Yogurt

Everyone who's ever stopped in front of the yogurt display in a grocery store must have seen the large variety of yogurt flavors available. Some have fruit in them, some just the flavor, some have mousse-like texture, and so on, and so on, and so on. Eating Greek yogurt is the few fad, so it isn't surprising that many different flavors have popped up as well. Well, variety is good, right? Yes, but I often find myself spending a looong time choosing a type of yogurt to buy. And that's true even though I usually stay away from the flavored varieties because they can be too sweet for me.

I'm a huge fan of plain yogurt, but even there the options are amazing. Over the years, I've done unofficial taste tests to find brands I like. I judge yogurt based on the following criteria:

1. Whey (the liquid in yogurt) - as little as possible
2. Taste - more tart is better
3. Texture - needs to be creamy

So here are my favorites in several categories:

Plain non-fat yogurt - Dannon. It has very little whey and good, firm texture. The tartness is good for a plain yogurt. Publix-brand yogurts are also good.

Flavored yogurt - I like the Yoplait Whips for their mousse-like texture. They can be as indulgent as desserts, but hey, they still have some health benefits

Plain non-fat Greek yogurt - Fage. I love everything about it. It's pretty tart, firm, and creamy. Chobani is actually creamier, but I prefer Fage for its tartness.

Because of the popularity of Greek yogurt, some more exotic types of yogurt have also appeared. For now they are primarily found in organic food stores like Whole Foods, but I can see some of them jumping to the mass market. Today I decided to do an official tasting of some plain yogurt varieties I saw at Whole foods: Greek (Eros), Icelandic (Siggi's), New Zealand (Dreaming Cow), soy milk (WholeSoy & Co.) and coconut milk (So Delicious). So here are my reviews:

1. The Eros Greek-style yogurt wasn't as good as my favorite Fage. The taste was a little milder, but it was similar in texture. I think it represented the Greek yogurt category very well. And for people who care about this, the milk comes from cows certified to be raised and handled in a humane way...
2. The Siggi's Icelandic-style yogurt (also called skyr) was amazing! It was incredibly creamy and thick. Like Greek yogurt, it's strained. I'm guessing it's strained for longer to achieve this texture. It wasn't as tart as Fage, but I'm still a huge fan. And the best part is that it is surprisingly low in calories for such creaminess (80 calories for a 150 g container). And just like Greek yogurt, it has a whooping 15 g of protein.
3. I have mixed feelings about the Dreaming Cow New Zealand-style yogurt. My initial reaction was that I hated the cream layer on top. It is just that: maybe 1 mm-thick layer of cream. I'm not sure of it forms naturally on top of the yogurt (it probably does in New Zealand), or if it's artificially added to the commercial product. Well, after you get past the cream, the yogurt is actually pretty good. It's tart and firm, probably from straining. It resembles Greek yogurt, but with only 1/3 of the protein. And as an added bonus, the milk comes from free-range cows here in Georgia. (The Wallaby brand of Australian yogurt didn't come in plain variety, but maybe it tastes similar to New Zealand-style yogurt without the cream top layer?)
4. The WholeSoy soy milk yogurt is dairy-free, thus vegan friendly and good for people with lactose intolerance. I do drink soy milk on a daily basis, but I wasn't a huge fan of the yogurt. It did taste just like soy milk, but also came with the grittiness/starchiness of bad soy milks. I might have liked it if the starting milk was better quality. Btw, it's surprisingly high in calories and low in protein (150 calories in 170 g, 8 g protein).
5. The So Delicious Coconut milk yogurt is targeted to the same user as the soy yogurt - vegans or people with allergies. The coconut taste was very very mild, and I actually wish it was stronger. It wasn't as starchy as the almond yogurt, but the texture was just off for me. It looked like apple butter, but a light brown color. Or non-strained ricotta. The only reason I finished it is because I don't like throwing away food. 

Btw, in my numerous hours in front of the yogurt sections, I've noticed that Chobani has a pretty good variety of flavored Greek-style yogurts. Maybe for my next taste test I need to try them all?

P.S. Start reading the names of the bacterial cultures that the yogurts are made from. The different brands differ somewhat, but they ALL contain L. bulgaricus, a bacterial strain originally isolated from Bulgarian yogurt :) I can't wait for the time when Bulgarian-style yogurt will become available in the US :)