Don’t Stir That Yogurt
I enjoy yogurt. Being a bit of a health geek (okay, a lot of a health geek), I’m partial to the plain yogurt—typically low fat. In fact, every morning, I start my day by enjoying a little plain yogurt with something crunchy sprinkled on top. Sometimes it’s Grape Nuts, sometimes that’s homemade granola, but there’s always yogurt involved. The point here is that I consume quite a bit of yogurt and have been for the past few years. That’s why it’s funny that I’ve only recently made the following discovery: stirring yogurt destroys the somewhat solid texture it’s supposed to have. It negatively impacts not only texture, but the flavor as well.
I discovered this partially by experiment, but those experiments were motivated by a tub of Fage Total 2% authentic greek yogurt that I bought on a whim. First off, you should go buy some Fage right now. You haven’t had real yogurt until you do. They even have it at Giant Eagle, so you have no excuse not to try.
The texture of the Fage was quite different from most yogurt I’ve ever eaten. It’s light and fluffy—far less runny than more heavily processed yogurt epitomized by Dannon All Natural. There’s even a protective plastic lining that presses down onto the surface of the yogurt to collected any separated liquid. When you pull off the plastic, the liquid has a natural tendency to come off along with it. As a result, the taste is a little bit dry—and in a very good way.
At first, I chalked this different texture up to the fact that it was a different kind of yogurt. Maybe greek yogurt is just that way. Then I tried something out with my Brown Cow (plain) Low Fat yogurt. I opened my weekly tub one morning to find the yogurt slightly separated. As is fairly typical, some liquid (presumably whey?) had collected on the surface. Thinking back to my experience with the plastic lining on the Fage, I dumped out the liquid. Normally, I would stir it in and go on, but I decided to try something new. The yogurt kept a little of the structure you find when first opening the package, and it tasted a little bit more like the Fage.
The next day I did the same. Then again on the next, and so on. Each morning, there was a little whey collected on the surface of the yogurt, but I gently poured most of it down the drain (it was less than an ounce or so each time). Each morning, the yogurt was light and more like Fage than I ever expected. In fact, it grew better with each passing day as more and more whey was discarded. It actually reminded me of back in the day when Graham Kerr used to drain yogurt in a cheesecloth to make a kind of fat free queso blanco. That ye oldie Graham Kerr memory probably even helped to motivated the experiment.
So, I’ll repeat and stand firmly behind my original statement: don’t stir that yogurt. I haven’t found any further documentation in the blogosphere or elsewhere (though I didn’t look very hard), so this may already be common knowledge. If it’s not, and you aren’t already doing this with your yogurt, at least give it a try and see what you think. While you’re at it, you should probably give some Fage a try just so you know what you’re missing. They even have flavored varieties for for those of you that aren’t as ridiculous as I am with the all plain all low fat all the time.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
I have always shaken my containers of yogurt (Stonyfield Farms organic–no high fructose corn syrup!!) before opening them because there’s fruit inside, and I presume the fruit and the yogurt separate. But I’ve never just opened up one without shaking to find out. I’ll give it a try.
April 8th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
My experience is limited to plain yogurt, so I don’t know how the technique holds up to fruit-filled yogurt. I would expect that you can get the same effect provided that you don’t loose any fruit when you dispense with the whey. I’d be interested to hear how that works out for you.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
At least on the type of Fage yogurt I buy, it even says not to stir it on the side of the carton…
April 19th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Ha. I guess that show’s how observant I am. Given my terrible memory, maybe that’s even where I got the idea in the first place.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
I finally tried my fruit yogurt without any shaking or stirring. The texture was thicker and more…well…yogurty. What’s more, the fruit flavor, in this case strawberry, was present, though not as pronounced as it is after shaking. This is not strictly a fruit-at-the-bottom yogurt, but there certainly is some settling. Interesting experiment.
Thank you also for the recommendation of Prantl’s chocolate chip cookies and for your own recipe. I have very, very few culinary skills or interests, but making cookies from scratch is one of them.
December 2nd, 2007 at 10:39 pm
[…] Many of the local brands of yogurt are heavily sweetened and I don’t really like them. Certainly, we don’t like to give them to the kids. All these local brands including imported brands of yogurt are really smooth. All the while, I enjoyed smooth yogurt. This becomes the opposite not long before I read in Purely Random about yogurt. LA has told me about stirring yogurt some times ago. […]
March 6th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I just googled FAGE yogut do not stir–I was just bored and wondered why they didn’t want me to stir it (it says it on the side in red writing). Odd request to me–now I know why! It comes with cherry fruit (Total 2% with Cherry) on the side compartment, so I stirred them together. It is so good! I am a vegetarian, and greek yogurt is a great way to get protein that is lower carb. 5.3 oz has 10g protein. Trader Joe’s has a great greek yogurt, too–blueberry and honey flavors in convenient portable containers–22g protein per cup, 120 calories, and fat free!
June 24th, 2010 at 9:13 am
Thanks, I initially thought the tangy taste was rancid, but, if you eat the yogurt the right way, it’s pretty awesome!
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/health/Greek-Yogurt-Empire-Breeds-In-NY.html
March 6th, 2011 at 3:59 am
I just had my first Fage with honey last night and while after falling in love, was sad that I “didn’t do it right” by stirring. I just had another Fage with strawberry, unstirred. I approve. Thanks for the explanation!
May 6th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Hummm, to stir or not to stir. I to wondered at the direction to not stir, after all that wonderful honey is a bit difficult to scoop with each bite. The comments here help. I love the Greek style 2% yogurt, it seems to be a fair resembalance of the yogurt I ate in the 60’s. No gelatin, little or no sugar make the Fage 2% a great additiion to my daily diet. I love the way it fills without stuffing me with unneccessary ingredents. Some thoughts on the whey sometimes seen in the yogurt. I save the whey by freezing it then it is added to my smoothies this is a great way to bump up your nutrition in a pain free way. I will strain the yogurt overnight by loading it into a coffee filter lined strainer. Loosely covered it sits in my fridge until the next day. Now I have a great sub for cream cheese on my english muffin that can be savory or sweet with the addition of herbs or spices. I like to add the flavorings before straining and yes I stir. It is great when used to make dips. You controll how thick the yogurt becomes by how long you let it drain. I find people who claim they can’t stand yogurt just love the dips. If you use plain yogurt instead of sour cream the nutrition is bumped up with additional calcium and protein on your bake potato or in your cakes. Let’s not forget the great probiotics. I am grabbing a Greek style yogurt to snack on instead of ice cream Fage 2% is the best.
May 22nd, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Like Jessica above, I was bored and googled “why not stir Fage” and so found this cool blog. You’re right, Shannon, the Fage is the closest thing to the 1960s stuff I have found. In fact, I think it’s a bit of an improvement on it. I used to consume the old Dannon “fruit on the bottom” yogurt that came in those wax-coated paper cups with the pull-tab lid. Heaven on a spoon, as I recall. Dannon no longer produces the quality product it started out with, so I have left them behind for Fage, which, IMO, is the best yogurt I have EVER eaten, bar none. Oh and BTW, I stir. Plain yogurt just isn’t for me. But I have gotten a couple of good pointers in the responses to this blog, so thanks!!
July 4th, 2011 at 5:19 am
hi there! i’m greek and total is my favorite yoghurt. it is a “strained yoghurt” and that refers to the production procedure which takes out all of the yoghurt’s liquids making it so thick and rich in taste. i remember a print campaign for total showing a spoon with yoghurt turned upside down. do it and you’ll see that it won’t drop down because of this thickness.
August 2nd, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Fage is the “BEST” yoghurt. I love it!! I have 1 - 2 servings per day!! I am going to try the “no stirring” method. I love how thick it is. Thanks for the info!!
September 5th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
I just wanted to point out that by pouring off the whey from your plain yogurt everyday you were in fact making your own Grrek style yogurt. Greek yogurt has about 50%less liquid (hence the 50% more protein) than regular yogurt, so you were gradually getting closer and closer to that every day. Thanks for spreading the word about not stirring. I get so disappointed when I see people spending so much money on a product and not getting to enjoy it the way it was intended!