Hello New World!

Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back to a brand new summer of yogurt ratings! Kaela, Adam and I kicked off the summer with a rating session last Sunday with yogurts from Bloomingfoods. This is yogurt we've never eaten before and that has come on the market since we last rated yogurt. This summer, we will work our way through these new yogurts (or in some cases, newly discovered yogurt) at a sort of haphazard pace. As various members of our group trickle in and out of town, we will be fitting in a rating session when we can get the chance. Hope you all can stick with us as we soldier through new yogurts in different places every time.

This time, we didn't journey too far away from Bloomingfoods because it was raining. We sat outside the storefront at the tables that were sheltered from the rain. We were pleased that so many people approached us about the yogurt and I hope that we can eat yogurt in more public places from now on.

As for the yogurt, we ate 11 new kinds of yogurt from Brown Cow, Wallaby and Kalona Super Natural. The Brown Cow yogurts all rated very highly, with Boysenberry (my favorite) and Lemon Twist (Adam and Kaela's preferred yogurt of the brand) as the frontrunners of deliciousness. Wallaby garnered more, excellent ratings with its new line of Down Under yogurts. These are very similar in concept to fruit on the bottom yogurts, but were only slightly more difficult to eat due to the elongated shape of the container. The Caramel Apple was very true to its name and would hold up respectably to anyone looking for a caramel apple in convenient yogurt form . However, I am told that if you love grapefruit (something that I don't) then Wallaby's Pink Grapefruit is the yogurt to end all yogurts. Adam and Kaela practically devoured this yogurt and I admit that this yogurt certainly was grapefruit-y, if that's your thing. Finally, both Peach and Strawberry Guava were very good but were outshined by the Pink Grapefruit yogurt and the Boysenberry yogurt (Brown Cow).

And, oh, what shall I write about the mysterious, new Kalona Super Natural yogurt? Well, what can I say that would be kind and place this yogurt in a not bad light? I shouldn't mention that this yogurt tasted of soured milk. And I shouldn't mention that it had a grainy texture. Perhaps I could say that this yogurt might have been better when it was fresher -- we bought it in the sale section for 29 cents. Though, I probably shouldn't mention that this yogurt wasn't worth the 29 cents and that its rating was a 4, which falls between Complete Crap and Slightly Better Than Crap on our rating scale.

All in all, we had a very excellent time eating these yogurts and it was a nice way to start the summer. Check out the list below for the full ratings and click on over to our picture gallery to check out the latest images from our sessions. As always, you can find us on twitter and facebook (see the sidebar for links) or you can drop us an email at eafyidpet@gmail.com if you have any questions. Stick with us this summer as we round up those pesky, new yogurts and compare your ratings with ours!

Ratings

Kalona Super Natural
Vanilla - 6.67

Brown Cow
Low Fat
Strawberry - 11.67
Black Cherry - 10.33
Boysenberry - 13.67
Lemon Twist - 13

Wallaby
Down Under
Caramel Apple - 11
Pink Grapefruit - 13.67
Low Fat
Dulce de Leche - 9.33
Peach - 13.67
Non-fat
Strawberry Guava - 13.67
Mango Lime - 11.33

Mediocrity at its Middling

Yesterday four yogurt eaters (Adam, Kaela, Siarra and myself) met for our second yogurt-eating session of the week which also happened to be the antepenultimate yogurt session of the entire project. Adam and I went to the East-side Marsh while Kaela and Siarra met at the West-side Marsh. Because we are so close to the end, with increasingly fewer and fewer choices of yogurt that we haven't eaten, it has become necessary to go to two different stores to ensure that we can acquire enough yogurt for the session to meet our quota.

And so, we managed to buy enough yogurt (25!) with only minor confusion and a couple of phone calls. Then we headed out and went to our location for the afternoon - my Grandma's porch. We arrived and went about our usual business: cataloging, photo-taking, spoon-readying etc.

Our yogurt spoils for the day was a fairly eclectic group; we had smoothies, Gogurt, fruit on the bottom, and some really thick-textured yogurts. We started off with Raspberry Fruit on the Bottom, which was good enough. Siarra appreciated that it did not have very many seeds. Next came another Dannon - Cherry Light and Fit. We didn't know then that these would be some of the highest averages of the day, earning an 11.75 and 12, respectively.

Then came the smoothies, or rather, the liquefied yogurts. The DanActive yogurt was not a hit among the crowd, except for me. I enjoyed its vanilla and milky taste to a degree, but the others thought it tasted too much of spoiled milk. I certainly would have finished mine, but would not have bought again. I think my immune system is strong enough without buying a 3 fl oz bottle of probiotic drink to fortify it....

The Frusion smoothies were a welcome change from Lake Monroe's assortment of smoothies. The texture this time was much more satisfying and the flavor was better. The highest average of the day went to Frusion Banana Berry with a 13.5.

I had high hopes for the La Creme yogurts but both fell flat. Neither met our expectations, but both were palatable. They just left an odd aftertaste that did not merit a higher score. What followed next was a blur of rainbow-colored, kids-oriented yogurts. Unfortunately for us, the Gogurts that we needed to buy were SpongeBob SquarePants and Scooby-Doo themed. We "feasted" on yogurts with names like Rawberry and the poorly-named Bikini Bottom Berry. All the flavors were not satisfying and tasted more like their color than their flavor. However, the worst of the day was the Watermelon Burst from Yoplait Trix.

There were several more normal yogurts that we ate, but they were nothing to write home about, or I suppose, to blog about. Just average. That pretty much sums up the entire experience. Average. Please stay tuned for our last two sessions plus a wrap-up victory round as well as our final data.

Check out our Facebook Group, Twitter page and Picasa gallery for the latest updates. Send us an email or just drop us a comment with your thoughts!

It's Like a Bird Dancing on a Subwoofer

Hello, yogurt eaters everywhere. Yesterday, we had a wonderful yogurt experience in the Indiana University Student Union. Aaaaand, when I say "wonderful" I mean it. This (one more time, now) wonderful experience was brought to us by Bloomingfoods, and included such succulent brands as Brown Cow, Stoneyfield, and Wallaby. The five of us, Adam, Dennis, Kaela, Jessica, and myself (Siarra), were pleased to be back to realy yogurt and away from yogurt smoothies.

Favorites of the day were Stoneyfield Creamtop Chocolate Underground (win for Stoneyfield - full of deliciousness), Brown Cow Cream Top Apricot Mango, and Wallaby Orange Passion Fruit (you don't find too many orange flavored yogurts). However, the day was really good in general, with only five yogurts, Redwood Hill Farm Blueberry and Strawberry, Silk Key Lime Pie, and Wallaby Black Cherry and Maple, rating below a ten. Even so, Adam and Dennis enjoyed the Redwood Hill Farm flavors, which are made from goat's milk, and Dennis also enjoyed the Silk Key Lime Pie (probably because it was more lime and less pie than other key lime pie flavors). Another good word for Silk - It continues to be the only soy yogurt brand so far whose flavor does not disappear. Even furthermore, I really like maple flavors, though they are sweet, and I think we all agreed that the Wallaby Maple would also be good on something.

So, the moral of the story is that yesterday was a great day for EAFYIDPET.

After, we all went out to lunch (crazy idea, all stuffed full of yogurt). We wanted somewhere close (it was HOT) so we went to Chipotle and were serenaded by the smooth stylings of what must have been zombies raving to birds on subwoofers. And a good time was had by all.

I promise to get pictures up on facebook tomorrow, so keep your eyes out!

We are two.

Hello World.

Today Siarra and I partook in 6 different varieties of yogurts that we bought from Bloomingfoods: Cascade Fresh, Silk, Whole Soy and Co., Liberte, and Brown Cow Low Fat and Cream Tops.

After buying our yogurt, we went to the Mall Food Court where there were plenty of open tables for us to use. After stacking and taking the usual pictures, we got right down to business. First came the Whole Soy and Co. yogurts which boasted the same disappearing flavor as the other yogurts from the same brand. The texture was acceptable, but the fruit flavor disappeared very quickly and we were left with just the soy. Peach was the best of the three - just managing to nab a score of ten. (Any score above ten means that we would finish the yogurt if we were eating it normally. Anything higher than about 12 means that we would not only finish but purchase again.)

Next came the Silk yogurts. Strawberry was the standout in the category, while Blueberry was the worst. It was noted that the Silk yogurt (also soy) had a longer lasting flavor than the Whole Soy, but that was not necessarily a good thing. Siarra pointed out that the aftertaste was almost that of bathroom cleaner. Not exactly delicious.

Brown Cow Lemon Twist got high markings just for being what it said it was. It tasted like yogurt ought to and was pleasantly lemon-y. The chocolate, on the other hand, was really, really bad. It was bitter and tasted more like black coffee than anything else. We even checked the container to make sure that it wasn't coffee by mistake.

The Cascade Fresh yogurts followed, where Boysenberry was the clear winner. I had never heard of boysenberries before, but the container had a picture of a fruit that was akin to a blackberry. On the whole, it was very refreshing and a thoroughly delightful yogurt.

And now, for the real winning brand of the session: Liberte. This yogurt is more of a greek-style yogurt. It was really thick and rich. It boasted unique flavors which were well developed and consistent. All three of the yogurts that we had were really good. The Strawberry was the best of the three, but the Plum Walnut had a really good, nutty flavor. Siarra and I discussed how eating the yogurt made us happy. That is something that I hadn't come across yet. I truly enjoyed eating these.

After we cleaned up our mess, we played a Harry Potter board game which we had brought. There are lots of fun pictures - take a look when Siarra posts them.

On a whole, today reinforced the idea that soy yogurts just aren't that good and that Greek yogurts triumph. Stay tuned for the latest pictures and for Friday's yogurt sessions. See the below post for complete ratings.

Yogurt by Firelight (with a little help from a flashlight, too)

Siarra again, with the update:

Saturday night, the yogurt eaters assembled in my backyard for a special edition late night EAFYIDPET by firelight. As if this summer hasn't been hot enough, we had to create our own heat source. Luckily, the sun was down, so it was actually pretty nice. However, the sun being down created problems of its own when we had trouble seeing the yogurt. Jessica in particular was quite disturbed, and we passed around a flashlight to make sure we could see what we were eating.

We started with a round of Kroger Fruit on the Bottom, where the flashlight immediately proved its use, since otherwise I'm sure we would have failed miserably at getting all of the chunks and fruit goo stirred in properly. Peach was particularly strange, however, as there wasn't any fruit goo . . . simply chunks. Furthermore, the flavor was very subtle, and also had a hint of pineapple.

After Fruit on the Bottom, there was Kroger Blended. As a group, Blended has a nice texture, though as Jessica said, "They aren't blended very well" as some of them still have fruit chunks. Cherry was quite disappointing in this type, and we gave it a unanimous 7. However, Cherry Vanilla is my new personal favorite. It has a very interesting flavor that Kaela identified as chocolate. I'd highly recommend, though Kaela and Jessica disagree.

Blueberry was our only Kroger Lite flavor of the night. I'm pretty sure that this was the odd blueberry flavor (our third of the session) in that it "whispered". The flavor simply wasn't very strong.

As a matter of fact, all of the aforementioned yogurts (aside from the wonderful cherry vanilla) were pretty bland. They weren't particularly bad, and are definitely acceptable for passive yogurt eating as a quick breakfast or with lunch, but nothing remarkable.

Then we come to Dan-o-Nino. Don't get excited. These tiny yogurts targeted at children don't fit into the bland category because they were delicious. No. The three flavors we had today, strawberry banana, vanilla, and peach, were probably the thickest and heaviest yogurts I've ever eaten, as well as being extremely chalky and otherwise unpleasant. Plus, the flavor was not at all a redeeming quality. The only upside was the fact that the package came with a cute magnet. However, we do not look forward to the six or so more flavors.

That was it for our yogurt rating, but the fun was not over quite yet. We weren't going to let the fire go to waste so we made s'mores. And even though Jessica dropped her marshmallow on the ground and a new one had to be toasted, a good time was had by all.

Keep your eyes out for the next blog post!

More Kroger and some Dannon Ratings

New yogurt ratings from our late night yogurt! Stay tuned for a new blog.

Kroger Blended
Black Cherry - 11.3333
Blueberry - 11
Cherry - 7
Cherry Vanilla - 12
Peach - 12.3333
Raspberry - 13
Strawberry - 10

Kroger Fruit on the Bottom
Black Cherry - 11.6666
Blueberry - 11
Peach - 10.3333
Strawberry - 9

Kroger Lite
Blueberry - 11

Dan-o-Nino
Peach - 6
Strawberry Banana - 6.3333
Vanilla - 5.3333

Pictures

Want to see pictures of your favorite yogurt eaters doing what they do best? Check out our albums on Facebook!

Facebook Photo Albums

No-Boys-Allowed-Super-Secret-Clubhouse

Siarra here with today's EAFYIDPET update:

Today, I was late to the yogurt eating experience and had to catch up with everyone at the designated eating area: Hannah's house. When I was parking I was surprised to see Hannah open her front door and stick a note on it before hurrying back inside. Upon reading the note, I found the invitation to "come in and find us". Where did I find the elusive Hannah, Kaela, and Jessica, you might ask? Well, in the No-Boys-Allowed-Super-Secret-Clubhouse behind Hannah's couch.

Dennis and Adam couldn't make it today so we dedicated the clubhouse for our yogurt eating to their . . . absence.

Today, we had a lovely menu of Yoplait Light and most of them were pretty good, let me tell you. My personal favorite of the day was . . . Strawberry Shortcake, if I remember correctly. We tried several of the Yoplait Light desert flavors. Key Lime Pie, Strawberry Shortcake, Red Velvet Cake, and Boston Creme Pie were on the list. I'd never really put much stock in the commercials that rave about how good they are, while a husband digs vainly through the refrigerator for all the yummy desert, but they were really pretty good. After our yogurt excursions are complete, I'll have to run out and get some of these flavors.

After giving our ratings, our fort promptly fell down and the rocks we used to hold it up seemed to have landed on Kaela's head, but I think we made it out without any lasting injuries. Be sure to check out the updated Master List and come back sometime in the next few days for pictures of today's EAFYIDPET and our new poster!

The Master List
Yoplait Light Commercial