PastaQueen continues her quest to review every yogurt in the world.

Disclosure: I was sent samples of the Yoplait Greek Yogurt to review for this post.

Yogurt has become completely confusing. I remember the intimidation I felt when I first approached the dairy case over five years ago, trying to determine which type of yogurt was for me. There are a bazillion brands, and each brand offers a zillion varieties. Low fat! Non fat! Whipped! High fiber! And now Greek yogurt is popping up everywhere to confuse me even more. I need a yogurtoligist to explain all this to me.

When I was in London last year, I noticed that lots of shops offered Greek yogurt in their grab-it-and-go cases. I suppose the trend is catching on in America because now Dannon and Yoplait have launched Greek yogurt products. I am somewhat confused as to what qualifies a yogurt to be called “Greek.” It doesn’t have to actually come from Greece. I thought it just needed to be strained, making the yogurt thicker than other varieties. But I’ve also heard that you need to start the process with a particular type of milk, like ewe’s milk or goat’s milk, which have different milk fat percentages. Feel free to sort this out on your own. It’s all Greek to me.

Yoplait sent me some free samples of their Greek yogurt, which comes in four flavors: Strawberry, Blueberry, Honey Vanilla, and Plain. This is the fourth brand of yogurt I’ve reviewed on this blog, and I’m beginning to run out of things to say about the creamy substance. I thought the Yoplait Greek tasted fairly good, not that different from the Voskos or the Stoneyfield Farm varieties. It’s thicker than most other yogurts and it isn’t overtly sweet. The plain flavor was a bit too plain for my sweet tooth, so I mixed in some sweetener which made it more palatable.

I looked at the ingredient list and was happy to see I could pronounce all the ingredients on the label. I used to eat the Yoplait Light yogurt all the time because it was by far the most delicious of yogurts. Then one day I ruined it all by looking at the ingredients and saw that they used high fructose corn syrup to achieve that taste. If they’re adding sugar to the yogurt, it’s usually not a good sign for the health-conscious. So, the Greek yogurt seems like a better choice than the Yoplait Light. You can check the labels to see if the 12g-14g of protein is better or worse than your current brand. You can also use this coupon to save $0.30 on Yoplait Greek Yogurt.

Good luck in the yogurt aisle! You’re going to need it.

“Oh, no, that’s just my yogurt experiment,” I told her.

About a month ago MelPo left this comment on my Voskos yogurt entry:

Did you know you can make any yogurt thick–like the so-called greek yogurts that are so popular now? It’s just strained yogurt.

I do it by putting a couple of coffee filters in a colander over a bowl–dump the contents of a big yogurt (my fave is seven stars, but any kind, any flavor will work) into the filters. Then fold the tops of the filters over the top of the yogurt and put the whole bowl into the fridge overnight. The next day, take it out and dump the watery stuff from the bowl and open up the coffee filters and enjoy your thick yummy yogurt.

If you want it even thicker you can weight the top with something fairly light–like a can of soup or something and the resulting yogurt will be a cream-cheese consistency. It makes a delicious pie.

Intrigued, I decided I should try this. I got out a cup of vanilla flavored Dannon Light ‘N Fit yogurt, put it in a coffee filter set over a plastic cup, and stuck it in the fridge to freak my roommate out. When I checked it an hour later, the coffee filter was totally soaked, so I had to take it out and add two more filters to the contraption. The next day, it looked like this:

I tasted a spoonful of the strained yogurt, and it was a bit thicker than when I started, but it still wasn’t as thick as Fage yogurt. I looked in the cup, and at least two tablespoons of water had been strained out. Perhaps this experiment would go better if I started with a thicker type of yogurt to begin with. I dunno. I just know that I’m going to let the professionals handle the yogurt straining in the future.

PastaQueen reviews Voskos yogurt.

Disclaimer: Voskos sent me several coupons redeemable for their yogurt to write this review.

I didn’t start a blog with the intention of soliciting emails from all the major yogurt manufacturers in America, but I’m pretty darn close to achieving that goal. (Am I on some secret yogurt mailing list?) I’ve tasted Fage and StonyBrook Farm and Yoplait offered to send me samples too, but I turned them down because I’m not into the high fructose corn syrup they use. This month Voskos sent me some coupons, so the only major brand I think I’m missing at this point is Dannon, which is ironic because that’s the brand I buy most often.

Anyway! Since I reviewed the other yogurts, I thought it was only fair to give Voskos a go. I sampled several flavors of their Greek yogurt including the plain non-fat, plain original, honey vanilla bean, and blueberry.

As I expected, the plain flavors were too tart for my sweet tooth. However, if I mixed in some sweetener they were more palatable. The blueberry and honey vanilla bean were pretty good, but again, there was that tart flavor mixed in that I’m personally not a huge fan of, but I bet some of you would enjoy. The flavors are pre-mixed into the yogurt, so you don’t have to spend time stirring them up. This also assures that the flavor is evenly distributed throughout the yogurt. According to their web site, they offer several other flavors of Greek Yogurt including exotic fig, wild strawberry, and greek honey. I didn’t see any of those in the Whole Foods store near me where Voskos is sold, though the fig flavor sounds interesting.

You can find a store that sells Voskos here or just hit your local Whole Foods if you have one. If you are interested, you can also try your luck winning one of 10 coupons Voskos sent me for a free cup of their yogurt. To enter, leave a comment below naming a new yogurt flavor you would like to try. Feel free to be creative! You have until 11:59pm on November 2 to enter. I will draw ten winners randomly.

Don’t forget, you can still enter the Pepperidge Farm $100 Visa card giveaway too if you haven’t already, which is also open until November 2. Good luck!

Disclosure: I was sent a case of 8 Fage Yogurt cups and compensated by BlogHer to review this product.

The last time I tried Fage Greek Yogurt, I was not impressed. To be specific, I said “it tasted like diaper rash cream.” Several months ago I was prodded to have it again, or more accurately I had 1/4 a bottle of agave nectar with a lil’ Fage mixed in. It was delicious! Because I love sugar like my own child! A child I would eat! Then I drank the rest of the agave nectar in two days and decided it was best not to do that too frequently.

Recently I was asked by BlogHer Ads to review all four flavors of Fage 2% as well as the plain Fage 0%. (The percents refer to the type of milk used to make the yogurt.) The packaging says Fage is pronounced Fa-yeh! (exclamation point theirs). I’m sure if anyone had peaked in my fridge, they would have exclaimed, “What the Fage is all that yogurt doing in your fridge?”

Fage Yogurt is a Greek style yogurt, which means it’s thicker. As their web site says, the yogurt is “100% natural” and “contains no sweeteners, thickeners, or preservatives.” Thankfully for people like me who frown on the “no sweeteners” policy, some Fage 2% cups come packaged with flavoring: Strawberry, Cherry, Peach, and Honey. The packaging reveals the first three have 130 calories, but the last one has 180 calories, so if you’re being calorie conscious you might want to skip the honey. The packaging for the flavor packs is rather clever. Once you peel off the foil lid, you can tip the sauce half of the cup 180 degrees to pour it on the yogurt. Since it had been in the fridge, I had to use my spoon to get all the chilly flavoring out, which was of similar consistency as fruit preserves.

I mixed up the flavoring with the yogurt for all the packages and they were all quite delicious. The trick for me to enjoy Fage is to use the yogurt as a delivery device for the fruit or honey. Then I have a snack that’s sweet, thick, and creamy in texture. However, I didn’t mix my yogurt up all the way and was left with a bit of plain Fage at the bottom. Without flavoring the Fage yogurt is too sour and plain for my tastes. However, some people have suggested that those qualities make it a good substitution for sour cream in recipes.

I thought it was interesting the flavored Fage comes in 2% and Total, but not 0%. I can only guess that they think if you’re cutting calories you don’t want the flavors. So, you’ll have to provide your own honey or agave nectar for that style. Which is a shame, because I can’t be trusted with a whole bottle of honey and I’d probably buy a 0% flavor pack if it were available. You can find out more about Fage Yogurt on their web site. You can win some free yogurt too. Visit the BlogHer yogurt sweepstakes page here.

Officer Krupke would give Fage a thumbs up if he had thumbs!