Yogurt Blog

As time goes on, we find that there is a small community of people that has been slowly growing over time — and in this case, I am not talking about yogurt. With every year that passes, those who care about the environment find themselves growing more and more concerned. This group has grown exponentially within the last two decades with new, not very environmentally-friendly, technological advances. I have found myself feeling very close to this group for a long time so it shocked me to realize that both the yogurt and environmental community are at odds. There are many examples of this disagreement, such as: overconsumption of yogurt toppings, plastic waste when making yogurt, and the usage of paper bowls while eating yogurt. However, I have found the biggest problem so far to be with a specific product used to create a more niche type of yogurt: dry yogurt.

On TikTok, the “dry yogurt” trend quickly rose to popularity due to its unique yet enticing appearance and its presentation online. Dry yogurt, in other words, is any type of yogurt with the liquid whey drained out of it to form a chalky and pasty substance. With this trend emerging, like a lot of other trends, a lot of people started promoting “strainers” so that making dry yogurt would be easier. At this time, it’s very normal for a new trend to bring a new trendy item but I have found that strainers tend to be a bigger issue. Yogurt strainers tend to be massive, often being sold to hold upwards of a gallon of yogurt. With their large size, they use a crazy amount of plastic for a single item that is essentially single use. It can be argued that yogurt strainers can also be used to make cheese and other things; however, the number of people who are interested in making their own cheese is very slim when you can buy it outright. On the other hand, due to its popularity, people feel that they “need” a yogurt strainer because of how easy it is to make and because you can’t buy it at a grocery store. This desire leads to the purchase of numerous yogurt strainers that will eventually end up in a landfill. Almost every trend has their silly single-use products — but with dry yogurt specifically, many people overlook the fact that you don’t need a yogurt strainer to make dry yogurt. When the trend originally started, many influencers used two bowls: one with yogurt in it and on top of that was another bowl with a heavy object inside. This creates a very similar effect to a strainer, where the bowl on top puts pressure on the yogurt (which is wrapped in a towel for separation) and allows the liquid whey to drain out and seep through the towel. About 24 hours after doing this, you will have dry yogurt.

Albeit, the results of the bowl method are not nearly as promising as the ones with a yogurt strainer; but for. a declining trend, subpar results are not nearly as detrimental as the environmental impact that single-use strainers have. Some influencers may say that “dry yogurt is a lifestyle!” until it stops trending. Despite how interesting it is, this trend isn’t worth the consumption of another product that will sit in a cabinet collecting dust. With that in mind, there are many more sustainable ways of making this treat such as using a paper towel or cheese cloth.