Salton YM9 1-Quart Yogurt Maker

If you have kids and they gobble yogurt up by the case, this handly appliance will repay you very quickly. If they insist on cups, save and clean the plastic ones from the store, or get small containers from the housewares department. Put juice-sweetened jam or crushed fruit and honey in the bottom and make home-made treats that are less expensive and have less sugar.

Why scald the milk? If you are using fresh milk, as opposed to the ultra pasturized tetrapacks (like Parmalat) you scald the milk to kill enzymes that can prevent the yogurt from forming. Why use dry milk added? The added milk solids make a stiffer yogurt. If you are going to make smoothies and yogurt shakes, don't bother to add the dry milk.

This yogurt maker holds a quart and doesn't have the goofy single containers that other yogurt makers have. A quart is a good size for a family. This maker will serve you well.


Twenty Smackers?   May 5, 2002
246 out of 249 found this review helpful

I was quite surprised to see that this maker costs twice here what I paid at a local retail store four or five years ago. I use it about every other week. I've never had a failed batch.

I would still recommend this unit, despite the higher cost. Most of the other contraptions I've seen are not only much more dear, but also require that you make lots of little pots of yogurt. What a hassle.

I prefer to buy organic animal products. When you can actually find organic yogurt, it's expensive. And finding organic whole milk yogurt is well nigh impossible. If you're interested in organic yogurt, making your own is the way to go. After several batches, you'll recover the cost of the maker.

And about the silly, flimsy design that other reviewers have mentioned... I chucked the inside tub, cover and spoon. I use a quart size, wide mouth canning jar. And I just discovered last week that my grocery store sells "storage lids" for canning jars, plastic, screw on tops. Much easier than the metal rings & caps.

I've read some reports that heating foods in plastic might be dangerous. Using glass eliminates that worry. Also, the added weight of the glass helps to stabilize the unit, which others have mentioned is very light.

Finally, using the canning jar/s means that I can store the yogurt in the container I make it in -- but then I can make more yogurt before that batch is completely used up. Not possible with the original container.

I wouldn't regret buying this unit at the higher price here. However, before I did, I'd check my local thrift store. I'll bet that, like crock pots, these little units get passed along at a good clip.


Basic and bare-bones, but worth it nonetheless   February 26, 2003
Laura S. Heiman (Northfield, MN United States)
108 out of 108 found this review helpful

I use this to make several quarts of yogurt a week. You can make yogurt without a specific yogurt maker, but it's a headache if you don't have an oven with digital settings that let you set the temperature very low. I never quite succeeded with any other method, but this seems to be foolproof. I plug it in, it goes on. I unplug it, it goes off. If only my vcr were this simple! So no, you're not paying for features, but features are not always useful anyway.

Another nice thing is that you can throw out the silly inner container it comes with, and use a widemouth quart jar, or even a recycled quart yogurt container, to make your yogurt in, so you don't ever have to transfer it to another container.

You can make your yogurt with organic milk and at a price that is dramatically cheaper than buying it in the store (mine comes out to be 1/5 the cost of bought organic yogurt).

It also makes yogurt cheese almost affordable. Just toss your yogurt in one of those reusable coffee filters (Kmart and Target sell them) and the strained yogurt becomes very thick, a good replacement for cream cheese and sour cream, among other things. Try it in cheesecake - yum!


Its really a lot simpler than the directions sound!   January 11, 2001
Robin Underwood (Copper Center, AK USA)
102 out of 106 found this review helpful

I would love to give this nice simple little tool 5 stars, but it does have the fault of making itself a lot more complicated than it needs to be! The included yogurt container is goofy, the lid does not snap on, and the spoon is fairly useless. I just use a quart canning jar or peanut butter jar. Don't be put off by the fancy directions, its really easy. Why scald the milk, it was just pasteurized. I gently warm it up to body temperature before adding the starter. We have just put cold milk and 1/2 cup of starter in the jar, and let it warm up in the yogurt maker, but it takes a lot longer. Also, adding extra dry milk is not necessary, it just makes the yogurt a little firmer. Set yourself free from all that fussing, and enjoy some nice fresh yogurt. The basic appliance, the incubator, works great and can save you money. Our local stores do not carry good plain yogurt, so we just keep organic whole milk in the freezer and make our own.