Friday, April 22, 2011

And the results are in...which yogurt tastes better?

As you can imagine we eat quite a bit of Bark Wild granola around here. And albeit a bit expected, one of our favorite ways to eat it is sprinkled on yogurt - plain, fruit on the bottom, Greek, frozen, you name it. So, we decided to do an officially unofficial yogurt taste test. To narrow our focus, we honed in on the Greek yogurt brands which are known for their lower sugar content. Because while sugar certainly does help the medicine go down, we’re of the opinion that it kinda gets in the way of our great tasting granola.

We checked out a few taste tests to determine our criteria and we collectively decided upon nutrition, taste and mixability. Ok, so you called us out. We didn’t really find "mixability" in another taste test. We made it up. But when it comes to mixing yogurt and granola, consistency is everything. It can’t be too thick, or too watery. It has to be just right. So that’s what we call mixability. And because we’re super scientific around here, we reduced our variables by keeping serving size, flavor and fat content identical across all brands. Our nutritional analysis is comprised of tallying caloric content, sugar, carbs, protein and sodium. And here’s what we
found.




Oikos with the lowest sugar, carb and sodium content, as well as, one of the lowest calorie counts appears to be the healthiest among our set. And with nearly double the calories and sodium, Yoplait brings up the rear.

And since this is a “Taste” test, the taste criteria is pretty darn important. And it isn’t enough to just taste great, the yogurt also has to complement the awesomeness of our Bark Wild granola. And who would have thought that there could be so much variance among plain, non-fat greek yogurt? While we love Chobani with the fruit on the bottom, plain Chobani is extremely sour. Basically like eating a spoonful of sour cream without a lovely verde enchilada to help wash it down. Yuck! And on the opposite end of the spectrum are the noticeably sweeter and more flavorful Greek God and Yoplait. Pretty tasty on their own, but somehow when you add in the granola they turn a tad salty. Somewhere in the middle were Oikos and Fage. Not quite bland, but somewhat plain. And when you have great tasting Bark Wild granola, plain ol’ vanilla is a-ok.

So that brings us to mixability. Fage and Chobani are way to thick. Got an arm workout just trying to stir and that was before I added the Bark Wild. Greek God is oddly grainy which doesn’t necessarily impede the ability to mix in the granola, but the resulting consistency is just a tad off. Yoplait and Oikos are both extremely smooth and creamy, but we have to give props to Oikos. It’s smooth, creamy and delightfully light texture is the perfect pairing for our wildly delicious Bark Wild granola.

So the results of our officially unofficial taste test are officially in. Oikos is the clear-cut front runner. So, grab some today and don’t forget our great tasting, all natural Bark Wild granola.