So if you have shopped at any grocery store in the past year (and I’m sure you have), you must have noticed the complete take-over of the dairy aisle by Greek yogurt. The brands are different; there’s Chobani, Fage, Oikos and Voskos, but the idea is the same. Basically, all Greek yogurt is strained plain yogurt.
When you strain yogurt in a cheesecloth for about six hours, you drain off all the liquid and only the “yogurt cheese” remains. This, in turn, nearly doubles the protein content of the yogurt (one cup of yogurt contains a whopping 20 grams of protein!) and creates a much thicker, denser product. It also costs a pretty penny! For a four-cup serving of Fage, most supermarkets charge about $5.69, whereas a four-cup serving of regular yogurt sells for only $2.99. What’s the deal?
This article appears in May 6-12, 2009.
