Enjoy FAGE Total Greek yogurt for breakfast, lunch, dinner (as a base for sauces, a condiment or accent to meat, fish and poultry), or dessert, or snacks. Here, we’ve used it as a delicious, low-calorie alternative to tahini; and it’s an equally good substitute for mayonnaise. (We suggest a lesser brand for hair moisturizers, facial masks, and sunburn.)

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February 2005

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cheese-Butter-Yogurt

FAGE Total Greek Yogurt

Perhaps The Best Plain Yogurt, And A Total Delight

If you should be eating more yogurt for the acidophilus, calcium, or other health benefits, this NIBBLE may change your life. If you love yogurt anyway, it may introduce you to a new love.

A well-kept foodie secret is how great FAGE Total Greek yogurts is.  Unlike American and French yogurts, it is triple-strained to remove the watery whey. What results is a product with the thick, velvety consistency of sour cream and the sweetness of fromage blanc. 

FAGE USA imports several varieties of FAGE Total, one of Greece’s finest brands. The line includes plain and fruit-flavored cow’s milk yogurts, a plain sheep and goat milk blend, and tzatziki, the yogurt and cucumber dip.

For starters you must try the simply delectable plain yogurt in 0% (fat free), 2%, and whole milk at 80 calories, 130 calories, and 260 calories a cup, respectively. It doesn't matter if you don't generally eat plain yogurt: FAGE’s Total will give you a new benchmark.

The 0% is so thick, rich, and creamy that it's hard to justify upgrading to more calories. If only the delicious tzatziki were made with the 0% or 2% instead of the 260 calorie-a-cup whole milk yogurt. Evidently, no one in Greece counts calories or realizes what a great diet dish non-fat yogurt with chopped cucumbers, garlic and dill makes. The calorie-immune also can enjoy the whole milk yogurts with cherry or strawberry preserves or with honey.

Creamy FAGE Total lacks the strong tang of other yogurts and therefore appeals to people who avoid yogurt for that reason. We have yet to meet someone who, having tasted FAGE Total, has not converted. 

The fat-free FAGE Total has become a universal staple in our home. We eat it with cereal instead of milk. We use it as a base for all of our dips, sauces, and salad dressings (blend it with crushed tomatoes and basil to top pasta or chicken); mix it with onion, chopped mint, curry, or other counterpoint to create a condiment for almost anything. We have it with fruit for dessert: add some sweetener to eat it as “pudding” or churn it into a quick sorbet. When we sneak into the kitchen between meals, 80 calories of 0% FAGE Total is a guilt-free snack (and with a tablespoon of sugar-free La Nouba preserves, a heavenly one).

The Greek word for yogurt is yaourti.  The Greek word for perfection is ellipsis.  And polyamine means enjoy! 

FAGE* TOTAL GREEK YOGURT Plain and Flavored Yogurts Large, Plain Yogurts Whole Milk, 2% and 0% Fat-Free 17.6 Ounces $4.99 Small Yogurts Plain Yogurts, 7 Ounces Flavored Yogurts (Cherry, Strawberry, Honey), 5.3 Ounces $1.79 Tzatziki 7 Ounces $2.79 Prices will vary based on retailer and region.

Purchase at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Fresh Direct, specialty food stores and select supermarkets nationwide.

For a retailer near you, write to info@FAGEUSA.com.

Prices and flavor availability are verified at publication but are subject to change.

*FAGE, pronounced fa-yeh, is the an acronym and a pun. First the acronym: F for the the Filippou family that owns the family, A for adelphi, the Greek word for brothers, G for the Greek word for dairy, and E for the word for corporation. Thus, FAGE = The Filippou Brothers' Dairy Corporation.  Now for the pun: in Greek, fage also means “to eat.”  Some culinary oracles might say that’s a good omen. We say: “More FAGE Total, please!”

NEWS: On March 31, 2005, FAGE Dairy Industry, S.A. announced plans to invest $27 million on the construction of a new facility, its first in North America, to produce and distribute FAGE yogurt products. The factory, joining five located in Greece, will be located in Johnstown, New York; and will meet the growing U.S. demand for FAGE products.

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