Does what it says on the pack - Easy! (Easiyo Yoghurt Maker)

Member Name: wendyloo

Product:	Easiyo Yoghurt Maker
Date:	24/03/07 (2503 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Yummy and Nutritious

Disadvantages: I eat too much of it

Easiyo yogurt

I am a major lover of yoghurt or yogurt as it tends to be spelt nowadays and I love the acidity of real yogurt which is combined with the sweetness of fruit. Generally, though, the varieties that are sold in supermarkets are very sweetened, and thickened with cornflower or gelatine, and basically taste more like a fruit flavoured custard than a yogurt. Enter EasiYo!

I was introduced to EasiYo by a colleague at work, who brought in a small white pot with bright red lid each day. On asking what it was she was eating, she told me that it was her home made yogurt and did I want to try some? I did and it was refreshingly sharp, and was a real old fashioned natural yogurt. I could imagine this with the addition of bananas or strawberries and raspberries, so I asked where she had got it.

In the past, I have tried to make my own yogurt, by using tepid milk left on the side with a table spoon of natural yogurt stirred into it. To be honest, by the time a few hours had past, there was no way I was going to try to eat this rather disturbing off milk, so have never got past that stage. It may have turned into something wonderful, but I thought I was more likely to get a stomach bug, than have a nice pud!

My friend said that she had been introduced, unusually, by her mother who had been making yogurt this way for a couple of years. My friend has Coeliac’s disease, and so has to be very particular about her food, hense her mum was keen to ensure that she was eating sensibly (her mum is 70 years old and still worries!).

I was advised to go to Lakeland in Bluewater, to have a look at them as there are various packs, and you can buy the yogurt powders there, too. Interestingly, the listing for EasiYo says that it is a Lakeland product. This is not true. Lakeland are the main outlet for EasiYo in this country, but it is made in New Zealand by EasiYo Products Ltd.

My daughter (always my partner in crime / expenditure) came with me and we looked at the options. The starter kit that we bought was £18.99. This included an instruction book; a large flask; a pack of powder (or there may have been a couple, I can’t remember); two small empty containers for individual servings and a large empty container for making the yogurt.


The process is dead easy, as the name implies. All you need to do is firstly, boil your kettle. Whilst the kettle is on, you can open one of the packs of yogurt powder. This is basically dried milk powder with cultures of Acidophilus. This is what turns the milk into yogurt. Half fill the larger container with cold water, and add the powder. Stir until dissolved, and top up till full (there is a mark on the container to show). Give it a shake. Kettle is now boiled, and you will pour this into the large flask (like a thermos flask). There is a red ‘baffle’ which is a piece of plastic which sits in the flask creating a ‘shelf’ halfway down. This also has a water mark, so you just pour the hot water in until you reach the mark. Pop the container with the yogurt mix into the flask, close the lid, and then leave for 8 hours (or over night). If this sounds complicated, then I have failed in my duty as it is the easiest thing imaginable, and no more difficult than making a cup of tea. After eight hours, you will have 1 litre of homemade yogurt.

We have found that the yogurt stays ok to eat for a week. There is no indication of how long it can last in the fridge, but it doesn’t tend to last that long, anyway, but my friend lives alone and uses up to a week, so I would use that as a guide.

I have since been back and bought more containers for making the yogurt as my daughter and I have different tastes. I still like the natural yogurt, but she prefers the sweetened fruity ones. So far we have tried:

Natural low fat – this is like a French set natural yogurt and is very sharp. I like adding my own fruit to this;
Strawberry sweetened – very ‘gloopy’ and very sweet. This is more in keeping with a shop bought variety as there is no sharpness, so children would like it.
Caramel sweetened – again, very gloopy, smells gorgeous and like toffee, but has a slightly sharper taste than you would think, but still very sweet and more for a child’s palette.
Wild berry drinking yogurt – very sweet, very runny, and I wasn’t sure if I liked this or not. Good in a small dose, but too sickly to have often. Kids would probably love it!

In the summer, I plan to try freezing the EasiYo yoghurst into ice lollies. I think it would make a good alternative to eating ice cream, and I generally love Frozen Yogurt from the supermarket. I will probably throw in some fresh or frozen fruit to make it more interesting.

Generally, you could add any fresh fruit into this yogurt to make it a very healthy dessert, or a healthy breakfast in its own right.

Here are some contact details:
UK – Info line is 01332 850468
www.easiyo.com

The nutritional information states that they are Gluten Free; they have 36% of your recommended daily calcium intake; have no artificial colours or preservatives;
They are no GM; halal certified (whatever that means) and ‘low glyaemic index’. (and that is the sweetened one).

The calorific value per 200g serving (1/5 of the litre) is 107kCals, or 446 KJ.

I have found the packs of mix available in health food shops, so can buy them easily once I had the starter kit. I have not seen the starter kit anywhere other than Lakelands, so maybe that is why it is listed as their product. I can’t say that it is a cost effective way of eating yogurt compared with shop bought multipacks. I can’t actually remember how much the packs cost, but I have a feeling each pack is about £1.50 individually, but cheaper in the packs of eight which I buy. The bonus is that you are paying for a good product, and not one that is really just cheap ingredients such as gelatine and varieties of sugar, but flavoured to taste like yogurt.

I truly recommend this if you love real yogurt.

Thanks for reading. If I have missed anything off, please let me know and I will edit the review!

Wendyloo for Dooyoo 2007

Summary: This is a yogurt maker that a child of ten could use (hot water permitting)