Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker: "Yogurt Cheese" Sounds Gross, But the Results are Delicious!
Written: Sep 13 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use and clean. Inexpensive. Compact. Well-designed.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: This is an inexpensive product that works very well, and is much less messy than other alternatives for straining yogurt, such as using cheesecloth. Highly recommended.
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| mrs-j's Full Review: Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker |
Many years ago, I'm guessing about four, I saw an episode on the Food Network about making yogurt cheese, and straining yogurt. So somewhere along the line, recalling that episode, I purchased the Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker. I used the yogurt cheese maker exactly once, in a failed attempt to make tzatziki. Disgusted by the results, which were really more due to the recipe than the cheese maker, I chucked it into a kitchen cabinet, where it hid (and then was moved, and then rehidden) for years.
Fast forward to about two months ago. My husband, who is the chef in our home, is on a tzatziki-making spree. He found a fantastic recipe, but the yogurt-based sauce was too runny. He bought cheesecloth in an attempt to strain it, but that was a horrible mess. Finally one day he said, "Wait, didn't you buy a yogurt straining device once?"
"Yes, and you mocked me for it, saying it was a waste of kitchen space," I replied. "Okay, well I'm not mocking you now," he said. "Where is it?" And thus began our hunt. We found the little Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker hiding in an unassuming fashion behind a dusty rolling pin and dead coffee maker. We took it out, washed it off, and put it to good use that night.
About Donvier and their Yogurt Cheese Maker
Donvier products (www.donvier.com) are manufactured by "Browne & Co" (www.browneco.com). Browne sells a number of foodservice and retail food/gourmet products all around the world.
The Donvier line includes a handful of yogurt and ice cream based products. They sell a yogurt maker, an ice cream maker, frozen pop molds and the yogurt cheese maker.
The yogurt cheese maker is very simple. So simple, in fact, that my husband did indeed mock me. Being an Alton Brown fan, he knew that technically you could use cheesecloth to strain yogurt and he thought that the yogurt cheese maker was just an extra useless gadget. In practice however, cheesecloth is extremely messy and the yogurt cheese maker is clean, simple, compact, inexpensive and easy to use.
There are three parts to the yogurt cheese maker. There's the square canister, which is constructed from a hard plastic material. There's the wavy screen insert, into which you pour your yogurt to be strained. And finally, there's a clear plastic lid for the whole outfit, so you can pour in your yogurt, seal it up completely and put it in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.
The design is brilliantly simple, but very effective. The "wavy" design of the screen maximizes the straining surface area, so the yogurt is strained as efficiently as possible.
Using the Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker
Using this product is quite simple. Just set the strainer piece into the square canister, and pour in your yogurt. You can use full-fat, low-fat or fat-free yogurt. I've found that fat-free yogurt, when strained, has a slight chemical taste. The strainer can hold about three cups of yogurt and yields about one cup of cheese, which is good for up to two weeks. (I'm neurotic, so I pay attention ton the "sell by" date on the yogurt container and toss it if it gets over 2 weeks or past that date, whichever comes first.) Snap the lid on, put the whole thing in the refrigerator, and come back later. The longer you let it sit (up to about 24 hours) the thicker and more "cheese-like" your yogurt will be. For sauces, it only needs to strain for an hour or so, but you can check the strainer routinely and wait until the yogurt is just the texture you're looking for.
Then, simply remove the strainer, turn it over a large bowl and using a spatula, scrape out the strained yogurt. The whey, in the bottom of the square canister, can be discarded.
I make sure to rinse the strainer well before loading it onto the top shelf of our dishwasher. All pieces fit neatly and easily onto the top dishwasher rack and we've had no problems with washing them in a regular dishwasher cycle, although Donvier does not specifically state that the product is dishwasher safe.
What Is It Good For?
Okay so you can make tzatziki. That you know. But if you're like me, the phrase "yogurt cheese" makes your toes curl a little bit. Worse yet is the abbreviated form, "yo-cheese", which sounds too much like "toe cheese" to be edible. As a picky eater, I have rejected foods because the names are just repulsive. (Kidney beans? Artichoke hearts? I so did not eat foods named after body parts as a child!) But don't let the name throw you off.
So rather than refer to it as that, I like to think of it as a tangy, soft cheese much like softened cream cheese. In fact, many people use the strained yogurt just like cream cheese. The yogurt has an almost identical consistency after it's been straining for a full day.
In addition to tzatziki you can also make herbed cheese, lemon yogurt cream, and you can use the cheese as a thick creamy base for potato salad. Donvier has a whole host of "cheesecake" recipes on their website, including banana cheesecake, apple cheesecake and chocolate marbled cheesecake. If you're on the fence about whether you'll be able to make some good recipes with this yogurt maker, visit Donvier's website and check out their recipes before you decide to make your purchase.
Summary
My husband now loves this item and we use it at least once a week, sometimes twice. He's gotten very "into" making his own sauces and creamy cheeses to accompany the tilapia, salmon and chicken that we usually eat.
Donvier's yogurt cheese maker is inexpensive, easy to use, and it works exactly as promised. I highly recommend this product to anyone looking for new ways to incorporate yogurt into their diet.
Donvier Products: http://www.donvier.com
Recommended:
Yes
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mrs-j
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