# In America, yogurt is not "yogurt"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 23, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695 "2007-08-23T22:12:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/61 "2007-08-27T17:16:02Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] The step, I believe, is to change an atom, or a naturally occurring molecule, within a larger molecule of margarine that will result in having plastic. Whether true or not I’ll leave as an exercise for a chemist. [/QUOTE] I hope you realize how silly all of this is. To begin with, there is no such thing as a ‘molecule of margarine’. The main ingredient of the margarine I have on hand is soybean oil, which is _still_ not a specific molecule and, more to the point, is all-natural by any reasonable definition of the concept. In addition, atoms are not trivial little things that fly away and flit in and out of molecules at random. They obey known laws and only do things when certain external conditions have been met, and they contribute greatly to whatever molecule they are a part of. To imply that chemical ‘closeness’ implies any degree of equivalence is utter ignorance of the most basic chemistry. Now let us let this nonsense rest in the minds of braying fools. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/62 "2007-08-27T19:24:27Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] Now, I’d believe that about Cool Whip. That stuff tastes like a petroleum product. [/QUOTE] And fish bones. Don’t forget the fish bones. ---
**Author:** ![depocali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@depocali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/depocali)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/63 "2007-10-12T19:03:18Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] Maybe vegan was the wrong word, when I said it I wasn’t thinking about removing the milk :smack:. I was thinking that I’'m pretty sure you can buy vegetable based geletin, and that there’s gotta be someone that makes there yogurt with that kind of geletin instead of normal geletin. [/QUOTE] Well [Pectin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectin) is in a way vegan gelatin, as it is derived from the cell walls of plants and not from animals as gelatin. Anyway adding sugar for flavor or jellied peaches is of course different from saying that yogurt is not cultured milk. Basically you have yougurt with a jam or candied fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/64 "2007-10-12T19:26:19Z")
Yogurt is animal milk acted upon by live cultures. You can take away the animal milk AND the live cultures and swtill claim it is yogurt? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/65 "2007-10-12T21:09:50Z")
[QUOTE=Ca3799] I eat plain yogurt almost every day. Recently someone gave me a single serving of “greek style yogurt” ( I forgot the brand name) that had a serving on honey on the side. Boy was that good! It was full-fat yogurt, so I won’t look for it on the shelves. But, boy was that good! [/QUOTE] That was probably Fage brand yogurt you had, **Ca3799**. That’s the brand I buy, because it’s thick and velvety. After reading this thread, I wondered if that thickness was the result of gelatin or anything, so I went to their website to look up the list of [ingredients](http://www.fageusa.com/classic_yogurt_info.html) which make up their classic yogurt. Nope, nothing but milk, cream and yogurt culture. So thick, luscious yogurts without thickeners do exist. BTW, Fage makes a nonfat yogurt which is just as thick and unctuous as their full-fat product. I was skeptical that it could taste good, but it’s about the best nonfat product I’ve ever tasted. If you still want your Greek yogurt and honey but without fat, it’s a doable thing. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/66 "2007-10-12T22:09:34Z")
It’s an overstatement to claim that yogurts thickened with things like pectin are not really yogurt. By law, all products labeled “yogurt” in the U.S. must be made from cultured milk. My experience, though, is that many commercial yogurts are minimally cultured and rely on added thickeners for their textures. I’m sure that adding thickeners saves money for the dairies - they can ship their yogurt right away, rather than wait several days for the fermentation to do its work. Why is this important? Culturing converts lactose to lactic acid, giving yogurt a sour milk flavor. A yogurt that relies more on added thickeners and less on culturing won’t be as tart. In this sense, many thickened yogurts aren’t really yogurts - they don’t taste like yogurt should taste. ---
**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/67 "2007-10-13T00:21:41Z")
There was a study done at my university to see if a yogurt could be made from goat’s milk that tasted good, had a good texture and was similar to traditional Filipino yogurt. (Note: this university is nowhere near the Phillipines, I think one of the contributing professors must have been from there because it seems like a pretty random condition considering the extremely small Filipino population of this province). They made the yogurt with active culture and used carragheenan to thicken it, not gelatin. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/68 "2007-10-13T04:01:31Z")
[QUOTE=Jeff Lichtman] It’s an overstatement to claim that yogurts thickened with things like pectin are not really yogurt. By law, all products labeled “yogurt” in the U.S. must be made from cultured milk. [/quote] You can google on soy yogurt and find numerous products. Some companies - not all - have labels that specifically call themselves soy yogurt, not soy cultured product. Take a look at this [WholeSoy soy yogurt page](http://www.wholesoyco.com/product_yogurt.html). It’s also possible to have a vegan product, as [Nancy’s cultured soy is.](http://www.nancysyogurt.com/nancys_products/soy.php) It’s possible that using milk-based cultures allows the soy yogurt label and vegan cultures do not, but I’m not sure about that. > [@](#): > > My experience, though, is that many commercial yogurts are minimally cultured and rely on added thickeners for their textures. I’m sure that adding thickeners saves money for the dairies - they can ship their yogurt right away, rather than wait several days for the fermentation to do its work. Thickeners have a specific meaning in food processing. Yogurts do not normally use thickeners. For example, [this food science page on yogurt](http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/yogurt.html) does not show any ingredients that would normally be called thickeners. > [@](#): > > Other yogurt ingredients may include some or all of the following: > Other Dairy Products: concentrated skim milk, nonfat dry milk, whey, lactose. These products are often used to increase the nonfat solids content > Sweeteners: glucose or sucrose, high-intensity sweeteners (e.g. aspartame) > Stabilizers: gelatin, carboxymethyl cellulose, locust bean Guar, alginates, carrageenans, whey protein concentrate > Flavours > Fruit Preparations: including natural and artificial flavouring, colour > [@](#): > > Why is this important? Culturing converts lactose to lactic acid, giving yogurt a sour milk flavor. A yogurt that relies more on added thickeners and less on culturing won’t be as tart. In this sense, many thickened yogurts aren’t really yogurts - they don’t taste like yogurt should taste. They are really yogurts. They’re just American-style commercial yogurts. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695/69 "2007-10-13T04:06:02Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Some companies - not all - have labels that specifically call themselves soy yogurt, not soy cultured product. [/QUOTE] They should have a an unambiguous trademark for that; how about Soygurt[sup]®[/sup] ? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-yogurt-is-not-yogurt/416695.md?page=3)