[QUESTION] How do I adjust the texture of yogurt?
[QUESTION] How do I adjust the texture of yogurt?
For dietary purposes, I’ve been told to start including probiotic rich food in my diet and I figure since people in my house already like yogurt that’s the best way to go. But I absolutely hate the texture of yogurt. How can I change it and still enjoy the health benefits? I don’t love smoothies, but I’ll make one occasionally with yogurt. But I’d prefer to have some variety with this. Adding granola is alright, and definitely helps but even still I find myself just grossed out after two spoonfuls. Is there anything I can do? Is freezing it and turning it into something like frozen yogurt going to kill the cultures? It’s sad, because this is the only food I absolutely cannot seem to find a way to enjoy!
I think it should be somewhere in the settings menu
No help on the yogurt, but a suggestion. Have you tried Miso soup? It's really good for your gut health. Don't get instant, get the real stuff/paste. It lasts a long time and you can use it in other foods as a flavor enhancer. Try mild yellow first. I personally love the red. Avoid the Hawaiian version unless you like sweet things. And never boil it, it kills the good stuff in it.
I love miso soup! I do try to make it myself, but it’s hard finding grocery stores that sell the paste near me. But anytime I am in the city, I always grab a tub to last me a few months! That and a thing of kimchi, always feel great when I can eat those daily.
Try skyr instead of yogurt. It's way thicker so it may not be as difficult for you. If that option is still a no go, you can add it into foods instead of it being the only food. Anything that benefits from adding dairy will take plain skyr or plain greek yogurt just fine. Plain versions can also replace sour cream to a varying degree. You can also add in enough granola that it's just a creamy coating for the granola.
Granola has definitely been the best of all the things I’ve tried to alleviate the texture. Does skyr still have the probiotics though?
Absolutely. We get this one (in link) from costco right now, but there are otger brands like siggi's and icelandic provisions that are equally good. https://www.painterlandsisters.com/products
What, specifically, about the texture bugs you? I'm not challenging, just trying to understand so I can offer recommendations to alter things.
I’m honestly not even sure myself. I’ve tried thickening it and it makes me gag, but super thin/runny also makes me gag. I think thicker is the better of the two, and I can eat like whipped cream or even sour cream just fine. Though, I’ve never tried eating just a straight spoonful of sour cream…
I wouldn't try to eat yogurt then
Try kimchee or even OTC probiotics
Edit: if and only if your medial professional approves. I have no medical training. I just know there are other sources of probiotics that aren't yogurt
You can make tzatziki with it, or salad dressing, making a mango lassi with it would be a different texture. Frozen yoghurt seems like a good idea, I wouldn't expect it to kill the cultures, generally high temperature kills stuff, low temperatures usually just slow them down and keep populations from growing, so cooking with it seems more likely to kill cultures than freezing it. if it weren't for what I just said about cooking with it I'd say using it in curry would be great, though you usually add it at the end so you could do that as it's cooling some and potentially avoid that issue
Oh, I do like tzatziki on veggie hummus pita sandwiches. I didn’t realize it was made with yogurt! Thanks for the tip
Get plain Greek yogurt and use it as a substitute for sour cream in all of your recipes. They taste nearly identical.
I've come to love Siggis Skyr. It's very thick. With tons of protein it's quite healthy. I get the one with no sugar. Use it in muffin/cake recipes often. It's also good with some toasted oats with honey. When I have it in the morning I stay full for a long time.
Huh, I had no idea. I do make tacos once a week, I’ll give it a try!
It's perfect on tacos, but you've gotta try it in mashed potatoes too. My mashed potatoes have been a hit at get-togethers for years and greek yogurt is my secret ingredient!
It's got a much thicker texture than your standard yogurt. There's a fair amount of variation in Greek yogurts. Fage is probably the thickest and iirc a little grainy.
Could try going in the yogurt-drink direction, with something like lassi or kefir or something like that. Mango lassi is frankly delicious. Or go in the other direction and try a really thick greek yogurt with a texture closer to cheesecake. There's brands
Could also use it as an ingredient in uncooked things. It can be used in some salad dressing recipes sometimes for instance.
I'm not sure if freezing would harm the cultures.
If you are just looking for probiotics, maybe try other fermented foods instead like kimchi
You can also thin yogurt out with cool water until it's the consistency of milk. You'll dilute the flavor a lot but maybe the texture will be more palatable..
I absolutely love kimchi, but the only brand in the stores near me always feels kind of mushy and wimpy. But I get a jar of the Seoul (I think?) brand whenever I go into the city and can stop by Asian grocery stores.
I love making lassi, maybe that's something you can try. There are lots of different types of lassi, different tastes sweet and salty, but also different consistency.
I usually use half yoghurt and half water as the base, which gives you a consistency of buttermilk. But you can add as much or little water (and/or milk) as you prefere. From there you can add fruits or spices you like.
Here is a Plain lassi recipe.
Here are some Indian flavor options. They're making a thicker lassi, but you can easily adjust the water.
This is really interesting, I’ve never heard of it. I’ll give it a try, though I’m not big on creamy drinks. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted saffron before.
You can try making a fresh fruit compote to mix in, that would kind of do it.
Do you have a similar aversion to Cottage Cheese? What about going in the direction of fermented vegetables like Kim Chi or Sauerkraut?
To get frozen yogurt as it's normal consistency, you also have to add a lot of sugar. Like more sugar than ice cream. Also there is questionable value to the probiotic nature after freezing it.
What kind of yogurt do you usually get? What kind of texture do you want? Because store bought stuff has quite the range. Yoplait basic low end yogurt is practically drinkable, but their "Oui" brand French style yogurt is practically chewable. I really like the Oui but it's also kind of expensive for what you get so I usually opt to get Greek style because everyone makes it, it's good, and usually also cheap.
You might also want to try Kefir. It's probiotic but much more like drinking milk than yogurt. It's not quite either, but something in between. I pound one of these whenever I'm constipated and it really gets shit moving again, in a literal sense.
Look into kefir. Better than yogurt for probiotics. Yogurt is a pistol. Kefir is a machine gun.
This is the most hilarious comment I’ve seen lol I might have to try more kefir products. I can’t really stomach the texture of drinking cream, but I also haven’t tried nearly as much as I have yogurt products
I've only had access to one brand. It has added cane sugar and is still pretty tart. But it goes down fast.
There’s a brand called Fage that is kinda expensive but super thick. It’s not runny like other yogurts seem to be. It’s my go to when I have a bit of extra funds. Add some granola, strawberries, maybe some honey or walnuts, cinnamon, vanilla, whatever to your hearts content.
One other thing I should emphasize. A combination of yogurt and honey is fucking delicious.
I think you’d find that Fage doesn’t give that same slimy yuck factor that other yogurts do. It’s denser than Chobani or Stoneybrook (maybe equivalent to Skyr?) In any case, I think it more so has the texture of whipped topping.
I don’t get it all the time, because it is expensive, but when I do, it’s a treat.
Fage has definitely been the most tolerable brand of yogurt for me! And bonus points to it because it’s also all of my families favorite. I love honey and nuts, but I think I end up adding too little honey. How much do you add? Just like a spoonful or a small drizzle?
A drizzle, about as much I’d apply as chocolate sauce to vanilla ice cream.
Yogurt is very easy to make. You should order a few different types of cultures and try them out and see which consistency works best for you. Wherever you order from should have a description of what its flavor and consistency are like. It's pretty cheap to get started, too.
I thought I hated yogurt until I found one there was a consistency that I liked.
I can't do the drinks, the texture kills me. i can eat it on fruit with a little honey and/or granola.
So, you can use yogurt in anything you’d use a binder like sour cream or mayo. Guacamole, for example, or tuna/chicken salad sandwiches.
Edit: also frozen yogurt (though the probiotics diminish over time. You’ll have to make it fresh…. I’m gonna try this argument with my GF….)
Yogurt in…. Tuna salad? That sounds hazardous, but I’ll give it a shot. I eat a lot of tuna salad in like rice balls and such. I imagine just whole fat plaine Greek yogurt will do?
I make no claims to the flavor on that one.
But really, the only flavor in mayo is the acid- usually lemon juice but sometimes vinegar.
In the tuna salad, it’s mostly there as a binding agent to keep everything more cohesive.
If you're in the USA, Chobani full fat and Oui by Yoplait are ok, but there's added sugar. Whipping it with a whisk or handmixer will make it more like a mousse texture. There's a decent weight gain powder made with pea protein, Orgain that has probiotics. It says use water to mix with, but I use whole milk. If you're not trying to gain, water is probably fine , if you are trying to gain, add a dollop of peanut or almond butter.
Refrigerated sauerkraut has probiotics, but I don't care for it.
Oh! I never thought about whisking it. I love mousse, I’ll have to try that. Thanks!
You're welcome! Good luck!
Water kefir is another good option - one you get the grains rehydrated it makes a new batch every 24 hours or so, and you can referment it with fruit juice to make a fizzy probiotic drink. It’s much easier to get started with than kombucha
I have never heard of water kefir, just the bottled raspberry kefir I see next to milk. Where can I find these grains?
Oh hey! Sorry for the slow reply, I just noticed the notification . I got mine at a homebrew store, but here they are on Amazon
I have a hard time eating yogurt sometimes, but I find if it's not gritty enough I can just add a little sand - or even just regular dust if I can't get to the sandlot. Conversely, if there's already too much grit, I add butter to smooth it out.
Considered just buying probiotic pills instead? Yogurt isn't the only way to get beneficial bacteria.
I was considering that, but I wasn’t sure how useful they are? Like, it seemed that people either swear they worked or said they were the equivalent of praying to the old gods for better digestion. Figured food was probably a more reliable path.
Everybody has a different stomach microbiome, so different results are expected. The nice thing about capsules is you can try to find a mix that works for you.
Google is suggesting Elmer's glue. have you tried that?
I believe I did as a very young child. 10/10 would recommend all kids to eat.
You can mix it with rice, have you tried that?
I have not! I eat rice for lunch a couple times a week, I’ll have to give that a try.
Hope it works out!
This is a more involved recipe: https://food52.com/recipes/77349-padma-lakshmi-s-yogurt-rice ; I usually just mix the rice and yogurt, and add salt and peanuts.
If you're in the USA, Chobani full fat and Oui by Yoplait are ok, but there's added sugar. Whipping it with a whisk or handmixer will make it more like a mousse texture. There's a decent weight gain powder made with pea protein, Orgain that has probiotics. It says use water to mix with, but I use whole milk. If you're not trying to gain, water is probably fine , if you are trying to gain, add a dollop of peanut or almond butter.
Refrigerated sauerkraut has probiotics, but I don't care for it.
If you're in the USA, Chobani full fat and Oui by Yoplait are ok, but there's added sugar. Whipping it with a whisk or handmixer will make it more like a mousse texture. There's a decent weight gain powder made with pea protein, Orgain that has probiotics. It says use water to mix with, but I use whole milk. If you're not trying to gain, water is probably fine , if you are trying to gain, add a dollop of peanut or almond butter.
Refrigerated sauerkraut has probiotics, but I don't care for it.
If you're in the USA, Chobani full fat and Oui by Yoplait are ok, but there's added sugar. Whipping it with a whisk or handmixer will make it more like a mousse texture. There's a decent weight gain powder made with pea protein, Orgain that has probiotics. It says use water to mix with, but I use whole milk. If you're not trying to gain, water is probably fine , if you are trying to gain, add a dollop of peanut or almond butter.
Refrigerated sauerkraut has probiotics, but I don't care for it.