The yogurt business got more interesting in June, with Chobani introducing its first non-Greek yogurt and General Mills debuting a French style yogurt.
Chobani Smooth blends low-fat (1-1.5 percent) yogurt with fruit and no artificial flavors nor sweeteners, other natural ingredients and no genetically engineered ones.
The company claims it has 25 percent less sugar (14g per cup) and twice the protein (11g) than other non-Greek yogurts and carries 120 calories. It's available in five flavors -- vanilla, blueberry, strawberry, peach and black cherry – at a suggested price of $1.79 for a two-pack.
At General Mills, Oui by Yoplait is made with "simple," non-GMO ingredients, including cane sugar, but no artificial preservatives, flavors or colors and comes in a "French-made glass pot." It comes in eight flavors: strawberry, blueberry, black cherry, vanilla, coconut, lemon, peach and plain. Plain is made with only two ingredients – whole milk and yogurt cultures. The remaining flavors each contain eight or fewer ingredients.
General Mills says the method for crafting French style yogurt differs greatly from standard U.S. yogurt. Instead of culturing the ingredients in large batches and then filling individual cups with fully prepared yogurt, Oui by Yoplait is made by pouring ingredients into pots, and allowing the contents of each glass pot to set and culture for eight hours.
