The coolest yogurt ever
First of all… hi. Long hiatus, I won’t even bother explaining, but please know that the blogging world was in my heart 🙂
I went to Whole Foods recently and had a meltdown in the dairy section because they were out of the yogurt that I usually buy (whole milk plain yogurt by Traders Point Creamery; greatest yogurt EVER). So I resigned myself to scouring the shelves for a temporary replacement. I decided to try Skyr, an Icelandic yogurt that I had read about a few months back. I found a plain single serving 6-ounce container of plain skyr priced at $2.79 (ouch!) and was pleased to find that it had only 100 calories (yay!), 6 grams of carbs (double yay!!) and 17 grams of protein (triple yay!!!). Oh, and it’s fat free (I’m out of ‘yays’ by this point because I’m still reeling that this miracle food exists).
It’s a yogurt made with skim milk; the milk is incubated with live active cultures and rennet. The whey gets strained away and you’re left with something like soft cheese. Not to worry–historically, all that strained-out whey didn’t go to waste; it was used to pickle foods during the winter. You need to use a lot more milk to make skyr–at least 3 or 4 times more milk than it takes to make the regular liquidy yogurt that fills most supermarket shelves–which I guess explains both the higher price tag and the high protein content. Today, it’s made mostly with cows’ milk although it used to be made with both cow’s milk and sheep’s milk.
The following morning, I eagerly opened my container of skyr and turned it upside down over a bowl. Nothing came out. I grabbed a spoon and stuck it in to swirl it around a bit and was surprised to see how thick it was. The taste? Sour, like sour cream mixed with plain yogurt. Consistency? This is yogurt that you can chew. I drizzled my Haitian-smuggled honey and ground cinnamon over it (which is how I normally eat my plain yogurt). It took getting used to; it took me a lot longer to eat because it’s more like a soft cheese than regular yogurt.
Verdict: I love it and now regularly shell out for it. My trusty Traders Point is still the greatest ever, but this stuff has gotta be the coolest ever. I’ve also tried the blueberry and vanilla flavors. But you should be warned–none of the flavors take away that tangy mouth-puckering dairy taste, so don’t expect blueberry-infused skyr to taste like sugary fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt. All flavorings are very subtle. I’m enjoying mixing in different ingredients–I like to add a spoon of vanilla extract to it. Sometimes I mix in some of the more liquidy plain yogurt. I might try it with jam and fruit sometime–Icelanders often eat it this way. Apparently Icelanders also stir in milk & sugar, or cream & sugar. I can’t imagine adding cream to such a creamy cheesy dairy product, but Icelanders have been making and eating this stuff for about ten centuries, so I readily assume they’ve come up with sound recipes for this product along the way.
I tried Siggi’s skyr, a New York-based skyr-making company started by a homesick Icelandic immigrant named Siggi Hilmarsson. I buy this particular brand at Whole Foods, but it sells in other specialty shops too. Siggi’s flavors include plain (yum), blueberry (yum), vanilla (yum), orange & ginger (would like to try), pomegranate & passion fruit (have no desire to try, as I hate passion fruit), acai (would like to try), and grapefruit (curious). Certain Whole Foods locations also carry another brand called Skyr.is, but it’s not at my location. Major kudos to the skyr.is website for sharing lots of fun skyr recipes with the public! Happy eating!
Frankie
August 11, 2010Skyr sounds very much like Oikos, a Greek yogurt sold by the makers of Stonyfield organic yogurts. It’s an acquired taste, for sure, but worth it once you get past that super thick consistency. I think it’s even made the same way: three times the amount of milk, getting rid of all the whey, and it has 0 grams of fat. It’s tangy and I can’t wait to make tzatziki sauce with it. Best part: it’s $1.00 per single 5.3 oz container. Woot!
sunnyglobaldiva
August 12, 2010A dollar?! Must find and buy, thanks for the heads-up 🙂
Frankie
August 12, 2010Ha, no problem! I felt a sharp pain when I read you were spending $2.79 per container.
Let me know what you think of the Oikos when you try it, though. Maybe you’re paying so much for the Skyr because it’s amazing and superior to all other yogurts…
Ale
September 14, 2010Wow! I saw the siggi’s yogurt at Sprouts, a farmer’s market they have over here. They were selling it for $2.49. I got one just to see what you were fussing about. WOW!!!!!! I’ve never actually had greek style yogurt. I was depriving myself. Anyway the price is a little much to be eating it regularly, though I would love to. There is an arcticle in the August issue of cooking light magazine that shows you how to strain your own greek-style yogurt.I’m going to have to try it and see how it goes. I’ll let you know, but if you are curious to try it yourself:
1)Spoon plain nonfat or low-fat yogurt into a fine-mesh steel strainer lined with a paper towel or coffee filter.
2)Set the strainer into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, put in fridge, and let the whey drain out of the yogurt overnight.
love you!
sunnyglobaldiva
September 14, 2010It sounds simple! I’ll try it =) xoxo