Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Total-ly smitten with Greek yogurt

Recently - although not THAT recently - I was asked if I would like to try out a particular brand of Greek yogurt. Now, Greek yogurt being my most favourite type of yogurt for its thickness and sweetness – by which I mean that it’s not sour like home-made yogurt gets after a few days – I was only too pleased to accept.
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And so a short while later I was contemplating a big box containing all variants of Total Greek yoghurt - nonfat, 2%, regular and 2% with honey, in small- and large-sized containers. There was way too much for just me (even at my most enthusiastic) and Pete to finish up before the use-by date, so I shared some with my favourite neighbour, and some – mainly the 2% with honey – with Pete’s office colleagues.


I have to say that the 2% with honey was favourite with everybody. The yoghurt was creamy and smooth, and the quality of the honey was excellent too – not to mention generous in quantity. I tried the non-fat yoghurt and can’t really say that I was impressed by it – it had a chalky sort of texture/mouthfeel and it just didn’t taste right to me. But then again, I doubt you could do a totally non-fat product that tasted better than the regular product, or even the low-fat product.

The 2% yoghurt and regular yoghurt were lovely. I always buy greek yogurt, because I love the stuff - but I usually get the supermarket brand. (I've tried Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda, with Tesco's winning by a good margin.) I have to admit, though, that the supermarket brands of Greek yogurt are not a patch on Total. Total Greek yogurt is the creamiest, thickest version I've ever had. My mother thinks that the supermarket yogurt I buy is too thick, but the next time she comes here, I'm going to spring Total on her.

I made a few dishes using Total Greek yoghurt , with great success. The 2% yogurt lent itself to being thoroughly heated. The regular Total yogurt can be heated without the danger of it curdling - a big plus, because curdled yogurt in gravy looks indescribably disgusting. Curdled yogurt is edible enough despite looking like baby sick - but I find it very difficult to put it anywhere near my mouth because my eyes reject its appearance.

The non-fat yogurt, though... that was awful. I found the texture and the taste unpleasant, sort of chalky, I suppose. Even thinned with a bit of water to make yogurt-rice, it didnt taste right to me. It might be ok to eat with fresh fruits and honey drizzled, but I couldn't. That's just me, though. I'm sure that health and fitness freaks would go for the non-fat Greek yogurt.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi sri,
good review. my favourite is tesco fat free natural yogurt thet are defo good and if you want authentic taste then onken bio pot is the one!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

It's my favourite yoghurt too. I always have asupply in my fridge.

Radi said...

Shyamali, Amma's already smitten with the non-fat Greek yogurt we get here (from Costco, where we seem to get practically everything, come to think of it). No doubt Total is as good as you say, but Chobani is also hard to beat :) AND it comes with fruit, but the yogurt is on top, fruit at the bottom. No chalky anything with Chobani, even though it is non-fat. I'm a total convert, by the way! :) I have one cup everyday, and with 14g of protein in 8oz of yogurt, no high-fructose corn syrup, and fruit, it is win-win for me. Especially compared to the other small-container yogurt brands, that have the high-fructose corn syrup, and are incredibly, teeth-rottingly sweet.

Shammi said...

Anon: Tesco fat-free yogurt is nice with rice, but no good for cooking. I like Greek yogurt both for its taste and cooking use.

Jacqueline: I aim to have at least one container of 2% Total, too!

Radi: If I could get Chobani here, I would. But I dont, so I cant :(

Anonymous said...

The Tesco Greek Yoghurt you refer to is unfortunately made in the UK, and should be correctly called Greek-Style Yoghurt. It is a completely different product to Total Authentic Greek Yoghurt.

All supermarket own-brands, and Yeo Valley and Rachels come to think of it, are simply not the real thing.

I've done a bit a research and spotted that Total has won many taste test awards, including the 0%version. A worthy winner I say - I buy it everytime! It knocks spots off all those other inferior imitation products.

Keep up the good work!
:-)