Day 11: It's All Greek to Me!!

What in the heck is Greek yogurt??

Motivation: We've all seen that funny commercial with John Stamos and the two wives... well if you missed what they were advertising, it was a brand of Greek yogurt.  I see commercials for several brands advertising Greek yogurt.  I go to the store and see Greek yogurt.  I know at one point I was given a sample of Greek yogurt and it tasted awful.  But what makes yogurt Greek?

Answer: 

I started this with a google search per my norm, using the phrase "what is greek yougurt?"  

One of the nice things about google is that occasionally you will type a question and they will just give you the answer in a convenient box or at the top of the search results.  I think this happened before when I wanted to know how many ounces were in a cup or something like that.

Anyway, here pops up a nice little box that says "web definitions" and give me the definition from- who else- Wikipedia!  Well how do you like that?  My other favorite place to look for all my answers.  Here's the quite lengthy definition:

Strained yoghurt, yoghurt cheese, labneh, or Greek yoghurt is yoghurt which has been strained in a cloth or paper bag or filter to remove the whey, giving a consistency between that of yoghurt and cheese, while preserving yoghurt's distinctive sour taste. Like many yoghurts, strained yoghurt is often made from milk which has been enriched by boiling off some of the water content, or by adding extra butterfat and powdered milk. However most strained Greek yogurts have no added fats and are made of real milk.

Yoghurt strained through muslin is a traditional food in the Levant, Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and South Asia, where it is often used in cooking, as it is high enough in fat not to curdle at higher temperatures. It is used in both cooked and raw, savoury and sweet dishes. Due to the straining process to remove excess whey, even non-fat varieties are rich and creamy.

Rumination: First of all, could they not have used yogurt anywhere?  It just made me think this wiki answer came from a Brit because they used a u in savoury.  Do British people spell it "yoghurt?"  Maybe that's a question for a future post.

Does this not look like lard floating in broth?

But more importantly, ew.  I had to post the picture they gave on Wikipedia because it looked straight up nasty.  And in the definition it mentions that it has a distinctly sour taste.  Pass!  When I think of yogurt, I do not think of sour.  I understand the draw for the health and weight conscious, though.  It says that Greek yogurt has no added fat and is made of real milk.  And most of us know that diet food is often not that tasty.

There you have it.  If you have not tried it, spend the dollar and get yourself one, then return to this post and let me know what you think.  I for sure will NOT be consuming it again... ew.