The winners of plant-based yogurt

By Christina Lampert in Food, Plant-Based on July 23, 2019September 21, 2019

Today I’m here to write about something so up and coming. To prove it – look at this entire shelf dedicated to them in Wegman’s… Plant-based yogurts!

Plant based.jpeg

I’m really trying (have been trying) for a few years now to cut as much meat and animal sourced protein out of my diet as possible. You may have heard of this term, flexitarian, where consumers are “flexing” their diets and find themselves somewhere between a carnivore, omnivore, vegetarian, etc. PS: Doesn’t the word omnivore make you think of a dinosaur?

Flexitarian: a person who has a primarily vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish.

One of the key traits of a “flexitarian” is that they are willing to experiment with plant-based substitutes. Hell-yeah! Myself included, flexitarians find themselves dabbling with plant-based meats every so often when they have the chance, and are willing to buy new alternatives from their traditional animal protein purchases.

I’m here to say that MAN – trying these plant based yogurts was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

After doing this review (and you’ll see which one was my favorite) I haven’t went back to dairy on the basis of taste alone… I was never in LOVE with dairy yogurt however I was in love with my ritualized breakfast containing raspberries, blueberries, almond butter, honey, Purely Elizabeth granola and the yogurt beneath this bed of nutrition to mix it all together to start my day.

Every time I passed the plant-based yogurt section in Whole Foods, Wegman’s, etc the competition, or selection on the shelf, was getting more comprehensive. I thought I’d pick a few random ones and give them a little review for your own purchase inspiration!

I picked quite the diverse selection of plant-based yogurts…

Forager Cashewgurt
So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt
Lava Plant-Based Yogurt
Kite Hill Key Lime Pie Almond Milk Yogurt

I made a video reviewing (you’re going to get totally live feedback…) from each first bite of these. Feel free to watch this 10 minute video or read on for the summary.

Forager Cashewgurt: 10/10 (Vanilla Flavor)

Definitely my favorite in terms of texture and taste. Actually alright, spoiler alert if you didn’t see the score – my favorite out of all of them. Should I have saved this for the last? I tried the Vanilla flavor and to me, the most seamless switch from dairy yogurt. It’s a little bit more liquidy than traditional yogurt, but hey this is great, no need to stir at the beginning of opening like traditional yogurt. Plus- you’re still getting tons of probiotics. If you’re just starting your plant-based yogurt journey – I’d recommend this with fruit and the vanilla flavor.

So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt: 6.5/10 (Vanilla Flavor)

In terms of the taste, it reminds me of a Pina Colada. And who doesn’t love that. As you can infer, it tasted very sweet – a little too sweet for me – and the texture reminds me of rice pudding. That’s gonna be a no for me dawg, texturally speaking. I think this yogurt is good only for dessert, rather than breakfast. It could even be a good, more similar substitute for ice cream rather than yogurt. All in all, I liked it, didn’t love it. Good dairy alternative when that dessert craving hits.

Lava Plant Based Original Yogurt: 2/10

Ugh. If the score doesn’t tell you anything… This was rough. In my Youtube review, I compare this to that of a sour beer. You have to really, really love, and be ready for the sour taste of a sour beer. For this, you have to really, really love and be ready for a sour yogurt.

Pretty sure no one is ever ready or loves a sour yogurt, though?

It tastes SO bitter (I got chills in the video review). I should have known from the ingredients: Himalayan salt, plantains and lime juice. Not my cup of tea-gurt. The only positive from this one? No added sugar. This taste is so distracting (so sour) that I couldn’t imagine having it for breakfast or as a snack with my usual (already tarte) fruit and granola. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND for your first plant-based yogurt experience or continued trial…

Kite Hill Almond Milk Yogurt: 8.5/10 (Key Lime Pie Flavor)

HUGE FAN of this one and even as someone who isn’t totally obsessed with Key Lime Pie. This is one that I would buy if you’re having people over for a dinner and want a nice, little healthy treat for dessert! You can top this with a little lime for picture (who are we kidding, Instagram) effect and add some granola. It tasted so satisfying and the texture was great. In other almond milk yogurts that I’ve tasted (say vanilla flavor for example), I’ve always felt like the taste was a bit off, a bit nutty and I didn’t like it better than dairy. However, I tried this Almond Milk yogurt in the Key Lime flavor, and it was above and beyond my expectations. SUCH A TREAT.

So: the winner? Cashewgurt all the way. However… Kite Hill an extremely close second.

How does this switch to plant-based yogurt positively impact the environment versus dairy yogurt?

In short, dairy milk used for traditional dairy yogurt obviously comes from cows. In order for a cow to live, the farms have to use a lot of land, grow a lot of food, use a ton of water to raise that cow. More importantly, cows produce Methane as excess which is more harmful to the environment in terms of global warming than Carbon Dioxide.*

There’s no doubt that these alternatives also use water and power to packaging, grow and produce. However, the impact is much less when we think about global warming and our long term impact. If we think about our coconut milk yogurt alternatives, coconut trees are actually known to filter carbon dioxide out of air – a win win for us.

PS – for almost all of these, make sure to take off the paper wrapping around the yogurt cup and recycle separately.