Apr 12, 2008

Satisfy that urge


Do you have a longing for true, Icelandic Skyr? That delicious food item like yogurt, only much better? If you have a Whole Foods Market near you, you may be in luck. At stores on the east coast of the U.S., Whole Foods has begun carrying Siggi's Skyr. The flavors make my mouth water: pomegranate and passion fruit, pear and mint, orange and ginger--as well as plain. As reported in the 4/08 Iceland Review, Siggi Hilmarsson learned how to make it from his mother's recipe, perfected it, and, being an Icelander transplanted to New York, began to manufacture it. (New Yorkers will see from Siggi's website that they have lots of additional options. Don't they always.) Alas, I may have to move to Charlottesville.

If I can't have Skyr, I am glad to have discovered another delicious yogurt product, from Greece. Fage may be expensive and high in calories, but you don't need sugar, jam or any other sweetener: plain, this is like dessert every day! And, a small serving will satisfy. Try it!

13 comments:

Shannon said...

Hi Rose,

I love Fage! Sometimes I mix my cereal in it (Kashi Coco Beach is nice) and sometimes I drizzle it with locally purchased honey. Yummy! Thanks for the tip on Siggi's!

~Shannon

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

You're welcome for the tip on Siggi's, Shannon, but we'll BOTH have to move to C-ville ;-)
I've been meaning to ask you if you've read the "Carroll Dorsey" mystery series by Thomas Lipinski. They take place in Pittsburgh, and the one I have is called "Death in the Steel City." I'll be happy to send you my copy if you're interested.

Shannon said...

Haven't seen anything by Lipinski...I'd love to read it if you aren't in a hurry to have it back. With three children, a garden, knitting, AND a brand new spinning wheel, I'm just a little preoccupied! =) Most nights I manage to fit in a page or two of a book or magazine but it doesn't make for speeding through books!

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

I don't need it back. Will send :-)

Stuttfótur said...

You can make your own skyr!

you need: a tablespoon of skyr, half a rennet tablet and two gallons of nonfat milk.

dissolve the rennet in 1/4 c of water.

bring the milk almost to boil, then let it cool down to 38-42 degrees celsius.

Take 1/2 C of the milk, and mix the skyr in it.

Mix rennet, milk and skyr mix in a large container, cover and let stand for 4-5 hours, it should be similar to yogurt by that time.

then.. you strain it over cheesecloth overnight, and the result should be skyr! (You need plenty of room under the "proto-skyr" since you'll end up with a lot of liquid).

You'll get a lot of Mysa along with this, which you can either drink or pour away (yellowish, slightly sour tasting liquid).

Be aware of that this is unwhipped skyr, i.e. it's very thick and somewhat more sour in taste than the skyr you buy in the store. You can stir in some whole milk to reach the smoother consistency of the store bought skyr.

You can buy rennet tablets from Junket Foods, they sell them online.

lab munkay said...

I seen that on Bizzard Foods with Andrew Zimmer.

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

Thank you, Stuttfótur. I think if I want some in Richmond any time soon, I'll have to make it myself!
Munkay, I'll bet you could do a weekly bizarre foods feature on your blog. I bet you could do it better than Andrew Zimmer. Let's see, what would I choose from my culinary history? John says that my whole wheat kolache was "memorable." But that isn't bizarre. My daughter has chosen some pretty bizarre combos for homemade ice creams and sorbets...

Shannon said...

Stuttfótur: This is a great idea but where do you get the original tablespoon of Skyr to begin with?!?! If only I knew someone traveling from Iceland so I could meet them at the airport for the leftovers of their skyr container...

Rose: have you tried "OIKOS" by Stonyfield Farms? Organic yogurt, very similar to Fage. 110 Calories and 0 fat grams. I get it at Kroger. It's still expensive...$1.99/container...but very tasty and readily available.

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

I love Stonyfield Farms products, Shannon! And at the gym this am I saw a man, coincidentally, wearing a Stonyfield Farms shirt :-)

Shannon said...

Too funny. I guess it's fate, then!

Anonymous said...

I love love love Liberte six grain yogurt -- no sugar added, really delicious tasting yogurt, and the texture of the grains is really nice (almost similar to boba tea in that the texture is unexpected but delicious). Yum!

http://www.liberte.qc.ca/en/page.ch2?uid=SixGrains

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

Anonymous: you are so right! I think yogurt is one of the reasons my grandfather lived to be 101. He ate yogurt and granola every day for at least 50 years ;-)

Anonymous said...

So that means that I'm just following the example of MY great-grandfather . . . You can get the liberte yogurt at the Carytown Ukrops -- the dinky one by our house doesn't carry it.

A.