Sugar Hooked Us On Yogurt. Could Savory Be The New Sweet?
Back in the 1940s, turning Americans onto the tangy taste of yogurt wasn't an easy sell.
It seems many of our grandparents turned their noses up at the idea of sour, fermented milk.
"The tart taste was totally unfamiliar to Americans, and that was really the biggest hurdle," says Michael Neuwirth, a spokesman for the Dannon Co.
When Daniel Carasso, the son of the company's founder, immigrated to New York, he found Americans' sweet tooth ran strong. So Carasso and his partners decided to try something new. Why not add sugary, fruit puree to the bottom of each cup?
"It sweetened the taste and made it more palatable to Americans," Neuwirth says. And within a few years, the business was thriving.
Our cultural preference for sweet hasn't waned much, Neuwirth says. "The vast majority of yogurt we make — and that Americans buy — is sweetened and flavored."
We've all seen it: The present-day yogurt aisle is part dessert menu (like this coconut cream pie-flavored yogurt), part cocktail list (Yoplait Piña Colada yogurt). There's even candy yogurts with bits of jelly beans and chocolates, such as M&Ms.
But some yogurtmakers say it's time to dial back on the sugar — and the artificial sweeteners, too.
John Fout, co-founder of Sohha Savory Yogurt, says that around the globe, the natural tartness of yogurt is embraced.
"In most places where the yogurt culture started out — [the] Middle East, India — where yogurt has its longest routes, everybody eats yogurt savory," Fout says. (My colleague Maria Godoy will explore the astonishing variety of ways the world cooks with and eats yogurt in a story later Friday.)
Fout gave up his career as a Wall Street trader to start a yogurt company with his Lebanese-born wife.
"The thing we're trying to do by putting savory in our name — and saying it doesn't have to be sweet — is to get people eating yogurt in other ways," he says.
He says that when his wife first introduced him to the traditional Lebanese-style yogurt, made with just milk, cultures and sea salt, it was a revelation.
"I mean, when I was a kid, if you'd told me I was going to eat plain yogurt, I would have told you, 'You're nuts!' " Fout says.
But when he fell in love with his wife, he says, he also fell for the yogurt she introduced him to.
"It's delicious," Fout says.
Sohha Savory Yogurt is sold at grocery stores in the Northeast, and it also has a yogurt stand at Chelsea Market in New York City, where the company sells yogurts topped off with olive oil infused with the company's own spice blends.
One blend is made with classic Middle Eastern spices, za'atar and sumac, "so you get the bright citrusy flavor of sumac that matches with the tanginess of the yogurt," explains Fout. "It's delicious to eat with crudites or some pita chips."
Another combination pairs the cooling tang of yogurt with the heat of peppers. He's keen on jalapeño or habanero. "Finishing sea salts are nice, too," Fout says.
And he says customers are warming up to the novelty of what he's selling.
"I'll try anything once," Gene DePiro tells us, as she wanders by the Sohha yogurt stand. She and friend Bridget Mullins decide to give it a try.
DePiro takes a sample of plain yogurt and makes a quick declaration: "Not my style of yogurt." She'll stick with flavored, sweet yogurts, thank you.
But the taste wins Mullins over. "It's so good. It's really smooth," she gushes. "And it's got a luscious consistency."
This makes her look at yogurt in a new way. "I always think of yogurt as a breakfast food," Mullins says. But now, she's got a new idea for lunch.
And she just may be onto the latest trend. According to a report from market-research firm Mintel, "While the majority of leading yogurt flavors are sweet, the spread of savory offerings ... may portend the next shift in the category."
Mintel analyst Beth Bloom tells us that international influences are definitely being seen in new yogurt product launches.
"We're seeing yogurt with cucumber, which could be compared to tzatziki," and there are new yogurt-based dips inspired by Indian-style raita.
It's still a small part of the market, but it's growing.
"In the past year, there has been a pretty big jump in yogurt products claiming to be lower sugar," or reduced or no-sugar, explains Bloom.
Nine percent of new yogurt products made such claims this year, compared to just 4 percent the year before. Which means that sweet won't go away any time soon.
Sugar sells. But savory seems to have its foot in the refrigerator door.
9(MDE1MTIxMDg0MDE0MDQ3NTY3MzkzMzY1NA001))
Transcript
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Americans are sold on yogurt. Sales have shot up nearly 40 percent over the past five years. But there is this - most yogurts on the shelf contain a lot of sugar at a time when many of us are trying to tame that sweet tooth. This made NPR's Allison Aubrey curious about the future of yogurt.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Daniel Carasso was the son of the man who founded Dannon yogurt. And when he immigrated to New York from France in the early 1940s, his idea was to sell Americans on the kind of creamy, tart yogurt that he'd grown up with.
MICHAEL NEUWIRTH: Most Americans had never tasted yogurt. America had, at that point, really been a milk drinking country. And the tart taste was totally unfamiliar to Americans. And that was really the biggest hurdle.
AUBREY: That's Michael Neuwirth, Dannon's PR director and unofficial historian. He says, at first, business was slow. But then came an idea. Why not add a sugary fruit puree to the bottom of each cup?
NEUWIRTH: So then it sweetened the taste, and it made it more palatable to Americans.
AUBREY: From this point, the business took off. Carasso and his partners went from selling a few hundred pots of yogurt a day to...
NEUWIRTH: Upwards of 50,000 cups a day.
AUBREY: And Neuwirth says our cultural preference for sweet hasn't changed much.
NEUWIRTH: The vast majority of yogurt that we make and that Americans buy today is sweetened, and we gravitate towards them.
AUBREY: Go to the yogurt aisle and it's like a dessert menu, cocktail list and candy store all in one. There's coconut cream pie and Margarita-flavored yogurts, even yogurts that taste like jelly beans and M&Ms. It's gotten to the point where some yogurt makers are saying enough is enough. It's time to get back to savory yogurts.
JOHN FOUT: I think in most places where the yogurt culture started out when you're talking, you know, Middle East, India - where, you know, yogurt has its longest routes, everybody eats yogurt savory.
AUBREY: That's John Fout. He actually gave up his career as a Wall Street trader to start his own yogurt company - Sohha Savory Yogurt.
FOUT: You know what? The thing we're trying to do by putting savory in our name and saying that yogurt doesn't have to be sweet is to get people to try eating yogurt in other ways.
AUBREY: That's what he did several years back when he met and married a woman from Lebanon. He says as they were falling in love, he also fell for her Middle Eastern-style yogurt.
FOUT: I mean, it was a total revelation. I mean, when I was a kid, if you told me I was going to eat plain yogurt, I would have told you you're nuts.
AUBREY: But Fout was sold on the tartness and creaminess you get from making yogurt the traditional Lebanese way with just three ingredients.
FOUT: Milk, cultures and sea salt. That's it. It's delicious.
AUBREY: He's selling his yogurt in grocery stores, and he and his wife have a yogurt stand at Chelsea Market in New York. We arrived at lunchtime. It smells like a spice bazaar, and as customers come in, they're offered yogurt topped with olive oil infused with homemade spice blends.
FOUT: One is classic Middle Eastern spices - za'tar and sumac. You know, you get the bright citrusy flavor of sumac that matches with the tanginess of the yogurt. It's just really delicious to eat by itself or with crudites or some pita chips.
AUBREY: Another combination pairs the cool tang of yogurt with the heat of peppers.
FOUT: Finishing sea salts are really great to use too, you know, if you can get, like, a really nice jalapeno or habanero.
AUBREY: And he says customers love the novelty of it. Gene DePiro and Bridget Mullins have just wandered by.
GENE DEPIRO: I mean, I'd try anything once.
AUBREY: Bridget digs in first.
BRIDGET MULLINS: Oh, it's so good. It's really smooth. It has, like, a really luscious consistency.
AUBREY: But her friend Gene...
DEPIRO: Not my style of yogurt. Like, y'all need some - like, eating, like, a Chobani, like, which has sugar in it.
AUBREY: But the tasting has won Bridget over.
MULLINS: Yeah, definitely. I always think of yogurt as more of a breakfast food or like a snack during the day. But I could see how this could be a really just fresh salad to eat for lunch.
AUBREY: And she may just be on to the latest trend. Here's Beth Bloom, who tracks the yogurt industry for Mintel.
BETH BLOOM: Definitely international influences are coming in. So we're seeing yogurt with cucumber mixed in, which could be compared to a tzatziki.
AUBREY: And there are new brands of yogurt-based dips and products inspired by Indian raita. It's still a small part of the market, but it's growing.
BLOOM: In the past year, there has been a pretty big jump in yogurt projects claiming to be lower sugar.
AUBREY: Nine percent of launches compared to just 4 percent the year before, which means sweet won't be going away anytime soon, but savory seems to have its foot in the refrigerator door. Allison Aubrey, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad