Yogurt review

[redbird]

I picked up a quart of Ronnybrook Farms plain yogurt at the Greenmarket on Wednesday: they're a nice local dairy, and the price on their whole milk yogurt was about what I pay at the supermarket for Dannon (and less than the supermarket price for Stonybrook Farms). I opened it this morning.

It's thinner than the Dannon (so is the Stonybrook Farms), and noticeably sharper/more sour. If I were making tzatziki, or using it in a curry, that might be an advantage (though the thinness would be a disadvantage for tzatziki). For breakfast, yogurt with fruit, I don't want that sharp edge. I'll probably finish this, but not buy it again.

Ronnybrook Farms also sells milk (including a full-fat chocolate milk), butter, ice cream, heavy cream, creme fraiche, and a few other things. When I wanted to try papersky's suggestion that ice cream would taste better if I made it using cream without carrageenan, I went to Ronnybrook Farms. (I couldn't taste the difference, nor could cattitude.) I haven't tried their butter, because I doubt it would taste twice as good to me as the Land o' Lakes we're getting at the supermarket, and it costs about twice as much. (We're following Consumer Reports's advice on brands of butter: there are differences in flavor, and we like the one they recommended.) Mostly, I stop by their stand and get a single serving of ice cream or a pint of chocolate milk, and eat or drink it while wandering through the market shopping for fruit and vegetables, or just wandering for its own sake.

Comments

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

Ronnybrook Farms sounds like a good brand to use to make yogurt cheese. The sharpness is pretty much in the liquid, and you'd have something milder and thicker for fruit. (Plus, you'd have the liquid for breadmaking, if you do that. It makes for a nice sour taste.)

[pnh.livejournal.com]

Haagen Dazs is made without carrageenan; we keep track of this, because Teresa is mildly allergic to it and other such emulsifiers.

[redbird]

That's good to know. Some Breyer's flavors are as well (I'm not sure of some of the things like "berry swirl").

What turned out to be tricky was finding carrageenan-free heavy cream to use in my ice cream maker (for flavors not readily available in the supermarket, or sometimes just because: I've got the last of some homemade peach ice cream, as well as the ginger). Almost all of it is ultra-pasteurized, and then has emulsifiers added because it won't whip as well after the UHT treatment.