Yogurt as a new food trend in Howard County

      I have always been fascinated how food marketers have tried to package foods in a way that entice consumers to purchase their foods.   Yogurt is one of those products that now is being marketed in some new directions.  Where has this craze for Greek yogurt come from?  Started by the Greek yogurt maker Chobani it now seems to have been picked up by most major yogurt makers.  While the original Greek yogurt was made with goat milk most of the Greek yogurts we buy are made from cow's milk.  The main difference with this yogurt is that Greek yogurt is strained to reduce the liquid and whey in regular yogurt.  This also means that the amount of milk used to make Greek yogurt is up to 4 times as much as other yogurt.  While this makes Greek yogurt thicker and creamier it also means that the same quantity of Greek yogurt probably has more calories and may make the yogurt more expensive.

     The other new marketing trend with yogurt is the new soft yogurt retailers that are moving to the self serve model.  I have blogged on this once before.   It is hard not to notice this trend in our area with Yogi Castle,  Yogi Cup and Tutti Fruitti.  I have to admit that this self serve trend has me back eating soft yogurt more than in the past when TCBY seemed out of date. 

 I have had fun mixing the flavor choices at Yogi Castle to create some interesting combinations.  My new mixing is to simulate a turtle pie.  I started with the coffee flavor selection, then added a layer of Dulce de leche and finally a layer chocolate.  

This combination was topped with the peanut sauce and chopped peanuts.  

    I blog on some other new food trends in future weeks.