ottawa foodies

Anyone know where I can get some Greek Yogurt in Ottawa??

Greek yogurt is regular plain yogurt placed in a cheese cloth, tied up and hung over a basin for a day or two to let a lot of the water run out. If this is to much trouble buy Western Dairy brand plain yogurt or. liberty Mediteranian.
We often eat this yogurt as a dessert with honey grizzeld over it and a sprinkling of ground cinnamon.

It's sold in bulk at one of the cheese shops in the Byward Market.

Where can I find Greek Yogurt not in bulk?

If this is to much trouble buy Western Dairy brand plain yogurt or. liberty Mediterranean.

As Cakelady said: If you are looking for pre-packaged Greek Yogurt, the brands are Western Dairy and Liberte (at least, these are the best ones out there, IMO). They can be found at pretty much any grocery store in the city (but I know for certain that Herb and Spice sells both brands and that Loblaws always has Liberte in stock)

Funny! I was JUST about to ask the same question. I used to buy it from Costco, in a container that also had honey. It was pricey, but soooo good. Boushey's on Elgin carries them, but again $$.

So, the Western plain yogurt is same as Greek Yogurt?

There is a new (to me) Greek yogurt in town, made by Skotidakis Goat Farm in St-Eugene; it's called Traditional Greek Strained Yogurt and is available in 1 lb (454 g) tubs of 0% or 9% butterfat. Cost was $6.99 I think. It's contents are pasteurized cow's milk and goat's milk, bacterial cultures and salt. I tried the 9% b.f. version, making tzatziki yesterday, and it is a scrumptious yogurt on it's own (it's really thick and creamy, with good yogurt flavour) and in tzatziki. I found it at the Bank St S Produce Depot in the dairy case (btw, not the cheese case). Get some, and make evelyn/athens tzatziki (see www.recipezaar.com).
Normallly I make my own yogurt, and then make the strained yogurt (aka Greek yogurt or yogurt cheese), and I will continue to, but this yogurt will be my go to when time doesn't permit making yogurt cheese.

Tx Andy. I will look for this product.

Skotidakis is a big outfit I think. Their tzatziki and jalapeño dip are available at costco, and are very tasty. I don't think I've seen the straight up yogurt there yet.

sourdough, I don't know how big they are but I remember the name Skotidakis from the 80's & 90's and their fights with the OMMB to make and sell their products in Ontario - their farm was raided and they were charged with some offenses years ago, as I remember. I guess they are no longer the rebels they once were! Or rather, they are likely now seen as pioneers and helped move the ommb forward to where it is now.
They are not far from Vankleek Hill/Hawkesbury and have a website - www.skotidakis.com/home

Their website says they now have over 3000 head of goats - so I guess they aren't the little guy any longer - good product!

How does Greek strained yogurt compare to Lebanese pressed yogurt (labneh)?

schtickyrice, I for one don't know anything about commercial labneh - I've made it and it was the same as yogurt cheese...

Now for a correction - I was back at Produce Depot and checked the Skotidakis yogurt and saw that they only had 9% bf, no 0%, and wonder if I simply misread what I saw. And the price was much better than I remembered - today's bill says 4.29, though the shelf sticker says 3.99. Also, they do have tubs of Skotidakis Tzatziki (found in the cheese case with the dips, not with the pressed yogurt).

I noticed that the tzatziki I made Monday did not separate by Wed. when it was finished, quite a minor accomplishment. I'm starting to get an urge for some chipotle dip made with their yogurt.

Sounds similar. You can buy bulk labneh at the the Mid-East Food Centre on Belfast and St. Laurent, and I think there's packaged product under the Phoenicia brand as well. I'll have to get some Skotidakis and compare.

I love this yogurt, and have had a hard time finding it in Ottawa, which is frustrating, as it's made nearby. Thanks for the store info--I'll be sure to visit. I do see their feta in stores more often. I'm in Toronto now and it's widely available here.

Forum - Greek Yogurt old thread on this subject as well

I really like the astros baltic style for easy to locate, the thickness of it, and stronger taste. Is that similar to greek style? Should I seek out greek style for even stronger tasting?

I get greek yogurt at the South Keys location of Loblaws. It's the zero percent fat kind, if I'm not mistaken, can't remember what brand though.

Peter, the Astro yogurt isn't Greek yogurt - I often use the Astro yogurt to start making my own yogurt which I then drain off the whey which gives about half as much yogurt compared with what I started with - this thick yogurt is called Greek or Greek-style yogurt (or yogurt cheese, strained yogurt, etc.) and is much thicker than Astro and highly recommended for use in cooking and dips.
See www.dairygoodness.ca for info.

Just bumping this thread up because I just tried some Skotidakis Greek yogurt this morning. It's my first time trying Greek yogurt and I love it! It's very thick but I definitely like the texture much better than the regular yogurt I have been eating. So my question is: has anyone noticed if Costco still carries it? I bought this particular tub at Farm Boy last weekend but their groceries tend to be a little on the pri$ey side...

Note to self: I will now have to do a taste-off and compare it to the Western Dairy and Liberty Greek yogurts.

Costco has a brand of Greek yog but i vaguely recall it was only the plain kind, no vanilla.

Thanks! I don't really care if it's flavoured or not although at this time of year I would actually prefer plain. The fresh fruits will be coming out any day now so I can add whichever fruits I want.

The PC brand just recently came out with Greek Yogurt and they have it in plain flavor in the big tubs, and some fruit flavors with the individual serving cups. I just tried the plain one and, compared with the Liberte brand, I liked it a whole lot more. I love mixing it with berries or granola.

Cedars grocery should sell it- they have some flavored small cups of greek yogurt where you get honey or jam in a separate container.

They also have Hewitt's? yogurt and some other brand.
not sure of prices,

they also had Goat Milk yogurt and I wanted to try that (was $2 for a 175mk cup) but the one I saw Saturday was "expiring" the next day....so hopefully they get more in sometime.

Natural Food pantry should sell it too.

PB Addict thanks for the feedback - good to know the PC brand is just as good if not better than the Liberte one. I have been using yogurt to mix with my muesli but I plan on trying it with the Greek yogurt. Not sure how it will turn out since the Greek stuff is so thick I'm not sure if the muesli will absorb much. But I will try it and see what happens.

Prettytastyreviews Thanks for the tip about Cedars. I am about due for a trip to OOS so I will have to make a point of looking for Greek yogurt while I am there. The Greek yogurt I bought is made from goats milk. I'm not sure if all Greek yogurts are made from it since this is a new product for me. I really enjoy the flavour so I'll bet the goats milk yogurt would taste just as yummy.

Looked for the PC Greek yogurt at the Aylmer Loblaws, nada. Nor did they have Chobani brand Greek yogurt, which I have seen on TV ads lately, not sure where that is sold.

edit: just checked the Chobani site, US only it seems (zip code asked for store locations).

I used to be able to get a greek yogourt at the College Square Loblaw's about a year ago, then they stopped carrying it. The last time I went in, I wanted to try this new PC "branded" greek yogourt, but they were all out. I liked it a lot, when I could get it.

Oh... MIDDLE EAST MARKET on St Laurent has it. +/- $1 or so more than Loblaws.

Funny I should come across this post! My friends and I sometimes drive to Ogdensburg, NY to pick up packages and we always stop at the grocery store before coming back across the border because they need to stock up on Greek yogurt. We came back with large cooler completely FULL of Chobani Greek yogurt last time :P

Hands down the best greek yoghurt I've had here is Greek Gods honey yoghurt. I'm a dessert lover and rate that one up high as a dessert. I know you can get it at Rainbow Natural Foods. If you can get in on an ONFC order they often have case sales.

Farm Boy usually has it, I like it but havent found a load of uses for it, any tips?

BakinbBom- is that the yogurt where you get the honey in a separate container?
I always see that at the grocery and have never tried it.

All I could find at the Loblaw's was their new 0% stuff. Please tell me that I'm wrong, but shouldn't it have SOME fat in it? I was afraid to buy it because of stupid hidden ingredients, but the container only listed skim milk and milk solids. Is this the stuff you're raving about?

Rizak I can't speak for the other brands but I just finished polishing off a container of Skotidakis greek yogurt 9% MF. I didn't realize there was any 0% MF yogurt available - the only one I have ever heard of is Fage greek yogurt which is not available in Canada. But greek yogurt is new to me so this is all a learning experience...

As for fat in yogurt I was also wondering about that. Just last weekend I bought some cottage cheese preferably lower fat. The only ingredients I saw listed on the 0% fat stuff was milk solids and a bunch of stuff I can't pronounce. I agree there must be some fat in these dairy products or they are substituting it with chemicals.

I suppose I could just drain regular Astro Balkan (or my own, when I'm arsed to make it) with some cheesecloth and have my own 'Greek-style' yogourt. It's just another step.

That's what I do Rizak, except I use an old Melita drip coffee funnel and a coffee filter

www.ottawacitizen.com
www.montrealgazette.com

I knew I should have started a greek yogurt importing business! Damn!