YOGURT!

Can I just say I hate yogurt? I never developed a taste for it, I remember eating yogurt as a kid and not liking it, I even remember when gogurt came onto the scene and I still didn't like it. My mother tried in vain to help me like it, we added granola, fresh fruit, dried fruit, frozen fruit, nuts, even candy...I still didn't like yogurt. The texture is slimy to me and usually tart in flavor which reminds me of spoiled dairy for some reason.

Until today.

For years I have happily shoveled yogurt into the mouths of babies, I know how healthy it is and how much growing children need the calcium and vitamin D. Today I cracked open a cup of baby banana yogurt from Trader Joe's (my new favorite store) and saw the smear of yogurt on the foil lid. The parents had mentioned a few times it was really, really good...so I licked it.

I've gotta tell you I'm in love...I really enjoy the flavor of bananas but I seem to have a mild allergic reaction when I eat real bananas that causes my mouth and throat to itch in a very annyoing way. I took a full bite to check the texture and it was very much like custard, not the gloopy stuff.

So here's what's in this magic yogurt: Pasturized Grade A Milk, Sugar, Cream, Banana Puree, Modified Corn Starch, Whey Protein Concentrate, Tapioca Starch, Natural Flavors, Kosher Gelatin, Turmeric and Annatto (for color), Citric Acid, and Active Cultures.

The second ingredient is sugar...that's kind of shocking considering I didn't find it to be overly sweet, but when you think about it yogurt is probably 90% milk and then whatever else. I like that it's made with real banana puree and natural flavoring and coloring. The fact that I know what all of these things are is pretty cool, no mystery preservatives and fillers. And the kosher gelatin...I forget that gelatin is actually an animal product, kosher gelatin is still made from "animals" (I won't get into it because frankly it's kind of a gross thought). But I'm glad they make the effort to include people who follow the kosher lifestyle. To me that shows responsible manufacturing.

Side note: All of Trader Joe's products are made by companies that follow strict manufacturing guidelines. So ANYTHING with an allergen is only made on equipment that is used for other foods containing allergens. You will never see the warning message "Made on equipment that may have handled tree nuts, eggs, whatever." Unless of course the food itself containins these things.

Here are some more nutritional facts about this heavenly yogurt.

Serving size: 4oz.
Calories: 140
Fat cal.: 50
Total fat: 6g
Sat. fat: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 20mg
Sodium: 55mg
Total carb: 19g
Fiber: 0g
Sugars: 16g
Protein: 4g

Ok so this isn't a low cal yogurt, but considering it's for growing kids and not me on a diet I'm ok with that. Although I am kind of always watching what I eat calorie and carb-wise I will sacrifice more calories for something I know is healthy, like cheese or nuts. I'd rather have 140 calories of this yogurt than 100 calories of ice cream or a packet of minature cookies.

The amount of sugar also surprises me since it's such a little container, and like I said it's not really sweet (and I know sweet). A tube of gogurt is 2.25oz and has 10g of sugar, a Trix yogurt cup is the same 4oz and has 14g of sugar...and I've tasted those and they taste much sweeter than this stuff. My only theory is that since they use real banana, that boosts up the calories and sugar content because a banana itself has a lot of natural sugars and is one of the more calorie-rich pieces of fruit.

Not that it matters to me, I'm still going to go buy a pack this weekend and make it part of my everyday diet. Maybe now I can replace those Kellogs shakes with actual food.

(By the way...have you seen the list of ingredients for those things? Scary.)