One of the remarkable things inside a French supermarket is the yogurt aisle. It is gargantuan with its shelves upon shelves of yogurt. Endless rows and rows of the creamy stuff; I’m not kidding. It’s enough to make you dizzy. Only second to the cheese selection, it is pretty intimidating. You’ll find so many different kinds of yogurt, you might not know where to begin. You many never even have enough time to try them all. Would you want to? There could even be as many different kinds of yogurts as there are cheeses in France; I haven’t counted.
What I do know, unfortunately, is that I’ve tasted some nasty yogurt in France during my long search for a perfect yogurt. Have you tried some that have a gamey aftertaste and you’d swear the yogurt should be called chevre (goat cheese) yogurt? I have. Yup. Gross. Others are too watery. Some are too artificially flavored with a chemical berry taste. Some trick you into thinking it has natural flavors, for example, “arome vanille naturel” but it’s in fact, artificial flavor that is supposed to mimick natural vanilla. Be careful with the tricky wording. Anyway, almost all of them are artificially flavored. Lots of them have aspartame. Some even have little specks inside the yogurt that LOOK like real vanilla bean grains but they aren’t real at all. In this case, what ARE those suspect specks? You probably don’t wanna know.
Coupled with the problematic and huge selection that I’ve discovered that I don’t like at all, is the fact that most of these yogurts are packaged entirely in plastic, which I absolute hate. Hard to avoid, and terrible for the environment.
Yes, there are some yogurts packaged in glass jars that aren’t horrible, but I found one that I really, really like called La Fermière – and it’s in a ceramic container that is recyclable or reuseable, it’s made with whole milk, and it uses REAL vanilla beans! It is amazingly delicious too. They are easy to spot in the supermarket aisle because they are the color of red clay. After you’ve tasted these, you will never, I say NEVER again want one of those stooopid plastic watery cup yogurts. By the way, they also include other flavors if you want more than vanilla. Other flavors: natural, honey-orange, lemon zest. La Fermière also makes fruity yogurts in glass jars, but I don’t really like those as much. Lastly, the only thing that could use improvement in this yogurt is the packaging on top. It’s plastic (which I wish they didn’t use but oh well) and it’s hard to open just one without lifting the lid on the other. Still, these were a great find.
13 Comments so far
Leave a comment
The French has about as many varieties of yogurts as the Americans have of potato chips!
Thank you for your wonderful blog! As an ex-French expat, reading it reminds me all the wonderful things I miss about France (yogurts, good wine and bread, (oh la la le pain!) breathtaking scenery) and what I don’t miss about it (bureaucracy, smoking in bars, the bit of American antagonism I get) I’m going back to France at the end of the year, so until then, this blog will be my France fix! Thank you again!
Comment by jooree 01.26.07 @ 8:33 amhaha, you’re right about the chips. also, last time i was in a pavillions market in l.a. i think i got a mini culture shock at the aisle of bbq sauces. so many!!! here, i swear, there is one bottle of bbq.
not complaining! previously, i couldn’t find any. i AM grateful for that!
thanks, jooree.
Comment by ptinfrance 01.26.07 @ 9:24 amYes I like that one too and there’s another in a glass jar, organic, but I can’t remember what it’s called. Duh!
And don’t let me start on cheese..
Interesting blog.
Angela
One of your Google ads is for goat’s yoghurt, by the way.
Love that photo.
I found four of these yogurt containers. They are the best. What do they sell for? I found them at a Thrift store in California in the u.S.A.
Comment by sharon 02.01.07 @ 11:05 amthat’s funny you found them at a thrift store! were they cheap? i need to move back to california!! 
anyway, they come all the way from marseille. i’m not sure how much they cost exactly but they do cost more than the watery cheapy ones in plastic. i can’t find my receipt but they’re something like 2.50 euros for 2 little containers. (which is something like $3.25)
I love France. While there we had La Fermière Yogurt every morning, it is the best. Is there any way we can purchase it from the USA, or do I have to wait until I visit France again? Thank you.
Comment by Donna 01.14.08 @ 11:19 ambon jour!
We are in Paris on vacation and accidentally found La Fermierre yogurt. I am love.
SO good and we love the little reusable containers.
We will never be able to buy them in the US.
I also love a yogurt from Italy called SPEGA in glass jars, fig is my favorite!
Regards,
Stacey
I have 6 of these containers from a trip to France, but would love to have 10-12 more for my home yogurt making. Does anyone know where I can buy them? Please email me at: kellybarker1@mac.com
Comment by Kelly 08.19.09 @ 12:02 pmI absolutely agree with you. This is the BEST yoghurt I’ve ever, and will ever, tasted. There is only one tiny grocery store selling them here … and they are not cheap. So, I would only treat myself to a couple at most once a week. 
I agree. I just came back from a trip to Germany. In my hotel they offer Fermiere yogurt during breakfast. Now I am disgraced myself. I don’t think I will ever be able to buy or eat any other yogurt. ;-(( Does anyone know if it is any store in US or online where I can buy it?
Comment by Diana 11.26.09 @ 11:36 amHello,
I am in Paris at the moment and made the same observation regarding the vast range and choice of yoghurts on offer when I popped into a Supermarche after work this evening.
I must confess that I purchased La Fermiere today, primarily for ceramic pots, mine was vanilla flavour and came in a lovely pastel blue colour.
Happy with my purchase, I got back to my hotel, did my best to ask the receptionist for a spoon, en francais… My surprise and delight when I tasted the contents! The, not too sweet, taste of the vanilla is lingering on my tongue as I write this… I am in a good mind to pop out and buy some more, but I a pretty sure it was the last one in the shop!
In the most romantic city in the world, I have fallen in love… with a yoghurt!!
Oh, just checked my receipt and it cost me €2.77 for a pack of two ($3.50 approx)
The empty ceramic pots will come back to Ireland with me
Leave a comment
E-mail addresses are never displayed - If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting. HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
This site uses KeywordLuv. Enter YourName@YourKeywords in the Name field to take advantage. Links are dofollow because we don't believe in dictatorship of evil.