Product review: Woolworths Skyr

Woolworths Skyr is a yet another choice in the ever-expanding fermented dairy section. But what is it? Is it yoghurt?

What is skyr

Skyr is a fermented dairy product, similar in consistency and taste to yoghurt but technically classified as cheese. It is a traditional food in Scandinavia, having originated in Norway and expanded to Iceland. It is often consumed with porridge, jam, fruit, fish or cereals (1). With the raising popularity of Nordic cuisine, local dairy manufacturers have started producing skyr (or skyr-style products).

Apparently, skyr must be made with Icelandic cows milk and skyr cultures (1). Following these criteria, Woolworths Skyr is not skyr. Perhaps that is why they call it “skyr yoghurt”.

Ingredients in Woolworths Skyr

Woolworths Skyr comes in 3 flavours: natural, strawberry and vanilla. Below are the ingredients for each flavour:

• Natural: Pasteurised skim milk, skimmed milk solids, lactic starter culture.
• Strawberry: Pasteurised skim milk, strawberries (6%), sugar, water, skim milk powder, maize starch, natural flavour, stabiliser (pectin), natural colour (carmine), acidity regulator (citric acid), lactic starter culture.
• Vanilla: Pasteurised skim milk, water, sugar, skim milk powder, maize starch, natural flavour, acidity regulator (citric acid), vanilla bean powder (0.01%), lactic starter culture.

Needless to say, my opinion is that any sugar-containing yoghurt is dessert and not a healthy food. I would recommend sticking to the natural variety.

Nutrition information

The 3 flavours are reasonably high in protein and low in fat. The flavoured varieties has 10g of sugar each (equivalent to 2.5 teaspoons). Being a dairy product, it also contains calcium (25-28% of the recommended daily intake).

Nutrient per serve (170g)	Natural	Strawberry	Vanilla
Energy	432kJ	512kJ	500kJ
Protein	16.3g	13.9g	14.8g
Fat, total	<0.5g	<0.5g	<0.5g
– saturated	<0.5g	<0.5g	<0.5g
Carbohydrate	8.3g	15.8g	14.3g
– sugars	4.9g	9.9g	9.9g
Sodium	63mg	56mg	60mg
Calcium	228mg	200mg	211mg

Taste test

The first time I tried this product was when I made this recipe for licorice salted chocolate mousse. I tried the natural one, which had a flavour and texture similar to cottage cheese. I really enjoyed the product and had it a few times after that. Sadly, the manufacturer has changed the recipe (at least for the natural flavour) and it now looks and tastes like average yoghurt. I have not tried the flavoured varieties.

More info

• Woolworths skyr natural
• Woolworths skyr strawberry
• Woolworths skyr vanilla

References

1. Wikipedia contributors. Skyr. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. November 2, 2018, 18:38 UTC. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Skyr&oldid=866963976. Accessed November 15, 2018.

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