While glancing at the yogurt aisle yesterday, my eyes caught something new. That’s quite a feat at Woodman’s where I shop, because the yogurt selection is amazing. They easily have 25 feet of fridges space devoted to the creamy product. And that’s just one side of the aisle. The other side of the aisle has a smaller selection of Hispanic branded yogurt. Yesterday I found a new product by Dannon, and it just had to go into my cart.
Dannon All Natural’s state right on the package “No Artificial Anything.” I placed a box of blueberry into my cart to give it a whirl. The ingredient list is not as short as I would have thought. It includes:
CULTURED GRADE A LOW FAT MILK, SUGAR, BLUEBERRIES, WATER. CONTAINS LESS THAN 1%: CORN STARCH, NATURAL FLAVOR, PECTIN, LOCUST BEAN GUM, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE
CONTAINS ACTIVE YOGURT CULTURES INCLUDING L. ACIDOPHILUS
After lunch I sat down with a carton. It was nice and light, full of blueberry flavor- and there were plenty of whole blueberries in my cup of yogurt. It had a slight granular texture, and was not as thick and creamy as standard yogurt. Having made my own homemade yogurt, I completely understand this. Yogurt manufacturers add thickening agents to yogurt, because the homemade stuff is quite thin and runny. Yet it’s still thicker than homemade yogurt- I assume from the addition of the pectin and locust bean gum. Overall it is a very good yogurt, and it really does remind me of my homemade yogurt. The flavor was what I enjoyed best. It tasted like yogurt with blueberries. It wasn’t overly sweet, and I’d love to see Dannon come up with a natural alternative to sugar in their yogurt.
This yogurt comes in strawberry, cherry, peach and blueberry right now. I have plans to try the cherry yet, as blueberry and cherry are my favorite yogurt flavors. At my grocery store- which is known for it’s low prices, a 4-pack of cups cost me $1.59. No more or less expensive than other multi-packs, and in my opinion, worth the purchase. This is good, and as close to homemade as I can get without making it myself.