Sunday, December 05, 2010

Greek Yogurt

So, first of all, I noticed that yogurt used to come in an 8 oz size, and now, for the same price, nobody puts it in bigger than a 6 oz container. Nice.

Also noticed that a cup of yogurt has more sugar than a bowl of cold cereal. Yikes?

Today, I tried Greek Yogurt because everyone kept telling me it's so good. It was good. Three times the protein, too, with half the sugar of regular yogurt, plus real fruit instead of fruit flavor. Thicker and creamier, too. I liked it, although I still wish people would make yogurt from whole milk or cream instead of nonfat milk. The kids, being used to candy yogurt, didn't think much of it.

The thing I thought was most amusing was that the packaging said "Sweetened with stevia," but the ingredients indicated that it was primarily sweetened with just plain old sugar, with trace amounts of Stevia in the last couple of ingredients (I suppose to justify the claim). So if you're avoiding yogurt for the sugar, at least the brand of Greek Yogurt I tried wouldn't help you. They just keep it quiet that it still has sugar in the top three ingredients. To their credit, I suppose, there were more strawberries than sugar, and, since there weren't many strawberries, I guess that means there wasn't a lot of sugar.

So now I'm wondering: If I use Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt as a start for home made yogurt, will it taste different?

3 comments:

C. Wilson said...

I was reading about making the different kinds of yogurts last week and basically the only difference in taste is the sweetener and whether the fruit is mixed in or on the bottom. The bacteria are all basically the same. Also, the consistency difference is all about the amount of straining and whether it is stirred before being added to it's final pot.

PS-I have some medical stuff I'd love to discuss with you and get your opinion on.

Becca Jones said...

Hey Chas--I'm glad you made it home from Disneyland, what with the fog in Utah and all!

That's good to know about the straining, stirring, etc. I thought maybe the bacteria were the same, but I didn't bother to go look it up.

I'd love to hear what you're learning about (medical stuff-wise). You always find the most interesting things!

Also, how is the flood restoration coming?

Loralee said...

Sweetened yogurt does have a lot of sugar, but you have to remember some of that is the lactose that occurs naturally in the milk. Compare with a carton of unsweetened yogurt to see how much sugar is added (I really think they should label "added sugar" or break it down further. Also, (while it's entirely probable that the stevia was added just so they could put it on the label), stevia gets listed last because it can be nearly 300 times sweeter than regular sugar, so a little can go a long way.

We now buy plain yogurt and mix in jam or something.