The Fage Total 2% with the attached side of peach or honey are a great way to start the day.

OK, based on this endorsement, I am going to stop on the way home, get some and try it...it will be the first yogurt I've ever eaten in my life.

It damn well better taste like whipped cream.

It's like milk... the 2% Fage is (presumably) made with 2% milk and the 0% is fat free.

Personally, I love the 2% (the 0% is tangier, and something I don't particularly care for in my yogurt) but my hips and heiny prefer the 0%.

But what's the total mean? EL

EL -- since reading your first post asking for yogurt recommendations I purchased the Fage 0% fat free version and it is great! Adding fruit is even better...blueberries and strawberries is all I have tried so far. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions!

You will become addicted. In the words of R.R. Yummmmm. I don't use sour cream at all now, just FAGE

For those of us in Maryland, a "Fage bus" will be giving out free samples at the Food & Wine Festival at National Harbor this weekend, if you're willing to drive that far. For details, see the Fage website.

Bucky, you're in luck -- another Fage bus will be making multiple stops in the Denver area through June 18. Will it be stopping anywhere near you?

Ok, even better than Greek yogurt is Icelandic skyr - it's sort of like the love child of Greek yogurt and marscapone cheese. Carma's Cafe in Charles Village makes skyr -- to die for (and be buried in!)

Bucky, will you please report in after you try it?

I'm a Fage fan, but I can tell the difference between the 2% and the 0%. I much prefer the 2%... it's creamier and a little less tangy, but I'll eat either one as the Trader Joe's my husband buys it at is often sold out of the 2%.

We also use it in place of sour cream when cooking/eating. My husband cannot tell the difference. I can, but it works perfectly as a substitute.

LOL.

2% what? They fooled you all. I know what they do.

They take something like 0.8% fat milk and remove half the water to make it thicker. You end up wth a 2% product. Their regular "Total" with no misleading % is 8% fat including 20% cherry goop. So without the cherry goop it's about 10% fat. So they are usinng 5% milk there, But wait, whole milk is only 3.5% fat. Oh my, what alchemy!

The secret of fa-YAY yogurt? Centrifuge out most of the water. Ta da!

hmpstd - Yes, they will be at the grocery stores I go to from both home and work. Thanks for the heads-up.

Stacy - you betcha. I'm thinking a Friday guest post called, "Me 'n Yogurt".

I'll know my new medication is working when I can understand an OMG yogurt posting. :-)

No fruity goop in mine, OMG! Just a little honey, as the Greeks do it. Local cinnamon honey from my farmer's market is the best.

Sunshine Kid, perhaps understanding OMG on yogurt is not worth fretting about.

2% is the way to go. And under no circumstance should you get the Fage Classic that has around 250 calories and something like 12 grams of fat in a little container.
The 2% with the honey is the best!

So does it taste like yogurt or something else entirely?

The Fage Classic makes to-die-for Tandoori chicken. My hunch is that the increased fat content is a better transfer vehicle for some seasonings.

Bucky,
I eagerly await your post on what this stuff is like. I figure if a mostly steak-n-potatoes guy like yourself likes it, its probably pretty good.

No offense EL, I'm just not a real yogurt fan and if there is yogurt out there that is palatable, I'm there.

Loose Canon, I think you are right about the fat.

Love the nick. Sounds like a Brit sitcom.

I'm with PRob on this one. I am not a fan of yogurt at all, even frozen yogurt.

But I wish I was, it seems like a nice portable way to get protein and calcium. If there is a "yogurt" that doesn't really taste like yogurt, I would be happy to try it.

Bucky will be our guide. Like Mikey from those Life cereal commercials.

"If there is a "yogurt" that doesn't really taste like yogurt, I would be happy to try it."

Isn't that why they put the cherry and other goop in it?

PCB Rob and Bourbon Girl - I am humbled beyond description by the trust and confidence you have shown in me and I will endeavor to perform my yogurt testing duties in a manner that justifies your confidence.

Let's plan on a report next Friday, as tomorrow's guest post has already been put to bed.

Trader Joe's has a store brand Greek yogurt that is less expensive than Fage.

Bucky,
I can't wait. Thank you for your bravery, to venture where we "yogurt-challenged" dare to venture.

I hope BG would concur.

I love Fage in any form. I use it in place of sour cream for any number of things. It;s great on a baked potato...mixed with ranch dressing for a taco salad, or simply with fresh fruit for a quick snack. I really like it drizzled with honey. The stronger (in flavor) the better.

Yes, I concur. Thank you Bucky. You are indeed brave to take on the yogurt thing.

RiE - fruit goop does't count. (heads up Bucky!). the goop can only make it worse. processed fruit from god knows where with sweeteners? no thanks.

It's fresh fruit or nothing for me. That's why the "yogurt" has to stand on its own and not taste like yogurt. EL seems to suggest this is possible, hinting it is closer to whipped cream. That is what has got all the yogurt-haters hopes up.

Bucky - this is it. Is it more like whipped cream or yogurt? Like PRob, I'm so glad you are on the case. I have total faith in your judgment.

I'm right there with you, Bourbon Girl and PCB Rob. I detest yogurt so I'd love to find some that doesn't really taste like yogurt. Fruit goop has never been enough to mask the taste for me.

I've been using Faget for about a year now. It's a great substitute in any recipe that calls for heavy cream or sour cream. I use it to replace buttermilk/milk in meatballs and meatloaf. It's great stirred into many soups (especially cream-of-anything) as well. Great in curries and cuban style black beans and rice as well.

Trader Joe's has a store brand Greek yogurt that is less expensive than Fage.

Shhhh, Marion, don't tell them...more for us! Heh.

I eat the TJ's greek yogurt every morning with either some kind of fresh berries or a cut up banana, a handful of good granola, and a swirl of clover honey mixed in. Seriously so good. Also, a great thing to mix flax seed into, if you are into that kind of thing. You don't taste it at all, and still get all the benefit.

The 0% is fat free and loaded with protein

OMG - I'll really be interested in what you come up with.

Owlie, the type of live culture is different for Greek-style yogurts. So, just straining regular yogurt will yield something similar, but with a different taste.

Reducing milk yields something not at all like yogurt. If you aren't very, very careful, you are going to ruin the pot you heat it in, too.

Fage bacteria: L Bulgaricus, S. Thermophilus

Horizon: L. Acidophilus, B. Bifidus, S. Thermophilus, and L. Bulgaricus.

There's nothing special in the "Greek" yogurt, unless they have magic cows there.

I still believe that the whole Greek yogurt thing is hooey.

Not being knowledgeable of things bio/chemical/technical, can't you take a bit of the "greek" yogurt which I presume still has live bacillus and inoculate some raw media to produce "greek" yogurt or any other type for that matter?

If you aren't very, very careful, you are going to ruin the pot you heat it in, too.

I did that once, not too long ago. Was heating up some milk to cook steel-cut oats. Milk boils and burns fast, I've discovered.

Back in the 70s, when I was all Earth Mother, I made my own yogurt. I don't recall milk reduction as part of the process and I'm quite sure I would. There was a lot of straining mess through cheese cloth involved.

AAAAAAAAAAaaaa......

The bacteria in Fage are the same old ordinary ones in other yogurts. In fact most organic yogurts have 6 kinds instead of Fage's two, which makes the them superior to Fage. It's some kind of monkey business with the milk, I tell you!

Makng yogurt is not at all messy. Heat milk to kill any bad bacteria. Cover and let cool to room temp. Add starter (other yogurt). Let sit overnight. That's it. One quarter the price. Same product.

How to make Greek yogurt: strain regular yogurt through cheese cloth. That's it. No need to fire up the centrifuge or atomic evaporator, OM. Maybe you and BG could do something more, uh, normal this wekend. Come to the movies with us. Leave the yogurt at home.

http://greekfood.about.com/od/greekcookingtips/ht/strainyogurt.htm

Eve, I think you only have to strain if you milk the cows, goats or sheep yourself.

The bacteria taste differently depending on where they are from and how the original milk tastes. It is terroir.

My Bulgarian boss, who is an awesome cook, loves Fage and who makes her own yogurt, has not had good luck using Fage as a starter. She uses a cup of dannon, fruit and all.

Amanda C., I use a melitta filter in a holder and put the yogurt in the filter paper. Works great.

Surprise! My wife (the other Canon) has deposited some Chobani yogurt in our fridge. Diversity is a good thing, no??

Rob, Bourbon Girl and Stacy - So, we have a little problem. I got the Fage yogurt (both the 2% and the (blank)% kinds). I tasted them.

Then I realized that the glitch in our little mythbusters experiment is that I've never eaten yogurt before. So I really have no idea if they taste like yogurt or not. I have no point of reference.

They do not taste like whipped cream. Maybe if I put some sugar and vanilla in them, they might. But right out of the little cup, they don't.

I'm working on one more experiment, involving Mrs. Bucky and a blind taste test. But that will take a few days to pull off. The timing has to be exactly right.

Bucky has never eaten yogurt before? Isn't that un-American?

Oh, come, Dahlink. I suspect you are old enough to remember when Dannon yogurt first showed up, and it was horribly exotic. Suspiciously foreign, even.

Lissa, right. As usual.

My mother-in-law from the Midwest professed not be able to eat rice, but I finally figured out that she thought it was food for furriners. Real Americans eat potatoes.

My mother was a big fan of Minute Rice when I was a child. She thought it was healthier than potatoes. And exotic.

My parents were from Louisiana, so we ate plenty of rice. I didn't realize that was unusual in these parts until I was an adult. Never minute rice, though. I tried that stuff when I was first out on my own, and quickly decided it was terrible.

I think you only have to strain if you milk the cows, goats or sheep yourself.

Oh, for.....! I'm a Jersey Girl. I do not milk cows.

I know there was cheese cloth involved because (then) husband kept appropriating it for his projects.

Bucky has never eaten yogurt before?

No surprise there.

Minute Rice is good only for one thing. Cleaning coffee grinders.

Eve, I'm a Detroiter, and I've milked cows and goats.

Minute Rice is good only for one thing. Cleaning coffee grinders.

Is it better than regular rice for that?

Bucky has never eaten yogurt before?

Nope.

Yes, Hal. Has something to do with the brittle texture. Easier on the blades or something.

Bucky, I'm glad you have a plan. We're counting on you!

Bucky,
I'm curious. Even though you didn't have a point of reference, was the taste/consistency of Fage yogurt nasty? Did you like the stuff?

Rob - I didn't go into convulsions, like I do when I try to eat a fried egg.

The consistency was ok...it was thicker than whipped cream, I thought. And the taste was...I would say, unremarkable. I see why people put...what was the term?...fruity goop?...in it. To me it needs something to give it a taste, not to mask a taste. I do think I now know what "yogurt taste" refers to...the little bite or tang.

I could see yogurt and I being acquaintances in the future, because clearly it is healthier than about 90% of the stuff I eat. But we won't have the intense friendship that, for example, bacon and I have.

Bucky, try some Fage (full fat, I don't admit the other versions exist) with some dried thyme sprinkled on top, some good olive oil, a few good olives and some fresh pita. Lovely light summer meal or appetizer.

Bucky, the best use for yogurt is as an accompaniment to spicy Indian food. It's the perfect foil to mellow those assertive flavors and cool the burning mouth: cold, creamy, slightly tangy, helps everything go down less painfully.

Mmmm, raita!

Thanks Bucky, that was a good description.
Bacon could be something you/I could eat every single day, but yogurt might only be a once in awhile thing?

Fage goes on the grocery list for my next trip. There is a brand-spanking-new Publix just opened down the street. The shopping center is called Breakfast Point Marketplace.

Is it only me that finds the name strange?

Laura Lee, your comment reminds me that I just tried the "Roasted Potato Salad" recipe someone posted here recently (anyone want to raise their hand?) It was delicious, but I think the quantities should be doubled or tripled. The turmeric and other seasonings gave it a good spicy Indian zing. It's a keeper.

Breakfast Point Marketplace? I'm picturing insufficiently caffeinated people staggering around in search of hash browns at 4 am.

Good one Lissa!
The Publix is the only store open there right now. A Dunkin Donuts will open soon, followed by an Office Depot. Oh, and there is a nail salon too.

PRob - you are going to buy the fage? Did you see where Bucky said he recognized what people have been calling the yogurt taste?

Bucky - are you still planning the blind taste testing?

Bourbon Girl - Yes, I am. It will be covered in my next Friday's guest post.

Fage. Gak.

So Bucky is comparing the yogurt taste of Fage with the yogurt taste that he imagines other people experience in regular yogurt. All you guys all mental? Bucky, taste real yogurt and compare. A true sandbox moment

What other yogurt brands, "real" or otherwise, plain or flavored, should Bucky include in his taste test? I suppose some kind of Dannon should be included, since that was the gateway brand that introduced yogurt to most of us of a certain age. (Sorry, Bucky, but Dannon discontinued the prune whip flavor years ago.)

Dannon would be okay because it's well known. It's not a perfect test though because it contains pectin to thicken it. It's an apples versus apples thing. Greek yogurt is processed, that's why I wouldn't call it real yogurt. It's cheese.

Dannon would be fine for the taste part, even is the mouth-feel is inauthentic. Real yogurt contains milk and lactobacilli and nothing else. Fage also manipulate their 1% and 2% "yogurts" by using skim milk and adding cream to titrate it. Whatever.

If there is a noticeable difference in taste between real yogurt and Fage, I suspect that it is because the pH is raised in Fage when the liquid is squeezed out to make the yogurt cheese. That's just a theory though, based upon very sketchy organic chemistry.Less lactic acid means less tartness, so the remaining sugar (lactose), and there's plenty of it in all yogurts, will come through.

Another factor in all to those with discerning taste buds is, of course, the quality of the milk. Milk tastes different based upon a cow's diet. I just find it hard to believe milk from the verdant lush rolling pastures of Greece could compare to grass-fed organic milk form the U.S. in flavor or fatty acid profiles. (Grass-fed animal products are higher in Omega-3 and CLAs).

You know, just a couple of white chicks sittin' 'round talkin' 'bout yogurt.

Technically, it requires rennet to make cheese, which is why yogurt, including Greek yogurts are not cheese. Skyr is cheese.

They are all tasty.

I don't think you need rennet for something to be cheese.

Cheese – 1 a: a food consisting of the coagulated, compressed, and usually ripened curd of milk separated from the whey

The lactic acid waste product from the bacteria does the coagulation and the factory in Fageopolis drains the whey. Probably lots of different acids would be effective to varying degrees. You could probably use Coke to make tasty product.

Bourbon Girl,
Yes, I believe I will try the Fage. If Bucky could eat it and not hate it, it mustn't be too bad. But I may just wait until after his Friday post to see what his taste-test reveals.

Owlie, what do you think coagulates the milk? Rennet.

So Bucky is comparing the yogurt taste of Fage with the yogurt taste that he imagines other people experience in regular yogurt.

All in the name of science, Owlie. (And it's good to see you finally come 'round to the use of "Sandbox".)

Let's be clear: we are testing whether Fage tastes like whipped cream, as EL asserted originally. That's what got all of the non-yoggies excited. (And before this gets any further out of hand, the test was conducted last evening. The results won't be published until Friday because if I tell you now, I won't have anything for Friday.)

Dahlink, what is the receipt for the roasted potato salad? I'm catching up on blog comments. It sounds great.

It's a little sad to admit, but I'm really looking forward to your post about Fage, Bucky.

Stacy - I'm honored to be looked forward to.

SusanBK--I'm sorry I can't remember who originally posted this, but you can find it at :

http://miocibo.com/2009/05/22/roasted-potato-salad/

My advice: double or triple the quantities!

Hotcha! I finally got a link to work. Now if I could just figure out what I did right ...