which is your favourite Greek style yogurt, and why?

[foodyDudey]

I am asking which Greek style yogurt you like as I am wondering if you like one of the ones mentioned in this recent article in the Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/f...

I was surprised to find that the Greek Style yogurt that I like best (SKOTIDAKIS) wasn't even mentioned or tested. It seems like they focused on products from the big producers - even so it would have been nice to mention a product made in Canada by a small farm and actually owned by people of Greek heritage, especially when it tastes better than the others I have bought and that were in the G&M "test".

[JennaBean]

I don't ever think of Greek style yogurt as low fat. As a kid the yogurt my Greek side of the family had was always full fat, very thick, rich and a serious tangy taste. If it isn't at least 9 percent, I'm not interested. As a result, my fav tends to be Skotidakis or Fage but I find the second hard to find.

[foodyDudey]

That's exactly what I like about Skotidakis. I don't like any yogurt without fat and tartness. What is sold as 0% yogurt is not really yogurt.

[JennaBean]

Not at all. It is often thickened with strange food products that I have zero desire to eat.

[CanadaGirl]

It depends. There are some 0% yogurts that have only milk and bacterial cultures as ingredients (PC Greek for example). Seems pretty real to me. I know some people prefer high fat yogurts, but they aren't necessarily "more real"

[foodyDudey]

Milk with 0% fat is not what comes out of any dairy animal, so I'd say that milk that is closer to the m.f. content found in raw milk is "more real"

[CanadaGirl]

True, cows do not give 0% milk. But I spent a childhood drinking raw milk from my grandfather's farm that was skim. I never liked the fat in milk and still don't. Was I drinking milk that wasn't real?

[Flexitarian]

Agreed. But, having agreed and preferring Skotidakis 9% Plain Yogurt to all other brands I do occasionally buy Liberte Greek Plain Yogurt 0% M.F. at Costco and have to say it's quite thick for a 0%. But it's not as thick as Skotidakis and has no tangyness at all. Here's a chart from Liberte's website comparing its yogurt with other brands.

http://www.liberte.ca/sn_uploads/fck/AN.jpg

Although Liberte is 1/2 the calories for the same serving size, I'd still rather go with Skotidakis because it has that characteristic Greek yogurt tanginess and beautiful thickness.

The numbers Liberte lists for Skotidakis are wrong because if you go to the Skotidakis website they show a 175g serving as having 11g of protein, not 8g and they say their Yogurt is strained, yet Liberte says Skotidakis is not strained:

http://www.skotidakis.com/en/products...

Strange that Costco carries Skotidakis Tzaziki and Jalapeno yoghurt dips and their feta cheese, but not the plain yogurt. If they did I would never buy Liberte. I've emailed Skotidakis about why not ages ago but never got a reply. Maybe I'll email Costco instead.

[liverwurst]

Not having tried the Skotidakis, I can't offer a great opinion, but of the couple kinds of Greek style yogurt I have tried, I really like the Greek Gods. Can't remember the fat content. I think it was quite high, as it was thick, very smooth and creamy. The one I had was the honey flavour. Got it at Whole Foods, but I've seen it at Loblaws as well.

[JennaBean]

If I took 0% MF "greek" yogurt to my theía's house I'd never hear the end of it. Greeks aren't really known for low-fat food products. We tend to just eat smaller portions of high fat/rich products.

[sgogo]

Fage 0% with cherries. I'm pretty obsessed with this yogurt. I can't deny stockpiling and eating it WELL past the expiration date (which I usually ignore anyway). Tried Chobani once and it had an odd aftertaste to me. I'd love to find a Canadian-made brand to try, maybe I'll look for Skotidakis.

[CanadaGirl]

I must be an outlier, but I LOVE the PC 0% yogurt. I don't find it chalky or sour at all :)

[JonasBrand]

We think President's Choice greek yogurt is awful, but Oikos 2% is pretty good for commercial stuff. Our favorite is homemade labneh from the persian stripmall on Yonge north of Sheppard.

[foodyDudey]

Have you tried the Skotidakis? I compared that with Oikos a few months ago and never bought Oikos after that.

[ParsleySage]

1. Fage (preferably the European made)
2.Skotidakis
I prefer the taste & consistency of Fage. I think the issue with Skotidakis
is that it isn't as widely available as the pedestrian varieties of Astro Greek, Liberté, Oikos, Chobani et al. I only see Skotidakis occasionally at Longos.

[Flexitarian]

I see the 9% at The Big Carrot ($4.69) all the time and I was in Harvest Wagon on Yonge St near Summerhill yesterday and saw both the 0% and the 9% there for, surprise, only $3.99.

[ER2]

I clicked on the link and found this. Is this the same SKOTIDAKIS you had in mind?

A few brands that we know and like for regular yogurt made the worst Greek versions in our sample. On taste and texture, we disqualified Quebec-based Liberté's 0 per cent (“Thin, lumpy, chalky”), President's Choice 2 per cent (“Loose, runny spoonful of chalkiness”), and Skotidakis 9 per cent, which was too cheesy to our taste, and believe it or not, too rich to eat outside of dessert.

[Flexitarian]

Each to his own, but I think Skotidakis makes the best yogurt out there and I have tried them all. I buy the 9%. It is not cheesy, is nicely thick and is slightly tangy. In my opinion nothing beats it out there.

I have even done blind taste tests with friends and they preferred it too. I have not found the Toronto Star (although I love the paper) reviewers up to par often.

[foodyDudey]

The article was in the Globe and Mail a few weeks back, not the Star. I don't find any of the food reviewers from the papers are up to par oftem, not just the Star.

[foodyDudey]

When I first read the article I didn't even see a mention of SKOTIDAKIS, I am thinking they added that to the on-line version later. I initially read the print version. So they say that the Skotidakis is too rich but then the 11% Olympic Krema ties for first place, and they say:
“Looks like it could double as bathroom caulking. The pleasures of fatty dairy at its finest.” whicjh seems to indicate they like the richness of this one.