"A brightly flavourful yoghurt with a smooth and very creamy mouthfeel. The palate has clean, fresh, lactic notes and the acidity is really well balanced. An honest yoghurt and delicious with it." — Great Taste Awards judges on our whole milk strained yoghurt
Plain yoghurt should only have two ingredients — milk and live cultures. For every litre we make, we start with over three litres of fresh, unhomogenised West Country milk. We ferment it slowly with our carefully selected live cultures, including probiotics. We then strain it until we reach the thick, creamy texture we're looking for. What's left is naturally high in protein and low in sugar, with no skimmed milk powder in sight (the stuff that makes fortified high-protein yoghurts taste like cardboard).
We pump the milk through a filter and it either goes straight into the vat, or takes a short detour through the separator (if it's destined for our fat free or low fat yoghurt). The milk is then heated to pasteurise it and, more importantly for our yoghurt, to denature the whey proteins and make them attach themselves to the casein proteins. Put simply, this is how we retain the valuable protein during the straining process.
After a thorough mix, the milk and cultures are left for a few hours so that they can get to know each other better - that's when the magic happens!
Using our very own unique straining method, we drain off the whey (mainly water and lactose). This leaves us with the luxurious creamy texture that we're looking for and we can now transfer the yoghurt to our filling machine. The finished pots are stacked and stored in our cold room where they dream of being released into the wild and meeting up with a nice fruit filling or nutty companion.
Simple, you use our half-fat strained yoghurt base and fold in a natural berry compote with no added sugar. The texture, taste and nutritional value of our flavoured yoghurts make them perfect for weaning whilst still being enjoyable for all ages.
Alex's grandmother used to mix strained yoghurt into her potato salad — she said it made it lighter. That was the first recipe Alex tried on Dan, and the rest, as they say, is dairy history. It's the most versatile ingredient in our fridge. A healthier substitute for cream, mayo or cream cheese. A protein-packed breakfast base. A sauce, a dip, a marinade, a smoothie, a pudding. We've barely scratched the surface.