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.
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