Greek Yogurt Taste Test

First of all what is Greek yogurt? Or to be more precise "Greek Style" yogurt. Plain and simple it is yogurt that has been strained and the whey or liquid removed. It renders even fat free yogurt creamy and smooth. Many countries actually make strained yogurt but the name Greek Yogurt has stuck and become immensely popular in the United States. So popular in fact that some companies thicken theirs with pectin to make it even more smooth and creamy, that makes it "Greek Style" rather than Greek yogurt. Both versions are available even in a small town in Alaska.

Last week at the store I found some Chobani Greek yogurt, which has been the social media darling for a couple months now. I thought I best give it a whirl to see how I liked it and if it was worth the 2+ dollars a cup price tag. Then I really started looking and found 3 more varieties, Fage, Oikos and Brown Cow. That's when I decided we'd have a yogurt taste test to find out which Greek or Greek Style yogurt was best. I knew my boys would want in on this one so I picked out blueberry flavor for all four varieties.

So the contenders:
Oikos, Organic Greek Yogurt Non Fat Blueberry
Chobani, Greek Yogurt Non Fat Blueberry
Brown Cow, Greek Yogurt Non Fat Blueberry
Fage (Fay-yeh) Greek Yogurt 2% Fat Blueberry

I used four matching bowls, four matching spoons, four matching post it notes and a silver sharpie. I wrote on the bottom of one container a #1 and a #1 on a post it note, opened the yogurt and spooned it in the bowl. I did not look closely at any container after that. I repeated this until each yogurt was in it's own labeled bowl and the containers all numbered and put away. Then I called in my boys to check out our snack time. They were so excited to see so much yogurt ALL FOR THEM, I reminded them that I got some too.

all seriousness and business

We talked about how we would taste the yogurts and what we were looking for, smoothness, creamy, fruit pieces, taste, smell, sourness and the like. Then I told them they had to pick the first one but they had to agree on it. So they conferred and we commenced to tasting. And tasting. And moving bowls into second and back to third. We placed them in order of best to less best because truly they were all good.

left to right winner on the left

Then I turned over the bowls to discover which number we considered best in show and placed their container in front of the bowl.

#1 for taste, flavor, smoothness and best all around Fage 2%-plus this is the only one that actually states "strained yogurt" in the ingredients and does NOT contain pectin as a thickening agent-the only drawback is the separate fruit and yogurt bowl make it a hard bowl to recycle in the kitchen-this does have milk fat but the calorie count is still low at 130 per serving

#2 Chobani-good but not as smooth and creamy--had nice fruit-non fat 140 calories--has pectin

#3 Oikos-again good but just not that smooth, a bit watery-non fat 120 calories has pectin

#4 Brown Cow the least favorite had a bit of an odd taste not bad just a bit 'meh' 130 calories non fat-has pectin

The fage was so far above and beyond any of the other choices that I wonder what made the most difference; the milk fat, the actual strained yogurt or the separation of the fruit and yogurt? Interesting idea that I'll try to follow up on. Any thoughts would be appreciated too.

I really tried to be fair in our tasting trials. I wanted to make sure I had no preconceived notions so I didn't read up on Greek yogurt before hand. I didn't look at their labels until we had done our tasting too. I didn't want to become familiar with the packaging and get biased.  

I also bought each and every cup we tried, none were sent to us to 'try'. I don't know if I'll end up buying small containers of Greek yogurt for our family, it seems pretty expensive. I do think if I were in a hurry, out and about that one of these would make a pretty great and healthy snack.

A heads up too, I heard through the grapevine that Costco is going to start selling Fage in giant tubs. I guess the question is how MUCH Greek yogurt can you eat?

Peace and Love--