Learning More About Milk
Ingredient-wise, yogurt is simple. It’s just milk and/or cream and bacterial cultures. One product we tasted also contained a thickener (pectin), but otherwise that was it—despite the dramatic differences we saw in our tastings. To understand why the yogurts varied so much, we knew we had to learn more about how yogurt is made.
Traditionally, milk was cooked slowly until some of its moisture evaporated and it thickened slightly. Today, manufacturers can achieve that thick consistency in different ways. Robert Roberts, a professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, told us that it’s common to use evaporated milk instead of regular milk because it’s thicker and, without the extra water weight, cheaper to transport. Producers can also make their starting milk thicker by amping up the amount of milk solids, generally by adding nonfat milk powder. Because these products are technically milk without any other ingredients added, they don’t have to be listed differently on labels. All the manufacturers of the yogurts we tasted were reluctant to share details on their milk bases.
Using evaporated milk or nonfat milk powder also allows manufacturers to adjust the yogurt’s fat content. The yogurts in our lineup contained 8 to 11 grams of fat per serving with the exception of the one low-fat product, a skyr, which had 3.5 grams per serving. But even the low-fat yogurt tasted plenty rich. Other variables in processing and style were more important in determining the final product.
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