Review: Bellwether Farms Sheep Milk Yogurt (Blackberry)

[ysabetwordsmith]

At Common Ground I found Bellwether Farms Sheep Milk Yogurt, and bought the blackberry -- they had a few other flavors too. (It turns out the creamery also makes a variety of other cultured products.)  I bought it because 1) I like trying new foods, 2) I was curious about sheep milk yogurt compared to other kinds, and 3) it had TWELVE live cultures in it.  Most yogurts only have one or two.

I tried the yogurt tonight.  It was quite  sour.  Most "healthy" yogurts are much too sour for my taste, alas, leaving me with the sweeter commercial ones.  The only sweetener in this one seems to be a small amount of cane sugar in the blackberry layer on the bottom.  Ah well.  I did finish the container because I wanted the beneficial cultures.  However, I was deeply intrigued by the flavor, which was much more complex than usual.  That could be the pastured sheep milk, or it could be the dozen cultures, or even both.  It definitely has a strong sheepy, cheesy flavor.  As I like sheep milk cheese, this is a plus.  It was very rich.  I would've liked it a lot better to eat by itself if it were sweeter, but I did identify layers of the flavor that I enjoyed.  The texture is exceptionally thick and really stays on the spoon well.  The blackberry layer on the bottom was mostly whole fruit, and did help sweeten the yogurt once stirred in.  My initial taste of the top layer was eye-crossingly sour.

Comparing this sheep milk yogurt to other types of yogurt: It is much thicker, richer, muskier, and cheesier than cow or goat yogurts I have had.  It's more complex than the pastured goat yogurt I had; I don't think I've had a pastured cow yogurt.  I think this is a little less sour than the skyr.  That was relatively awful.  :P  This is a set-in-container fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt, but it is downright sticky; it doesn't have the silky quality of French (cow) yogurt like Oui (which I love).

I am most intrigued by this as a cooking ingredient.  I think it might do amazing things if mixed into something sweeter like frozen yogurt, smoothies, cheesecake, fruit dip, etc.  Mmm, or used as a marinade.  If you want it just a little sweeter, you could slop it onto a bowl of blackberries or use it to top a pie.  Note that cooking at high temperatures would kill the live cultures, and freezing might, but other methods like running it through a blender would leave them intact.

Consider buying some if you:
* think commercial yogurt is way too sweet
* or way too runny
* don't have much taste so prefer strong flavors
* need something with no crud in it
* want a really thick yogurt
* plan to use it as an ingredient
* especially as a starter for your own yogurt
* love sheep milk cheese
* eat yogurt to compensate for antibiotics
* want to consume 12 different live things

... oh, that's  why I kind of liked it even though it was way too sour.  It had a huge amount of vital energy from the cultures.  Definitely consider it if you need that.  There must be ways to make it sweeter if you dislike sour things.

I will have to keep this in mind for future experiments as an ingredient, particularly since the company also sells plain and vanilla versions.

Comments

[fyreharper]

Could always add a bit of your favorite sweetener to it! Plain yogurt with honey drizzled over it is a favorite. Most flavored yogurts are too sweet for me, but skyr tends to go too far in the other direction.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Could always add a bit of your favorite sweetener to it! Plain yogurt with honey drizzled over it is a favorite.<<

Doesn't tend to work all that well for me, because it doesn't blend in enough. *ponder* Well, blackberry jam might work in this case. A big part of the issue is the acid -- I have to be careful not to eat too much of that.

>> Most flavored yogurts are too sweet for me, but skyr tends to go too far in the other direction.<<

This is just a little less sour than skyr.

I have thought of a possibility, though: using this as a marinade, cooking the meat, then topping it with a 5-spice blackberry sauce.

Re: Thoughts

[fyreharper]

Yeah, for blending in evenly, jam is probably a better bet.

5-spice blackberry sounds intriguing!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I think that was from the Vitamix cookbook.

[cmcmck]

I love the sourer yoghurts which is why I like the Icelandic skyr so much.

Have you tried it?

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I tried skyr and hated it. :(

If you love sour yogurt, however, definitely look for sheep milk varieties in your area. I strongly suspect that the sheepy, cheesy qualities will come through no matter how much sugar gets added, and there's likely someone making a sour version.

Re: Well ...

[cmcmck]

There's a local goat's milk one which is nicely to my sourer taste!

[mount_oregano]

It may well have been sour because it sat on the shelf for too long. Fresh yogurt (I make my own) can be very mild at first, but if it sits in the refrigerator too long and keeps fermenting, the same yogurt can get very sour.

I recommend trying more than one kind of sheep yogurt before you rush to judgement on the definitive nature of sheep yogurt. I used to live in Spain, and sheep milk was common there, and while it had differences from cow milk or goat milk, being sour when fermented wasn't a unique characteristic.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I did wonder if it might have been milder when just made, given the propensity of most cultures to sharpen with age.

However, there's a particular note to it that I associate with sheep milk cheese, which I expect would be present even early on and/or with the addition of copious sweetener.

I'm open to trying other sheep milk yogurts, as I would be interested in finding a sweeter one. I do actually like that sheepy, cheesy note. It was the amount of acid that greatly exceeded my preferences.

I have also had cow and goat milk yogurts that were very sour, so that aspect alone is not unique to sheep milk. I have found goat more sour than cow, but that may simply be that Americans make commercial sweet yogurt from cow milk, and only use goat milk for the "healthy" ones, which I have found universally more sour.

[catherineldf]

I love this stuff! I'm allergic to cow dairy so I only eat Bellweather and Redwood Hill goat's milk yogurt. I don't find it particularly sour though.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Do other sour things seem not very sour to you? I've known a few people who would eat lemons.

[lb_lee]

Oh man, I wonder how (in plain form) it'd do as part of my Mac and cheese sauce!

I like using rich, creamy, tangy yogurt as part of my macaroni and cheese sauce, it gives a great texture and some tangy flavor to accent the cheese! But there's a huge difference between yogurt stuff you try, and this stuff is probably out of my price range. Still, though, I'm curious!

--Mac

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Your description makes it sound like their plain yogurt would work very well for you in that recipe. Consider that some people use sheep milk cheese to make macaroni! You might try it for a special occasion. I don't think we paid more than a few bucks for it.

*ponder* Or lasagna. It could probably be used in lasagna. With lamb.

[elaiel]

I love those sour flavours, natural yoghurt (cow, sheep or goats milk), lassi, kefir, ayran (mint, fruit or salt), I love all of those fermented milk products. I also like pickles, vinegar or lactic acid pickles, they're all good.