Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We're very happy with ours. After becoming fond of yogurt in France, we've been disappointed that we can't find a similar taste and texture here at a decent price (and without all the added sugar or flavoring). So, like others, we've experimented with various starter options. We found that using half of a 7 oz container of Fage 2% fat Greek yogurt, available at our local grocery for $1.50, and 2% milk, we could get pretty close to what we had in France. What we made using the packets of starter that came with the yogurt maker, was pretty good, but the best price we found was about $1.60 per packet (which makes only 1 batch, not 2). Yes, one can use one of the 7 jars to make a 2nd batch, but we found it wasn't quite as firm as the first batch -- and you net only 13 jars from 2 batches vs. 14 using the Fage. But, the packets have a long shelf life and are easy to use. We followed the directions, heating the 2% milk to 180 degF over a low gas flame and then cooling to 110 degF in some water in the sink, using a digital candy thermometer -- then adding some of the warm milk to 1/2 the Fage yogurt (saving the other 1/2 for a 2nd batch), mixing with a whisk, returning it to the pan of warm milk, whisking again, then pouring into the jars (via measuring cup with pour spout) and setting the timer for 12 hours. Others like the Stonyfield Greek yogurt, but we haven't found it in small containers. Based on tasting no-fat yogurt, we figured 2% would give us the taste we were looking for without as much fat as whole milk. 2/14/13 update: Since we'd read that some use only 2 oz. of yogurt starter, we tried using a fourth of the 200g Fage container, which worked, but didn't have quite the quality of using half the container. Using a third works better and matches the 3 batches you can get from a gallon of milk. We also recently tried using Kirkland nofat Greek yogurt (bought in a qt container, actually 2 qt containers for $7) as a starter, which works quite well. It dawned on me that it's the fat content of the milk we're using that determines the fat content of the yogurt we make. The fat content of the starter makes up only 5 or 10% of the finished product, so one could use nofat, low-fat or full-fat. I think the most important criterion is that the starter be Greek yogurt, which normally has 5 cultures and makes very creamy yogurt. Heating the milk to 180 degF (and holding there for 2 mins) kills the resident bacteria, so that only those from the starter will determine the nature/quality of your yogurt.