Eat This Now: Blue Hill Grass-Fed Savory Yogurts
Something truly wonderful in the food world exists just 30 minutes outside of NYC. Well, lots of wonderful food exists outside of NYC, but start with the trip to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where chef/owner and multiple award-recipient Dan Barber has experimented with such innovations as transforming natural waste into a soil enhancer and using its bees to help NASA study climate change. We've had some serious experiences there.
The farm itself is a renowned case-study in local, organic food production, supplying the produce for Barber's NYC outpost, Blue Hill. His newest project tackles something new to the food world: savory Blue Hill Yogurt. It's about time someone produced savory flavors of something innately savory, not sweet. The cows that produce the milk are 100% grass-fed, a characteristic that comes through in Blue Hill Yogurt. Put down that watery pastel-colored strawberry-banana Yoplait. Here's what you're getting into:
Tomato
A slight peach tint, and a flavor reminiscent of raita. It's clean and fruity rather than vegetal but with a clear note of savory tomato flesh (no seeds/guts to be found here). This could easily be a standalone dip for crudité or a step up from mayo with regards to the tomato sandwich, but I'd toss it with finely diced cucumber, chopped cilantro and ground cumin and serve it with curry.
Carrot
Well the bright orange color gives away what flavor lies within — seriously, that is one naturally colored cup of carrot-flavored yogurt. Lovers of carrots and carrot juice, rejoice! You'll definitely taste the pronounced carroty goodness. It's almost like a creamy carrot soup in yogurt form, all it's missing is a few shreds of grated ginger and a sprinkle of fresh chopped dill.
Beet
This was my favorite of the four. There's an immediate hit of earthy, vegetal roasted beet, which turns to pickled beet thanks to the acidic yogurt, then mellows into an almost cherry-like sour-sweetness. It's absolutely delicious and nicely aromatic. Make a tangy yogurt dressing for a beet and walnut salad, or whip up a batch of beet-tziki.
Butternut Squash
The butternut squash yogurt's resemblance to mustard made me apprehensive. The flavor was also a little strange at first, butternut squash and yogurt not being the most paired flavors in the world, but the nutmeg's spiciness brings out a pronounced candied squash flavor. Mixed with a little maple syrup to cut the excess acid (this one is very tart), I can imagine eating it with granola and dreaming of pumpkin pie.
Find Blue Hill Yogurt at Whole Foods for $2.99 each, starting...now!
More yogurt stories on Food Republic: