Trying New Foods - Skyr a.k.a. Traditional Yogurt of Iceland

For the most part, I enjoy trying foods that I have never tasted before.  This past week, Giant Food Stores sent, in the mail, a couple of manufacturers coupons for siggi's Icelandic style skyr strained non-fat yogurt in the amount of $1. per coupon.  (Reference:  http://skyr.com/)
Now, there is a little incentive to give the product a try.  I like yogurt and truly enjoy fruit smoothies made with fresh fruit, plain yogurt, water and ice.

Once at the store, I ended up purchasing two, 6 oz cups of yogurt at a retail cost of $1.99 per cup.  There were four options available at the store and I selected the orange and ginger and the blueberry fruit varieties.

This afternoon, I decided to have a snack and tried the orange and ginger container.

As far as the product, it contained minimal traces of orange and ginger.  Nothing like traditional American cups of yogurt with fruit.  Plus, the consistancy visably looked more like that of ice cream with a bit of texture to it.  When placed in a spoon skyr will remain stuck to the spoon when turned over.  Unlike yogurt which will fall or slide off.

Skyr, reminds me very much of a Mediterranean yogurt cheese a.k.a. labneh that is the consistency of American cream cheese.  Like labneh, the flavor comparison is that it has a slightly tart yogurt taste.

Due to the regular retail cost of $1.99 a 6 oz cup, I would say that it will not often find its way into my grocery basket.  But, if on sale or if I am in need of a high protein meatless diet this is a great product to purchase and consume, as it has 16 to 17 grams of protein per container!

Actually, I am going to recommend this product to a friend of mine who was telling me about a diet plan that her physician has her on; which includes consuming a breakfast of  over 30 grams of protein each morning.

A rather difficult endevor when you have to be up and on the road prior to dawn for a 50 minute or more comute to work.  Plus, she was lamenting on how she really did not care to have a huge breakfast in the mornings nor did she have the time to prepare and consume.

If she can get in roughly half the grams of protein at home before she departs in the AM, than perhaps she can have her reward of a siggi's skyr once she gets to work.  Thus getting the protein her physician is recommending without as much AM frustration.

I would give the product a thumbs up and say to try it out for yourself.  Let me know what your impressions are after you have tried it.

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If you have never tried labneh and live in the DC Metro area it can be found at Middle Eastern food markets such as The Mediterranean Bakery located on Pickett Street in Alexandria, VA.

Or, if you live in an area that does not sell it, you can make it yourself by purchasing yogurt and straining it.  Just follow the recipe provided in the link below or look on-line to find another similar recipe.http://www.food.com/recipe/yogurt-cheese-labneh-88089

More about skyr from the Skyr.com website:

What is skyr?

Skyr is the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. The whey, the water naturally found in milk, is then strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier, concentrated yogurt. So to make just one cup of skyr, with all that water going out, you need 3 - 4 times the amount of milk required to make a regular cup of yogurt. As a result of this process skyr comes out with 2-3 times the protein count of standard yogurt.

Our farmers do not use growth hormones like rBGH. All siggi’s products are natural and do not contain any artificial sweeteners; our yogurts are very lightly sweetened with agave nectar. We try our best to keep our ingredients list short and simple.