Whole milk Greek yogurt fat content

mbarvian

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I'm embarrassed to admit I've spent a considerable amount of brainpower trying to figure out how whole milk Greek yogurt still has ~2x more protein than fat. I make my own Greek yogurt with whole milk as it's incredibly cheap but I'm still skeptical of the macro ratio. Here's one brand that uses only whole milk and culture: http://strausfamilycreamery.com/product ... ain-yogurt . I guess the confusion comes from the straining step; everything I've seen shows that the strained whey has more protein than fat, so it makes 0 sense that the resulting yogurt would still have more protein than fat. Can anyone whey in on this? :roll:
 

schultz

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I think I follow you...

Whole milk pretty much has equal fat to protein (1 cup has 8g of both)
Greek yogurt has higher protein than fat
Whey, strained from the greek yogurt, also has higher protein than fat.
It makes no sense because the fat and protein are at the same level in the beginning which means that one product should have more fat and one product should have more protein.

Is that what you mean?

Maybe they are adding skim milk powder or something which brings up the protein? I don't know about the States but in Canada I think they can add skim milk powder and not put it on the label because it is still milk. So the ingredients could list "milk" yet it would be milk and skim milk powder. That is my only explanation...
 

johns74

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schultz said:
in Canada I think they can add skim milk powder and not put it on the label because it is still milk

with the difference that the tryptophan in milk powder is harmful
 

schultz

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johns74 said:
schultz said:
in Canada I think they can add skim milk powder and not put it on the label because it is still milk

with the difference that the tryptophan in milk powder is harmful

It's an annoying practice and I find it a bit misleading. It's like how they can add orange peel flavour packs to orange juice because the peel is still technically part of the orange.
 
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mbarvian

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Thanks for the responses, that must be what's going on here. I know I've seen dry milk added in lots of DIY yogurt tutorials to make the texture thicker, so that totally makes sense. Guess I'll have to stick to lower-fat milk to get the same ratios from now on ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 

chrismeyers

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Your theory is not correct. There are 100% pure whole milk organic greek yogurts made with nothing but milk. No powder or anything else. They have 19 g of protein and 12g of fat per cup. Clearly your knowledge of what is being strained is just not correct. Whatever that is being strained takes out more fat than protein. And this isnt something new. Greek yogurt has always had more protein than fat.
 

mt_dreams

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Sorry chris, I can confirm what shultz said is correct as I know someone in the Canadian milk industry.
Another method that some countries allow is for companies to use reduced fat milk, then label it as whole milk as long as the fat content ends up 8+ grams per serving/cup. A good way to see which methods might be in place is to look at the sugar content. If the 'plain' has more than a couple of grams of sugar, they more than likely added in milk powder to the final product. Real greek yogurt has most of the sugar drain off with the whey, or converted via bacteria.

When I make greek yogurt at home with 2% milk, it contains 12-14g of fat & 19g of protein per cup. If I make it with whole milk, the fat content would be around 24g per cup with the same amount of protein. Obviously the more you drain it, the higher the fat content ratio is going to get. Extremely dense greek yogurt will be high in protein & fat (assuming there was fat in the original liquid).
 

chrismeyers

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I am telling you for an absolute fact that no milk powder is used whatsoever in Straus organic whole milk greek yogurt. Ive been there and seen it being produced. It isnt a guess its a fact. So that as far as a theory is not correct. It takes multiple cups of milk to produce 1 cup of greek yogurt. Why would you assume the ratio would be the exact same in the end product as the source? Obviously the protein coagulates together easier and some of the fat is lost in the process or redistributed.
 

mt_dreams

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chrismeyers said:
I am telling you for an absolute fact that no milk powder is used whatsoever in Straus organic whole milk greek yogurt. Ive been there and seen it being produced. It isnt a guess its a fact. So that as far as a theory is not correct.

Well it looks like they're going with the method I wrote of then.They're using 2% and calling it whole milk b/c the finished product is whole fat%+ ... it's the only way to have only 12g of fat with 19g of casein without adding anything. The whey liquid that gets drained out only contains a small amount of fat, so most of the fat stays in the yogurt.
 

Nicholas

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mt_dreams said:
Sorry chris, I can confirm what shultz said is correct as I know someone in the Canadian milk industry.
Another method that some countries allow is for companies to use reduced fat milk, then label it as whole milk as long as the fat content ends up 8+ grams per serving/cup. A good way to see which methods might be in place is to look at the sugar content. If the 'plain' has more than a couple of grams of sugar, they more than likely added in milk powder to the final product. Real greek yogurt has most of the sugar drain off with the whey, or converted via bacteria.

When I make greek yogurt at home with 2% milk, it contains 12-14g of fat & 19g of protein per cup. If I make it with whole milk, the fat content would be around 24g per cup with the same amount of protein. Obviously the more you drain it, the higher the fat content ratio is going to get. Extremely dense greek yogurt will be high in protein & fat (assuming there was fat in the original liquid).

would you care to share your greek yogurt making process or if there would be a link? I would love to be able to make greek yogurt with raw milk that i trust at something that costs less than $1.50/cup
 

mt_dreams

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Nicholas said:
would you care to share your greek yogurt making process or if there would be a link? I would love to be able to make greek yogurt with raw milk that i trust at something that costs less than $1.50/cup

For greek yogurt, expect to loose 75% of the liquid. So for it to cost $1.50 a cup, you would have to be buying milk at 1.50 a liter (or roughly $6 a gallon if ur in the US).

Making it is pretty basic. When I'm at home I use my previous batch of yogurt which has lb balgaricus & strep thermophilus. When I'm away from home I use a yogurt starter powder which contains these 2 bacteria strains. There are many different types of strains one can use, but imo these seem to taste the best, and are the ones in true greek yogurt. I have a fine mesh strainer which I use to strain out all the whey, but a simple cheesecloth will also work. I use non-homogenized pasteurized skim milk, and then add in the cream to the final product. I use a yogurt maker, but I also believe you can use an oven. Cooking temp & time for oven method can be readily found on the net.

There are some stories on the net of people having problems using raw milk for yogurt & kefir as the live microbes in the raw milk sometimes interfere with the yogurt cultures. I assume this is why a lot of directions on the net say to lightly heat raw milk before using, though this is probably only needed when using cultures designed for room temp yogurt/kefir making. If you don't want to heat anything to make yogurt, you will have to look for cultures designed for room temp fermentation. The link below has a couple of cultures that would work

http://www.culturesforhealth.com/choosi ... er-culture
 

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