Cabot Greek Yogurt

We eat a lot of yogurt, mainly homemade.  The yogurt maker is always in operation at home.  I haven't set up a yogurt maker at our vacation home.   The main reason has been we have had too many things to do getting the vacation home up and running to worry about making yogurt.  So, for the length of time we are there I buy plain yogurt.

I discovered Cabot Greek style yogurt made with 10% milk fat.  This yogurt is made in Vermon and 100% of the profits got to their farmers (similar to Fair Trade products) t.  Oh good gosh is it ever good!  The highest milk fat I use at home to make yogurt is 2% but occasionally buy 3% milk fat Greek style yogurt as a starter.  I always buy the smallest size container possible at home.

I often substitute plain yogurt for sour cream because yogurt encourages the growth of beneficial intestinal floral growth that keeps harmful bacteria in check.    The numbers for the 10% milk fat yogurt actually were quite good in comparison to sour cream.  Sour cream is 492 calories per cup with 10 mg cholesterol, total fat of 48.3 g, 7.3 g protein and total carbs of 9.9 g.  The 10% milk fat yogurt is 290 calories per cup. total fat of 36%, 75 mg cholesterol, 18 g protein and total carbs of 12 g.  Since dietary cholesterol really plays a very small role in coronary disease (high cholesterol is mainly genetic), yogurt even at 10% milk fat is a healthier choice than sour cream.

I honestly found the 10% yogurt too rich to eat by itself.  It was extremely rich and creamy lacking much of the natural tang of plain yogurt.  It was a wonderful substitution for sour cream on top of grill baked potatoes though!  It would be really good for cooking as well.

I will certainly be using the 10% milk fat yogurt at our vacation home rather than sour cream.    Hey we can all cut back a bit on calories yet that doesn't mean we have to cut back on flavour.  I really liked this yogurt as a topping!  It would be a lovely substitute for whipped cream too.  The flavour was quite delightful but for me only in small amounts.