To enjoy the authentic and genuine flavor of homemade yogurt without preservatives, here are the best yogurt makers to buy and which one to choose according to your needs.
Homemade yogurt is fresh, contains 100% live and active lactic ferments, and is free of dyes and preservatives harmful to health.
The cost of an electric yogurt maker ranges from 20 to 100 Euros and allows you to enjoy greedy and genuine food at any time, an integral part of the daily diet of many of us. The result is an important saving of money and plastic, thus combining the attention to the environment and our health.
Furthermore, producing yogurt at home means having full control of the processing, possibly choosing the healthiest ingredients, and personalizing the taste to your liking without being subjected to the monotony of packaged products.
The yogurt maker works like an incubator, keeps the yogurt bacteria warm, and helps them proliferate: the process takes only a few hours of work. During this time, the yogurt maker maintains a temperature of around 40 degrees, the ideal temperature for developing bacteria that transform milk into yogurt.
The essential components of a yogurt maker are the incubator, the resistance that allows you to heat the bacteria and the containers with the milk, and the control device, which keeps the temperature constant.
Buying the best yogurt maker means always having available, with a few simple steps, creamy and healthy yogurt made according to your tastes for a natural breakfast or snack.
Table of Contents
How to choose a yogurt maker
It is important to know which characteristics to evaluate to identify the best yogurt maker to buy to meet personal needs to choose the right product.
Types
There are two main types of yogurt makers: the jug one and the jar one.
Jug
The jug yogurt makers, usually quite tall and narrow, consist of two baskets: a smaller one for pouring the ingredients and a larger one that creates a hot air chamber for fermentation. They take up little space but do not allow you to make several portions or prepare several flavors at a time.
Yogurt takes longer to cool than yogurt in jars. However, they are ideal for those who intend to produce large quantities of yogurt and for large families.
Jars
The jar yogurt makers are larger and consist of a tray, closed by a lid, quite wide and not too high, that holds a variable number of jars from 4 to 8 with a screw-on plastic cap. This type allows you to vary tastes and choose how many doses to prepare each time.
In addition, another advantage is not having to open and close a single basket each time but having several single-dose containers that help keep the yogurt fresh and healthy.
Stability
The stability of the yogurt maker is essential for the good fermentation of the yogurt bacteria. Therefore, ground-based and rectangular-based yogurt makers must have excellent stability with non-slip rubber feet and adhere perfectly to the surface on which they rest.
It is necessary to pay attention to where the appliance is placed: it is preferable to prefer smooth and, in fact, stable surfaces; the machinery must not be subjected to oscillations or vibrations, with the risk of slipping and spilling the contents.
Coating
Yogurt makers are susceptible appliances, and a slight movement or vibration is enough to alter the fermentation, thus damaging the final product. A valid coating helps obtain superior quality food and prevent accidental knocks.
The ideal coatings are metal or thick and more resistant to plastic. Furthermore, plastic is a good insulator that avoids heat dispersion and can absorb vibrations; this material is also particularly light, making these yogurt makers handy and easy to move.
Lid
Another aspect to consider when choosing the yogurt maker to buy is the lid type. It is advisable to opt for a model with a transparent lid to observe what happens inside the yogurt maker.
This way, verifying that the fermentation process is proceeding correctly will be possible. If, on the other hand, the lid is not transparent, you will only be able to see the result at the end of the process since it is better not to open the yogurt maker during incubation.
In addition, the optimal lid should have handles so it can easily lift. In the case of yogurt pots, a practical function of the lid can be that of the compartment for the caps.
In fact, during fermentation, the jars should be left open, and the caps set aside. The compartment for the caps of the yogurt maker allows you to withdraw them comfortably, preventing them from being lost, dropped, or used by mistake with other containers.
Functions
The best models are equipped with a digital display with backlit keys that allows you to program the duration and check the active functions to have everything under control. On the other hand, the most basic models have no programming and are simple to use.
The only flaw of the basic models is that they do not have the auto-off function. This option can be beneficial as the yogurt maker’s work takes many hours. However, without the auto shut-off function, you must regularly check the fermentation process and switch off the machine when it ends to avoid unnecessarily wasting power.
Another useful function is the timer, which controls how much time is left, thus avoiding the yogurt remaining too many hours out of the fridge. Some timers also allow you to extend the duration of yogurt preparation by several hours.
In some models, an acoustic signal warns you when the work is finished. Another important function, which replaces the timer, is the reminder.
The hours of the day are indicated on the lid, while a pointer is present at the base: by turning the lid, you can set the time when the preparation will end so as not to forget it and turn off the yogurt maker in time.
Power and consumption
The yogurt maker must maintain a temperature of 40 degrees for many hours to allow the fermentation of bacteria. For this reason, the wattage is usually low, around 15 W, to keep costs and consumption low.
However, models that allow you to prepare creamy cheeses and desserts can reach 50 W but rarely exceed them. Yogurt makers are appliances with meager consumption.
Capacity
Homemade yogurt lasts, on average, in the fridge for about a week, ten days at the most. Therefore, it is good to calculate how much time will be consumed to produce the right quantity without surpluses to avoid unnecessary waste.
In this regard, it is useful to consider the capacity of the yogurt maker or the quantity of yogurt it can produce per processing cycle. If you choose a yogurt maker with jars, you must also evaluate the capacity of the containers.
On average, all yogurt makers have the capacity of one liter of yogurt, about 8 supermarket servings. On the other hand, the jars usually have a capacity of about 150 grams; some yogurt makers have a set of different capacities to vary the doses. The jars supplied are usually 7 or more and are made of glass with a plastic cap.
Preparation times
On average, the preparation times are the same for all models of yogurt makers and range from 8 to 12 hours. This is the time frame in which the yogurt reaches the right consistency.
Maintenance
Being an appliance that comes into contact with food, you must wash the yogurt maker carefully after each use. Most of the yogurt makers on the market are made up of elements that can also wash in the dishwasher, facilitating cleaning operations. Furthermore, preparing and storing yogurt with the utmost hygiene is essential to avoid mold formation.
Accessories
The more advanced models, particularly the yogurt makers with jars, may have additional accessories to facilitate the work. For example, some provide only one set of jars for each processing cycle, while others offer a second one.
In this way, it is possible to prepare other doses of yogurt in advance while the first processing process is in progress. The jars supplied can be of the same size or more or less large to vary the doses. In the best yogurt makers, the caps of the jars have a date window to write the expiration date or a surface to mark and delete tastes and expirations.
The best yogurt makers for yogurt and creams
If you want to know which yogurt maker to choose, these are the best ones for value for money to buy, with the main technical characteristics, capacities, and prices.
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