. I added my own vanilla extract, chopped fruit and agave nectar for added sweetness.













Raspberry Vanilla Bean Yogurt with Agave Nectar


I can't wait to make some improvements. My little one should be able to have yogurt in the next few months. I have made all of her baby food so far...and yogurt will be no different! Once I get to that stage I will have to venture into the whole milk sector of course.

My favorite thing about this yogurt maker is that it gives you 7 little glass containers to make the yogurt in. PLUS if you wanted to use your own glass containers (mason jars and such) you can do that too.

Overall, I love the concept of this thing...I just need to figure out if the glitch is caused by the maker or the baker!






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