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FAGE (Fa'-yeh!) Total Greek Yogurt


adegiulio

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On a recent trip to Adam's Fariacre farms, I saw a product I hadn't tried yet, Greek yogurt. They offered several varieties (fatty, less fatty, and less less fatty) as well as flavored packs. The flavored packs resemble those Cottage cheese "Doubles" with the dairy on one side and the fruit (or honey in this case) on the other.

Wow! Like eating tangy whipped cream cheese, but more yogurty. The texture is completely different from any yogurt I've ever had, so much so that I don't even eat it as yogurt. I pour some honey on it and eat it as dessert. While the yogurt we got in Europe (which was made in France) is the best for my taste when I am in the mood for yogurt, this Greek stuff has a place all its own.

Anyone else addicted like me??

"It's better to burn out than to fade away"-Neil Young

"I think I hear a dingo eating your baby"-Bart Simpson

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Oh, yes, it's fabulous. I gave up the full-fat stuff when I joined Weight Watchers (the point count is heinous) but the fat-free and 2% are delicious too.

I like to drizzle a little balsamic vinegar on it.

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With dried figs and honey- best breakfast ever.

The fat-free is not identifyable as fat-free, it's so thick and creamy, but I buy the 2% sometimes as a special treat.

"It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you."

-Nigel Slater

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Oh yeah. Big time. And I'm a recent convert, too. Started in on S. Beach diet in late August, and I needed something, well, creamy and satisfying for dessert. Presto: gf brings home Fage Total yogurt. Fabulous. Tangy whipped cream cheese? I think it's got a sour cream/creme fraiche-like feel, too. Even though I made it through the no-carb part of the diet just fine and now eat fruits and a bit of sweet now and again, Total has become a staple for a treat. Boy, it's good. Plain is just fine, though I also like a bit of honey in it too, with nuts, occasionally. I did try adding cocoa powder to it to make a faux chocolate thing. Ooops.

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Oh yeah.  Big time.  And I'm a recent convert, too.  Started in on S. Beach diet in late August, and I needed something, well, creamy and satisfying for dessert.  Presto: gf brings home Fage Total yogurt.  Fabulous.  Tangy whipped cream cheese?  I think it's got a sour cream/creme fraiche-like feel, too.  Even though I made it through the no-carb part of the diet just fine and now eat fruits and a bit of sweet now and again, Total has become a staple for a treat.  Boy, it's good.  Plain is just fine, though I also like a bit of honey in it too, with nuts, occasionally.  I did try adding cocoa powder to it to make a faux chocolate thing.  Ooops.

Yeah, creme fraiche is probably a better comparison... :smile:

"It's better to burn out than to fade away"-Neil Young

"I think I hear a dingo eating your baby"-Bart Simpson

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Total is a big favorite of mine. I like to use it to make tzatziki sometimes. There's actually a Total tzatziki on the market which I have not yet sampled--the kind I make I eat by the spoonful and I guess it's hard for me to picture the company's version as even better than that. :rolleyes: The sort prepackaged with honey is also incredible--the honey has an almost spicy flavor to it, perfect mixed with the yogurt for breakfast or dessert. Ooh.

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Its not a new product but its great. It arrived on the market about two years ago but it was pulled off the market temporarily in 2004 because of some weird import issue with the FDA that had to be resolved. There was much outrage at the time.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=50860&hl=

http://www.totalgreekyoghurt.com/

FAGE also makes some really good goat milk Feta as well.

http://www.fage.gr/intro_new_eng.htm

http://www.fage.gr/page/default.asp?id=555&la=2

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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I love it as well. I use only the 0%. Tonight I'm filling puff pastry shells with fresh berries that have been tossed with warmed bilberry spread, then a dollop of Total yogurt and a drizzle of agave nectar. Figured that would work for dessert for us and a couple of diabetic friends.

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this just reappeared here in nw nj, ant, and i love it. i use it especially to make tasziki to go on lamb burgers.

which adams? kingston? they do have some of the most interesting foods there... a gift certificate to adams is always a welcome thing

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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Total is a big favorite of mine. I like to use it to make tzatziki sometimes. There's actually a Total tzatziki on the market which I have not yet sampled--the kind I make I eat by the spoonful and I guess it's hard for me to picture the company's version as even better than that. :rolleyes:

The prepared Total tzatziki is fine but I generally make it at home also.

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Here's the URL of FAGE (PRONOUNCED Fa'-yeh!) USA:

http://www.fageusa.com

The other URL's above were for the UK.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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My 5 year old will eat nothing but the strained Total yogurt (drizzled with honey). He won't eat the yogurt at school because he says it is "some yucky brand like Dannon". He won't even eat the super sugared kid friendly squeezable yogurt any more.

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stopped by the place i usually buy this yoghurt and <grumpy face> since it will blow this reply away if i use the smilies - THERE WAS NO YOGHURT!!!!!

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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I love the 0% around here I buy it at either Wild Oats, Trader Joes, even Stew Leonards carries it - but the big supermarket Stop & Shop doesn't have it yet. So I have to make a trek to get it, but its worth it. It's a normal breakfast for me with either fruit or museli, its consistency and tang make it soooo good.

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  • 3 weeks later...

:huh: Ummm...wow, I'm going to be unpopular but I can't stand the stuff; to me it just isn't yogurt. I lived in Greece in the 80s, and when that stuff first came out, everyone was saying it must have powdered milk in it, because its texture and taste were so unlike real yogurt. The company insisted it did not, but a friend of mine said she found bits of undissolved milk powder in it. (It's hearsay, Fage company, please don't sue me.) Now people have taken to it more, but to me it's another product altogether; Fage is to yogurt what carob is to chocolate. I was in Samos a couple years ago and ordered yogurt with honey for breakfast, and it was Fage, I couldn't get through it. Give me a plain old container of real fresh yogurt, cow or sheep, it doesn't matter, any day.

I could see using it in cooking though.

Then again, considering what there is to compare it to in the US, I could maybe understand why it's becoming popular there, as it is in England as well. I've never quite understood the American practice of messing so much with dairy products. Yogurt is a natural product. It's fairly easy to make, people have been doing it for thousands of years, with nothing but milk and a starter, and it's delicious that way. So why then does every brand of yogurt I've ever seen in the US, with the exception of Nancy's, have gelatine, guar gum, carageenan or other adulterants to give them textures that are so un-yogurtlike? It's like they want them to be jello or pudding or something. Even Nancy's doesn't begin to come close to the average product you can get in any grocery store in Greece (barring Fage) :wacko: or Turkey. Back home when I would make yogurt myself, it tasted right; but the commercial stuff in the US is just weird!

....did I mention I didn't like Fage? :biggrin:

"Los Angeles is the only city in the world where there are two separate lines at holy communion. One line is for the regular body of Christ. One line is for the fat-free body of Christ. Our Lady of Malibu Beach serves a great free-range body of Christ over angel-hair pasta."

-Lea de Laria

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  • 11 months later...

FAGE yogurt is awesome! I just tried the 0% this week and it's amazing how rich this stuff is. I put honey in mine but my friend likes to put mangoes in her FAGE yogurt. I might do a honey banana combo for a snack later on today. Hmm. Random thought - I wonder how it would hold up as a substitute for mascarpone in recipes.

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I love the stuff, and yes I buy the lowfat version. It doesn't even taste lowfat to me and tastes like a cross between yogurt and sour cream. I like to add drizzled honey to it or yesterday I made a savoury dipping sauce with: fennel fronds, basil, and lime juice. I dipped my roasted cauliflower in this and it was delicious

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
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I had the 0% with honey and bananas this morning for breakfast. Holy cow, it was DELISH! It's really easy on the stomach first thing in the morning. I am thinking of trying to use it in savory dishes - I found this recipe for curry yogurt cauliflower soup in Fine Cooking and we'll see how it goes!

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