I hadn’t really thought about it in much detail before but this might be my first time trying an actual Greek brand of yogurt, given that Fage is an international brand and made in several different countries.
Kolios comes in a strong plastic tub with a tinfoil tear and a plastic lid – there’s a lot of redundancy built into this packaging.
At first glance it looks slightly grainy but upon tasting the texture is velvety smooth.
10% fat content means it looks feels and tastes like cream. There’s no real smell to speak of but there is quite a rich flavour, with the slightest of a tangy aftertaste.
The branding states this is ‘Authentic Greek Yogurt’ but the milk comes from a variety of EU countries.
This makes a lot of sense from a practicality point of view as Greece isn’t the best location for dairy cattle and the popularity of Greek yogurt is such that demand must have outstripped supply some years ago.
Who can say what constitutes authenticity these days?
Upon further inspection, the ingredients list shows that this is actually the most processed yogurt I’ve had in a while – it uses skimmed cow’s milk, skimmed condensed milk, milk cream, milk protein and lactic ferments.
Basically milk is deconstructed in several different factories around Europe then reconstituted as Kolios yogurt in Greece.
Its no wonder that the most pronounced flavour is cream given it is the one ingredient that was not reanimated from the crypt.
I’m not sure to what extent fermentation affects cream in a positive or negative way – perhaps the bacteria preferentially feed on the condensed milk for instance, leaving a creamier flavour. Or perhaps the cream is added after the fermentation.
I had high hopes for this product but it left me a bit cold in the end. It won a ‘Superior taste award’ in 2021 and I can see how it would be popular among people who want dairy but also don’t love dairy – their recipe seems likely designed to remove the sourness that turns some people off.
It could even serve as a viable alternative to cream in a recipe or to accompany a dessert if someone were on a diet.
At 10% fat content it is extremely rich for a yogurt, but the 6g of protein per 100g is on the low end for a product mainly made of skimmed milk that also contains added protein.
Although Greek yogurt is typically known for being strained, which gives it that thick luxurious texture, it seems likely to me (based on no evidence) that this product is designed to sidestep that particular step as it takes quite a while to complete.
There’s technically no added sugar but skimmed milk and condensed milk are both very high in lactose and quick to ferment.
Fermenting lean skimmed milk to create yogurt then artificially adding depth and flavour with cream would be one way of doing this, and allows a company to easily create products of different fat content from one giant pot of 0% yogurt if desired.
In many ways this is as close as yogurt gets to being junk food before sugar, flavouring or extra products are added.
Initially when I tasted it, the yogurt seemed so rich that I didn’t think I would be able to eat much, but the high fat content and smooth texture kept me coming back for more.
Before I knew it the whole tub was gone without much trouble but the manufacturing process left a sour taste in my mouth.