MAJOR discovery for me while in the Nordics was freshly made yogurt. I can’t believe I’ve never had it before! It was my breakfast, along with unsweetened mixed berry compote, every morning for the last five weeks. And Haley, my body tutor, is thrilled with the addition of all this protein to my daily diet. And, by the way, she believes it may have something to do with my losing 3 lbs while on my trip (can you believe that?).

I know in the States, yogurt has run its course with sales on the decline. Prior to my trip, I was definitely buying less of my favorite Fage yogurt.

But in the Nordics, I fell head-over-heels with their freshly-made yogurt. It was the first thing I looked for at my hotels’ breakfast buffets.

In Copenhagen (my first city), I discovered Denmark is the top country in the world for organics consumption with oatmeal (porridge) and natural yogurt,the top two organic products consumed.

Read on below for the yogurt mission I’ve been on since my return.

 

The day after I got home, I made it my mission to track down freshly-made yogurt AND figure out how to make the perfect accompaniment, unsweetened mixed berry compote.

• I struck out at Whole Foods, although they carry a big selection of Scandinavian mass produced yogurts, especially Icelandic brands like Siggi’s (which I think is ok but not great).
• At Dean & DeLuca, I started to get lucky. They carry Greecologies, a brand with its own store nearby on Broome Street.
• The Greecologies store had exactly what I wanted: vats of freshly made yogurt available for bulk purchases.
• Expensive but worth every penny ($15 for 24 oz). Made my second purchase there yesterday.

Now onto the berries.

•  I was planning to buy them fresh but saw that Whole Foods had bags of 365 organic frozen mixed berries ($8 each). I bought two bags.
• Cooked them up in a large saucepan with half a cup of water (no sugar) and that’s it. Perfect as a yogurt topping. It keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

At the moment, I’m having the yogurt and berries at lunch but Haley (my body tutor for another few weeks) is pushing me to make this my breakfast instead of cereal. I’ve been resistant but may try to switch it out next week.

Bottom Line.

Yogurt, as a category, is definitely waning with Greek yogurts taking the biggest hit. I’ve noticed more Icelandic skus in stores and also more non-dairy yogurts.

For me, however, I’m sticking with Greek-style BUT freshly-made from Greecologies. It tastes totally different and is just too healthy and too delicious to forego.