Yesterday, Cara and I were shopping at Whole Foods Market (Union Square) and in the Yogurt section, Siggi’s Skyr neat packaging completely caught my attention. I aesthetically loved it and figured it had to be good… Looked at the characteristics, “All Natural, Milk from grass fed cows, No aspartame, No sucralose, No gelatin, No artificial colorings, No preservatives, No high fructose corn syrup, No rBGH, Milk produced without the use of recombinant bovine growth hormones”. Non only the packaging was neat, but the yogurt itself was too. Brought home two of them, blueberry flavored and we ate them tonight. One thing I had not noticed at the time of purchase is the very smart packaging.
Well let’s take a first step back. In order to optimize the recycling process, you should completely separate elements from each other. For instance, if you are recycling a pet food can, you want to separate the aluminum part from the paper part.
Now, let’s take a second step back. Yes I am moon-walking!! :P A couple of months ago, after we moved into this apartment, I became quickly frustrated with the recycling downstairs. There was 4 or 5 recycling bins but you could not know which was what. So we decided to make some small signs to differentiate them (see pic below), hoping our neighbors would follow our guidelines. They did and now, no more morning headaches such as “Ok i see more aluminum here, this must be the aluminum bin… uh wait, i see a plastic bottle and some newspapers… no!!”; and the recycling is just more efficient.
Let’s go back to Siggi’s Skyr. I was talking about smart packaging, in fact, when you look closer, there is a vertical sleeve on the paper packaging of the yogurt. You can pull this sleeve and HOP, the paper is disassembled from the plastic yogurt cup. Now you have the aluminum lid, the paper packaging and the plastic cup (see picture below). Easy to recycle! Love it.
Siggi’s is also made in the state of New York and uses local farms. Therefore, low carbon footprint for New Yorkers. That’s another positive thing about it.
Now at this time, I was still seeing Siggi’s as just another healthy yogurt. It is actually quite unique. Below the words of Siggi (the CEO of The Icelandic Milk and Skyr Corporation), taken from the inside part of the yogurt paper packaging:
“quite a bit of protein: Skyr is strained yogurt made from cow’s mil. It’s been a staple of the Icelandic diet for more than 1,000 years. Traditionally, skyr is made from skim milk after the cream has been floated off to make butter. So it’s fat free. Like milk, regular yogurt is mostly water-but wit skyr, that water is strained away. In other words, one cup of siggi’s skyr requires three times more milk than a regular cup of yogurt. What remains is a protein-rich yogurt with live active cultures. no so much sugar: our plain skyr has no added sugar, and our flavored varieties are primarily sweetened with all-natural agave syrup. Agave is a low-glycemic sweetener. This means you digest its sugars slowly, giving you a more balanced energy instead of a wild sugar rush. I would also like to add that we absolutely do not use any artificial sweeteners like aspartame; I shudder at the mere though. we work with nice farmers: We source our milk from family farms in New York State where the cows are not injected with any kind of growth hormone and graze freely when weather permits. We do not use any artificial preservatives or thickeners.” Siggi, CEO of The Icelandic Milk and Skyr Corporation
Now that you know what it is all about, you must inquire about the taste. Well, our feelings were mixed. This is an heavy yogurt and you might want to eat it as a breakfast instead of just a yogurt in the flow of a complete meal. As we talk, Cara is making her first homemade yogurts with her new yogurt machine so we will probably not have any new opportunity for a taste of Siggi’s. I highly recommend it and I wish Yop, by Yoplait, my all times favorite yogurt, was as natural and as green as Siggi’s.
Join The Discussion (9)
Right on! It is true the packaging is not only aesthetically pleasing, but super eco-friendly and green. I love it. It for sure tastes healthy, but I don’t love the taste, even with honey I could not finish it. My favorite yogurt is Fage Total Greek yogurt. It contains nothing but strained yogurt made from Grade A pasteurized milk and cream, live active yogurt cultures (L.Bulgaricus, S.Thermophilus), but this yogurt I love so much, even the 0 nonfat strained yogurt made from Grade A pasteurized skimmed milk, live active yogurt cultures (L.Bulgaricus, S.Thermophilus) is good, so I am not sure why I don’t like the taste of Siggi’s, but alas at this point I do not. You never know things grow on me. I hope so.
;)
-Cara
I know what you mean when you say you did not like the taste but believe you’ll grow to love it! It has no added sugar hence you get the taste of pure natural yogurt. My mom makes it this way and it tastes great- after a few servings I am sure you will not like the taste of any other yogurt! Whole Foods has its own brand fat free yogurt also which is soo good. But Siggi’s is definitely a step ahead. Yeah Greek yogurt by Fage also tastes the same but it does have added sugar/aspartame.
Thank you Roy. The Fage yogurt DOES NOT CONTAIN ASPARTAME OR ADDED SUGAR. Go HERE to see its ingredients in detail.
You had the exact same reactions to this yogurt as I did! I found it at Mrs. Greens in Westchester, NY but I live in the city and am happy to know I can get it at Whole Foods in Union Sq. Thanks for that info! I also bought it b/c it looked so great on the shelf, and I was so pleasantly rewarded for being a consumer who judges a book by its cover (or in this case a yogurt by its cup :-) I like it better than Fage…
Well Marine I thought you told me you liked Fage better, so I think you and Ellen didn’t have the exact same reaction. In fact I thought you didn’t really like the taste of Siggi so much so that you threw away the second one unfinished because you couldn’t eat it. You should also be careful to not mislead your public. Liking how a company packages their product is not the same as liking the actual product. KEEP IT REAL!!!
True baby! :*
Can Siggi’s skyr be bought and shipped?
SIR I AM INTERESTED IN GETTING SIGGI’S YOGART IN OAK PARK MICHIGAN.I HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO LOCATE A MARKET THAT CARRIES SIGGI’S.CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE?
Hello. I had recently bought some siggis skyr yogurt myself from Whole Foods here in Orlando and my first reaction to the blueberry flavor was POW! Lots of flavor in each bite and it definitely had a different taste to it. After trying all of the flavors (except for plain), I will say that the one I like the most is the Orange & Ginger just because the flavor doesn’t knock you upside my head like the Blueberry did. The yogurt in general is less “juicy” or watery and I think that is what makes the texture and flavor taste a bit different. It really is “thick” yogurt. I would recommend that you and Cara try the Orange & Ginger flavor and see what you think after that.