Yogurt brands- more higher fat?

[shootingstar]

This is for yogurt buying/yogurt consuming fans:

I'm not a regular yogurt buyer for home fridge. I just buy something on sale and have it at home 2-3 times per wk. or less. Y(es, occasionally some of the stuff might have a sweetener. I don't sweat over it.)

But dearie has been yogurt freak last few decades. He has noticed over the past few months in both Vancouver and Calgary, that the large tubs of yogurt, for many brands are now offering higher fat yogurt. He consciously buys plain yogurt most of the time. I too, have noticed some yogurt companies creating Greek yogurt or richer tasting yogurt. I'm not sure, without a lot of label examination if the fat is higher.

He also buys plain yogurt if he can, in a big bulk tub. So it's important he buys healthy for large volume buying.

If given a choice of plain yogurt I do tend to buy 0-2% fat yogurt. But then, I haven't analyzed what that means because I'm not a frequent yogurt consumer.

Maybe this higher fat yogurt is not obvious in the U.S. for yogurt fans?

[OakLeaf]

It's not the fat percentage that matters, it's the fat composition. I'm not sure there's any "brand" of yogurt that's from cows fed 100% grass. Seven Stars claims to follow biodynamic principles, but it doesn't appear they're Demeter certified. Better to buy your milk from your local grass-fed dairy and culture the yogurt yourself.

[shootingstar]

Apparently some of the yogurt labels divide between milk fat and butter fat. Does anyone understand what that means?

[Owlie]

Greek (or Greek-style) yogurt is just yogurt that's been strained, so it tastes richer because the water content is lower. The fat content per serving might be higher simply because less of its mass/volume is water. Here, at least, you can easily get fat-free or 2% Greek yogurt.

I've started buying more of the stuff recently, and if I can get it, I prefer to get full-fat. I think it tastes better. I also use it for cooking (ex, curry sauces), and the low-fat stuff breaks if heated. Ick. It's hard to find full-fat Greek yogurt, at least in most grocery stores I've been in. I've been able to get full-fat Dannon, etc. for a while. (I suppose I could strain it myself, but I'm lazy.) And cream top yogurt? Mmmmm.

As for your question about milk vs. butterfat: My uneducated guess is that the butterfat might refer to anything "extra" added beyond what occurs in the milk. (I think whole milk in the US is at least 3.25% butter fat.) The Fage in my fridge has some added cream, presumably for texture. I've never seen a breakdown on a label, though.

"Yogurt" is no longer a word.

[Crankin]

I buy Fage or Chobani plain Non-Fat Greek yogurt. I never buy the flavored kinds; too much sugar; put my own fruit in.
Non fat is non fat. It does taste richer than non-Greek plain yogurt.
I don't eat it too much anymore, as even if I take Lactaid before, dairy bothers me.

[Catrin]

I do not always buy dairy it but it tends to be fermented when I do. When I do buy yogurt it is full fat organic plain yogurt - I like what Trader Joe's sells. I've been noticing that what few other brands I can find that is full fat organic yogurt appears to have sugar added - fail! Sometimes I add fruit to it, sometimes I don't. Occasionally I will add a scoop of Tera's Whey Dark Chocolate protein powder to it - gives me a nice shot of protein, calories, AND tastes very close to chocolate cheesecake

[zoom-zoom]

I wish full-fat yogurts were easier to find -- Greek or otherwise. I hate skim milk...it's blue water! I did find one $$ full-fat greek recently, Noosa. It's REALLY good. Unfortunately it only comes in single-serving tubs, as far as I've found.

I've actually made my own yogurt and strained it. Good stuff, but time-consuming, since it requires heating the milk, then cooling to a specific temp, adding culture (from existing yogurt), setting in a cooler with a heating pad overnight.

[carlotta]

It seems difficult to find whole milk plain yogurt here as well (that's not $$$) so I'll usually make my own, although I'm not perfect with temp/incubation/etc so it only propagates for a batch or two before I start over with fresh commercial starter. I also strain it to a texture somewhere between Greek and yogurt cheese, since I despise runny yogurt-- I've realized that most of the sour flavor is in the whey, so thicker yogurt has that really nice sweetness from the milk and I'm never tempted to put sugar in it (marmalade is another story, tart homemade marmalade and granola is my standard go-to for yogurt fixins if I don't have fresh fruit).

I also like the savings when I make it, I can get a half gallon of whole local/hormone free/pastured milk for $2.50ish and that makes a quart plus a bit of really thick yogurt, and enough whey/liquid for two loaves of bread so I don't have to use milk. I'd pay ~$5 for a quart of thinner (less protein) yogurt at Trader Joe's, and that's my standard fall-back yogurt (and my starter, usually).

[OakLeaf]

If you make yogurt a lot I think it's worth the money for a commercial yogurt maker, just for the thermostat.

It's fun to experiment with different cultures too - storebought plain yogurt (various brands), commercial starter, opening up some probiotic capsules. Each has a different flavor. I wish I wasn't so allergic to dairy, you're making me crave yogurt!

[ehirsch83]

I also wish that full fat yogurts were easier to find. When you lower the fat percentage you are altering the chemical makeup (they aren't just straining out fat, they are are changing the chemical makeup). Our bodies process full fat products better since they are in the natural form.

[lph]

I don't eat a great deal of dairy products, but when I do I love full fat yoghurt and full fat cheeses. I don't have a strong opinion, but I'm not convinced that less fat is healthier. Seems to me I feel full faster and eat less when I eat something with more fat. Sugar is a whole different animal, many yoghurts have massive amounts of sugar in them. I didn't notice that until I started buying plain yoghurt and adding jam or marmalade myself. I had to add so much, to get anywhere near the sweet taste of the pre-sweetened ones.

[Owlie]

I wish full-fat yogurts were easier to find -- Greek or otherwise. I hate skim milk...it's blue water! I did find one $$ full-fat greek recently, Noosa. It's REALLY good. Unfortunately it only comes in single-serving tubs, as far as I've found.

I've actually made my own yogurt and strained it. Good stuff, but time-consuming, since it requires heating the milk, then cooling to a specific temp, adding culture (from existing yogurt), setting in a cooler with a heating pad overnight.

Noosa is tasty. But it's expensive and the tubs are tiny.

[tulip]

I, too, prefer whole milk yogurt (plain). It fills me up better and for longer than non-fat. I feel unsatisfied when I eat non-fat yogurt. My local grocery store used to carry Cabot 10% fat, but they stopped. They only carry non-fat of all sorts of brands. I'm too far away from a whole foods or trader joes to make it worth the trip so I just deal with the nonfat. I prefer Greek, but if I can't find it in big tubs, I'll strain the regular stuff with cheese cloth.

[shootingstar]

Didn't know there were alot of full fat yogurt fans here. Still, I won't be actively selecting only full-fat yogurt.

Yea, sure it's still low-fat yogurt for me and I don't eat as much as others.

And no, I like skim milk. Whenever I do have 2-3% milk, I can taste the difference vs. skim milk. Whole milk is too rich tasting for me.
To me, there IS a difference that I taste and see between skim milk that I've had in some areas of the U.S. vs. here in Canada.

[Blueberry]

I'm in the make my own camp. I buy full fat milk from a local dairy, and use that. I'm actually investigating an even cleaner source (though it may be cost prohibitive). I do not eat much other dairy fat (I have cut my cheese consumption dramatically) and I eat only chicken and fish (no red meat or pork), so I'm not really worried about the fat.