Indian yogurt...

We all eat curd in India so the concept of yogurt is unknown for us. But yogurt has been available in the stores for a long time now (as far as my memory, at least 7-8 years). Although, the yogurt available then was only of the imported variety, Nestlé has been making yogurt in India for the past 2 years under the ‘Milkmaid’ brand. They have 2 flavours – strawberry and mango. I have been eating this yogurt for a long time now, but I recently found out that many people do not know that there is a domestically manufactured product available (that’s the reason I am writing this blog ;)). In fact, this summer, a Mumbai based dairy products manufacturer, whose products are under the brand ‘Gowardhan’ had also launched a ‘fusion’ version (my take on it). Branded as ‘Go’ Fruit and Dahi fusion, it was available in 4 flavours – Strawberry, Mango, Banana and Pineapple. These people had an interesting feature to their packaging. You see the bright red cap on the pack? Below that is a foldable spoon. So literally you can eat the yogurt on the ‘go’. ‘Go’ was priced at Rs 18 (per pack) and Milkmaid is priced at Rs 15 per pack, though the quantity in ‘Go’ was a slightly more. Yogurt is supposed to be very healthy (rich in calcium, proteins, probiotics). There is just one issue with this product (that I have noticed). Even though they are domestically manufactured (and hence cheaper than their imported counterparts) they are not freely available. Mostly, one can get them in large departmental stores, but not all stores keep them on their shelves. Even Amul has its own brand of yogurt called ‘Yogi’ but I have not been able to buy it (and I am not sure it is available right now – being winter). So, there you go, there are 3 brands that manufacture yogurt locally and I am just talking about Maharashtra. It’s not a substitute for homemade dahi but it certainly is a healthy afternoon snack and I must say, yogurt is certainly worth a try!