Dish of the Week: Skyr
Where: Whole Foods

There’s not much clever or witty to intro this week’s dish. But maybe your new year’s resolutions to eat healthier are waning. And perhaps skyr is the solution to your problems. Skyr is an Icelandic, protein-packed, turbo-charged yogurt-like cheese… that you find in the yogurt section. And despite the label on the Siggi’s skyr, it is definitely cheese and not yogurt. If you check out the label, you will see vegetarian rennet listed among the ingredients. As Little House on the Prairie fans know, rennet is an enzyme found in the lining of a mammal’s stomach to help it digest milk. In cheese production, rennet helps to coagulate milk.

Skyr’s texture is very similar to full-fat Greek yogurt in its viscosity and has a very rich flavor. However, it’s made with skim milk and has no fat. A six ounce serving contains a whopping 16 grams of protein, compared to around 6 grams for regular yogurt. Siggi’s version includes live active cultures, giving it all the great probiotic characteristics that so many companies are flogging now.

Both the Skyr.is and Siggi’s brands have a lot to offer. The skyr.is vanilla flavor has a great vanilla bean flavor and is wonderful with granola. Though the fruit flavors (strawberry and blueberry) leave a little something to be desired. Siggi’s pomegranate and passionfruit flavor is subtle, with the slightly sweet acidic fruits and a touch of low glycemic index agave nectar. Siggi’s also comes in orange ginger, blueberry, and plain. The plain flavors of both would do really well as a substitute for sour cream – still giving a heavy mouthfeel with maybe a touch more acidity. Or utilize its less watery properties and spread it on cake and top off with fruit.