Consumers have fallen in love with yogurt because not only does it taste good, it is good for health. Because yogurt comes from the fermentation of milk, which occurs naturally it has an ancient history. The first evidence of yogurt was that Neolithic people in Asia used it over 8,000 years ago. In those ancient times, the goat herders stored milk in goatskins bags, allowed it to ferment to preserve it. They got satisfaction from the pure taste of plain yogurt. They would be shocked to see all the flavors, which abound today!
At first, fruits added to give yogurt flavor. This gave us the popular flavors of strawberry, blueberry, peach, raspberry, and pineapple. It did not stop there. Once consumers got a strong taste for yogurt, clever companies came up with combination flavors such as, pineapple coconut, almond coconut, apple cinnamon oats, cranberry oats, blueberry oats, banana maple oats, mint & dark chocolate, banana & dark chocolate, raspberry & dark chocolate, almond strawberry, almond vanilla, and almond mixed berry. This progressed to exotic flavors such as Boston cream pie, key lime pie, and Hershey cookies & cream. While there were a half-dozen or so yogurt choices a few decades back, now there is a huge wall of yogurt selections in any large grocery store, rivaling displays of cheese, milk, and luncheon meats. Who could have guessed that yogurt types and sales would grow so much?
Dairy producers were the first to notice that consumer demand for yogurt was rising, so they convinced retail grocery chains to allocate more shelf space by coming up with new flavors. The innovation continues with at least a dozen new flavors introduced each year. A wholesale dairy click this link in Cleveland is a good example. They offer retailers over a hundred different yogurt products, more than two dozen yogurt drinks, plus a half-dozen yogurt parfait kits (yogurt with separate toppings).
Kids are easily encouraged to eat yogurt because many packages have favorite cartoon characters on the labels. When the health “craze” came into fashion in America, yogurt sales expanded with new yogurt products marketed as good for gastric and intestinal health. Some brands even guaranteed health benefits from eating yogurt for thirty days or they gave a full refund.
After thousands of years, yogurt continues its popularity. Maybe next year it is bubble-gum flavored. Wait a minute, that flavor already exists, too!