Salton YM9 1-Quart Yogurt Maker

Place the Salton yogurt maker in a convenient but out-of-the-way location where it can run for a few days. Plug it in.

Add one cup of nonfat dry milk powder to a gallon of skim milk and mix well. This makes the resulting yogurt thicker and more nutritious. (I've read that non-instant is better for this but haven't tried it. Any experience with this, anyone?)

Heat milk to 185-190 degrees F, stirring frequently.

Cool milk to 110-115 degrees F. (I usually use an ice water bath. Stir the milk frequently and monitor its temperature closely. This only takes a few minutes.)

Stir a cup to a pint of plain nonfat yogurt with live active cultures (usually from the previous batch, sometimes from a commercial product) into the cooled milk. Whisk well.

Decant the inoculated milk into the Salton quart container and four other clean wide mouth quart canning jars. Put the Salton container in the yogurt maker and the lidded quart canning jars in the refrigerator.

Culture the yogurt to your preferred state of solidity and tartness. It's edible in a few hours but becomes stiffer and tarter the longer you leave it. I usually let it go 24 hours (no kidding-I like it tart!).

When the batch is done, cool it either for several hours or overnight in the fridge or, if you're dying to eat it, more quickly in an ice water bath (no stirring!). At this point the yogurt is setting. If it gets jostled or stirred anytime before it's completely cooled its consistency will be looser and runnier.

When you're ready to make the next batch (or immediately, to keep the ball rolling until you've processed all your quarts), put a wide mouth canning jar of inoculated milk into the yogurt maker. (I used to just take them directly from the fridge. It works, but the resulting texture of the yogurt is distinctly thicker at the bottom of the jar. Now I zap the milk on half-power in the microwave in 30-second runs, stirring between, until it's at 110-115 degrees F. It works like a charm!)

SUMMARY: The Salton YM9 has been a trouble free unit. The only improvement would be larger capacity, such as the Yogourmet machine has (though at more than twice the price). Knowing what I do, I'd buy it again.


Easy Yogurt Recipe   December 5, 2005
Mr. William H. Haws (Queens, NY)
68 out of 71 found this review helpful

The recipes included with the Salton Yogurt Maker are just too much time and trouble (heating a quart of milk and waiting for it to cool, taking temperature readings etc.)

The following is an easy and safe method which makes an exceptionally delicious and a more nutritious product.

Making the Yogurt

(Using a Salton YM9, 1-Quart Yogurt Maker)

Yogurt is a cultured milk product produced by bacterial action upon lactose (milk sugar). The longer the product is incubated the more lactose is converted into lactic acid which gives yogurt its tangy taste. With enough time, the lactic acid can “per-digest” the casein and other milk proteins causing the formation of curds which separate from the liquid whey protein. The curds can be filtered out with cheese cloth and pressed into “Farmers Cheese”.
Real kefir is yogurt fermented with yeast, producing a carbonated drink that contains a slight amount of alcohol. Real kefir can only be made using kefir starter grains. Store-bought kefir is just ordinary yogurt (drinkable) that is more appropriately called “Turkish Kefir”.
Every yogurt manufacturer uses a proprietary blend of bacterial cultures. Thus, the yogurt used as a starter, as well as the incubation time, will determine the taste and consistency of the finished product. The following recipe will create a yogurt with a texture of soft ice cream and a low 2% butterfat content. It also has 2 times the nutritional value of milk or store-bought yogurts.

Ingredients: 2 cups + cold water
2 cups instant dry powdered milk
12 oz. evaporated milk (not skim, unopened can at room temperature)
2 oz. starter yogurt or “kefir” (fresh, unflavored with active cultures)

Procedure: (Caution – Use only a rubber spatula in the yogurt maker container.)
1. Fill the Salton Yogurt Maker container to the .5 liter mark with cold tap water.
2. Add 2 cups instant dry powdered milk while stirring the water. (prevents lumps)
3. Heat uncovered mixture to near boiling in microwave oven. (6
min. depending upon power)
4. Place in yogurt maker, stir to equalize temperature, cover and let stand 10 min. (sterilization)

From this point, all utensils used should be washed in hot water with anti-bacterial detergent.

5. Shake can then stir in 12 oz. evaporated milk. (brings
temperature down to culture safe level)
6. Stir in 2 oz. starter yogurt or “kefir”.
7. Incubate undisturbed for 3 to 24 hrs. (real yogurt lovers
start with 8 to 12 hrs.)
8. Dispose of condensation from cover and refrigerate
immediately. When cold, dispose of condensation from cover
again and gently transfer yogurt to clean storage container,
if desired.

Suggestions and Notes:
1. Stonyfield makes a nicely balanced yogurt with traditional
tartness.
2. Fresh Made classic or original kefir incubated for 12 hours
tastes like whipped cream cheese.
3. Lifeway kefir is similar to Fresh Made but a bit more tart and
costly.
4. Dannon makes a smooth, too mild tasting yogurt, perhaps low in lactic acid, incubate for 24 hrs.
5. Starter yogurt can be homemade but avoid anything over the 6th generation, they get “tired”.
6. The lactic acid in yogurt helps to prevent the growth of
undesirable bacteria during incubation.
7. Using 1 cup powdered milk makes a thinner yogurt with 1 times the nutritional value of milk.
8. Freezing kills the active cultures.
9. Try the yogurt mixed with sliced bananas, yummy! (Top with
strawberries?)




Yogurt Waldorf Salad

Plain yogurt sounds awful but the oats and raisins sweeten the mix.

For one lunch size serving:

- 1 cups of plain yogurt, more or less to taste
- cup of old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons of small walnut pieces
- 3 tablespoons of raisins
- 1 apple cut into small pieces (try different types, red
delicious being the sweetest)
- 1 length of celery cut into small pieces
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, if desired

Mix all of the above ingredients in a small bowl. You'll find it is yummy, nutritious, filling and tends to become addictive.

PS It may be hard to believe, but one serving provides about 38 grams of protein!
(when the homemade yogurt is used)




A little hard to figure out at first   June 16, 2000
Glenn Nichols (Broad Brook, CT USA)
50 out of 59 found this review helpful

I've had mine about three weeks now, and am just now getting the hang of it. Made two batches of goop on my first attempt. But it's working fine now, maybe a little more effort then I would like to put into yogurt. But I have made some very tasty yogurt! If you're looking to experiment and try a few things you will be happy with this machine. Other wise stick to buying yogurt at the grocery store.


Nice, simple, it works!   September 29, 2003
Fanshawe (SC, USA)
49 out of 49 found this review helpful

I had been making my own yogurt for some time, incubating with hot water, a insulated cooler, etc. It worked, but was time consuming and you had to babysit the jars of yogurt...this is much easier. Keep in mind you still have to scald and cool the milk before adding starter, it doesn't do that for you. But once that is done (and a cool water bath speeds up the process) put it in here (after preheating), wait a few hours and you're done. I've found that yogurt incubates much more quickly in this gadget than my "old way," which sometimes took overnight or longer, resulting in very tart yogurt. As other reviewers have mentioned, you can use a wide mouth mason jar as a supplement or to replace the plastic container. I am mystified by those who said that they had to rig special dimmer switches, splice electrical controls onto the plug, etc., to get the correct temperature...just out of curiosity I measured/monitored the tempurature during incubations on several different occasions and it always hovered around 110 degrees. So I'm guessing these folks had malfunctioning thermostats on the machines....anyway, it's reasonably priced, works well and will easily pay for itself if you use a lot of yogurt, particularly organic yogurt.