Hallelujah!!!
For years, when making yogurt, I have been using a digital thermometer with a probe that clips onto the side of the pot and a cord that trails across the stove to attach to a box that displays the temperature while I stir the yogurt with a spoon. This spatula with a thermometer probe is a MUCH better tool for the job. I am able to easily monitor the temperature of the milk while stirring. Once finished, the thermometer is easily removed from the spatula and washed by hand while the spatula part goes into the dishwasher.What really puts this tool over the top for me is how it performed when I used it make peanut brittle. It is impossible to buy peanut brittle that even comes close to what one can make at home. Commercial candy makers heat the syrup to the final temperature, pour in the nuts and then pout the mass into a sheet to cool and then break apart. At home, on a small scale, one can add the peanuts before the final temperature has been reached. This allows the peanuts to cook in the syrup, releasing their oils and flavors resulting in every bit of the final product having a rich, peanut flavor. Commercial candy makers do not do this cooking in the syrup step because it is nearly impossible to stir a giant mass of hot syrup nearly saturated with peanuts. At home, it is extremely difficult to stir this mass, ensuring that everythinging is cooking but not boring all while monitoring the temperature of the mess. A traditional candy thermometer clipped to the side of the pot is useless because the peanut mass spends little time up against the side the pot. A probe thermometer can work but it difficult because one needs to stir with one hand while holding the thermometer with the other. That leaves no hand free to hold the pot in place and prevent it from scooting off the burner. Enter this thermometer/spatula gizmo. With one hand, I am able to stir, scrape and monitor the temperature of the cooking peanut brittle. It is sturdy enough to hold up to the heavy duty task of stirring a mass of sticky, hot peanuts. Judging from the final results, both taste and texture, the temperature measured is accurate. Never again will I be trying to juggle on peanut brittle day.