Artisanal Yogurts

I am such a sucker for packaging, especially if the product comes in a jar. I guess I might even have a bit of a jar obsession. I collect the more interesting ones (with the idea that I'll reuse them for something else), and among the many things I do with them, besides moving them from one dark kitchen corner cabinet to another or schlepping them around in my backpack (even I wonder about that) is to use them to drink out of. I love a big ole mason jar full of coffee, what can I say. If you say jar too many times it begins to sound weird, say it with me, jar...jar...jar...jar...it just sounds wrong! I fear Ellina (who by the way is becoming quite the lovely little pork chop) will grow up ashamed of her crazy jar hording mother, which makes me sad...

Anyway, yesterday Ellie spent the day with her Dad so that I could have a much needed break from this new role I've taken on as mother, (as much as I love my girl, I have come to realize I occasionally need some me time too). At one point I found myself on the upper East-side and so, as I do whenever I'm in that neighborhood, I stopped into Grace's Marketplace and browsed around a bit.

Its been a while since I was at Grace's Marketplace and so I spent quite some time wandering the aisles taking in all the sights and smells. At one point, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a flurry of activity near the cheese section. A fabulously dressed twenty-something was chatting away on her cell phone and furiously loading her cart with cute little jars. I was too far away to tell what delightful treat might be in those jars so I threw on my cap and nonchalantly walked over to the produce section and staked her out. I found that if I stood just slightly at an angle, I could position myself in such a way that I could see her but she couldn't see me. I opened up a newspaper and feigned interest, just biding my time until she was done. Occasionally I would glance over the top of the newspaper to see if she had gone, and when she hadn’t yet cleared the area, I snapped the pages of the newspaper a bit and continued with my stakeout. When she finally left, I made a mad dash back over to the cheese section and grabbed one of the five jars the girl had so graciously left behind. YOGURT! (or is it yoghurt?). She had been filling her cart with two different brands of artisanal yogurt! Well, you know I had to try some of this! I grabbed two of the prune, (don't laugh, it was all that was left of the Ferme de Peupliers brand) and one each of the French Yoplait. The French Yoplait came in these terrific little terra cotta jars that, I reasoned, if the yogurt sucked, at least I'd have these cute little jars as souvenirs.

Well, I'm glad to report that neither brand of yogurt/yoghurt sucked. I preferred the Ferme de Peupliers brand. It was much nicer in texture and taste, tangier and thicker than the French Yoplait, but, where the French Yoplait really shined was with the fruit on the bottom. It was sweet but not too sweet, syrupy yet not smooth, with bits and pieces of fruit and seeds throughout. Lovely. Both yogurts/yoghurts were smaller in portion size than what we're used to with American yogurt and that was just fine by me. I was quite happy with the portion size and I felt quite satisfied after having such a thick and creamy full fat treat. I'll be going back for more. I need more jars.

Written by Deb on March 26, 2004 12:10 PM