High Brow Culture - Low Brow Simplicity
Last week I was cruising through a small, locally-owned grocery store chain, Jimbo’s Naturally!, when I spied an unusual container at the end of the yogurt chill case, right next to the “soy-pretend” edible food-like substances. I don’t generally even look at small packages of yogurt anymore, though I occasionally buy a quart of Strauss whole milk plain yogurt to use as a starter for my own homemade yogurt or coconut milk yogurt. But I have a weakness for cool reusable containers and I dislike that commercial yogurts invariably are packaged in #5 plastic containers that aren’t recyclable in my area (is #5 plastic recyclable anywhere?), so this new item caught my eye like a diamond gleaming up from mud.
Well, now there’s another yogurt option in town, and this one doesn’t come in a one-time use plastic container. St. Benoît yogurt is packaged in reusable, returnable ceramic crocks that hold 7.5 ounces (213 g) of delicious homestyle yogurt, topped with a foil wrapper (a small shrink-plastic band seals the foil top against leaks and inadvertent opening/tampering). How French is that?
My local store charges $1.99 per container for St. Benoît, which is higher in price at the cash register than mass produced yogurt in similar sizes (though I’ll confess I haven’t even looked at these or bought them recently enough to know if they are still 2/$1 anymore). But I don’t think it is an unreasonable price, considering what it is, especially, and what it isn’t (and I generally buy yogurt only occasionally as a starter for my making own yogurt, anyway). There is a $1.50 deposit paid at the register in addition to the price of the yogurt, but that the deposit is refunded or credited when the container is returned. How cool is that? Though I really am tempted to keep a couple of these containers to hold odds and ends ...
It gets even better, though. The yogurt inside the crock is really, really good. It’s “real” probiotic-rich yogurt, so good for GI health, made in small batches by two guys in Sonoma County, sourced from milk produced only two miles away. This yogurt is nothing like highly processed Yoplait, Go-Gurt, or even Stonyfield, Brown Cow, or Trader Joe’s, or any of the yogurt-like concoctions at the grocery store that are unnaturally emulsified with thickening additives, “natural” chemical flavorings, colorings, etc. St. Benoît yogurt is similar in texture to the yogurt you might make at home (or made by the proverbial Bulgarian 100+ year old grandmother), which might take some getting used to for those who have only ever had highly processed factory-made yogurt.
The first difference you notice when you peel off the foil top, is the beautiful creamy yellow butterfat layer that has risen to the surface because the whole milk used to make the yogurt has not been homogenized (beaten into submission). It’s very tempting to scoop that thick buttery yogurt layer up right away and eat it by itself, but I always try to stir it back into the yogurt (just my own quirk).
That rich topping of yellow butterfat is indicative of the high quality, vitamin-rich milk produced by Jersey cows, and also of pasture-grazing instead of grain-feeding and CAFO herd management. Pastured cows on well-maintained pasture create butterfat and milk that is rich in fat-soluble Vitamin A and Vitamin K2, resulting in butterfat with a deeper yellow color instead of pale and insipid. Do I worry about consuming butterfat? Heck no, I consider good butterfat a “health” food! It’s chock-full of fat soluble vitamins I need, plus great easy-to-burn energy.
Vitamin K2, overlooked for far too long, is emerging as a very important nutrient that is often deficient in modern industrial diets; butter from grass-fed cows is an excellent source of K2. K2 (especially the MK-4 or menatetrenone form), along with calcium, magnesium, and fat soluble Vitamin D3 from sunshine, are very important synergistic nutrients for developing and maintaining healthy, strong bones and straight, decay-resistant teeth. Calcium is often recognized and stressed as an important nutrient in mainstream nutrition advice, but less well publicized Vitamin K2 is too often deficient in modern CAFO/grain-fed products, reduced-fat foods, and some highly restrictive vegetarian diets.
Additionally, Vitamin D3 levels are often quite low in a number of industrial populations worldwide, due to geographic factors (latitude and ozone filtering), indoor lifestyle and sun-avoidance practices, and a relative lack of Vitamin D3 in found in foods (the synthetic D2 added to fluid milk in the US and some other foods is not well absorbed or converted to D3, nor is it found in adequate amounts).
Getting back to the yogurt - St. Benoît yogurt also comes in a handful of flavored varieties, only flavored with organic fruit preserves or honey produced in small batches nearby in Sonoma County, too. I only tried the flavored yogurt in Lemon, which was quite good (not too sweet, nor too tart) but overall, my preference is for plain yogurt I can flavor myself with a tiny bit of raw local honey or dark flavorful maple syrup. But I plan to purchase St, Benoît’s plain yogurt when I need a starter culture for my own homemade yogurt, made with Organic Pastures raw whole milk or with full fat coconut milk (canned or homemade, videos here and here).
Now that I’ve whetted your appetite for this small-batch yogurt made in beautiful Sonoma County in California, the bad news is that St. Benoit yogurt is sold only in limited locations in Califormia, primarily in the SF/Oakland Bay area, Marin & Napa Counties, Sacramento, and the Central Valley. There are only two locations farther south, one in Santa Barbara, and one in north coastal San Diego County. The St. Benoît transportation vehicle is fueled by Compressed Natural Gas, so even the substantial number of miles transporting yogurt from Sonoma to San Diego County are cleaner miles. All the same, the limited scope of availability fits better with the notion of a “foodshed”, unlike big corporation yogurt made with cheap imported CAFO milk and processed dry milk solids. Here’s hoping other small traditional creameries will spring up wherever there are grass-based dairy farms, to provide yogurt and other cultured/fermented dairy foods in your foodshed region - because we really need more alternatives to disposable plastic food containers and high-tech industrial food products made in factories. One small step at a time toward a “Slower Food Nation”, yes?
Going Against the Grain
Monday, March 2, 2009
