Why can some yogurt be stored for half a year, while others can only be stored for a few days?

When you go to the supermarket to buy yogurt, do you have a headache: there are so many kinds of yogurt, which one is better to choose?

If you are going to drink it right away, most people would probably choose refrigerated yogurt. After all, it looks fresher and has a shelf life of only a few days.

If you want to give it as a gift or buy it for your family, many people will choose room temperature yogurt. It is easy to store and has a long shelf life. You can drink a bottle at any time without worrying about it going bad. It tastes quite thick.

So the question is, why can some yogurt be stored for half a year, while others can only be stored for a few days? What is the difference between them?

01 Is it because room temperature yogurt has preservatives that have a shelf life of half a year? No, they don’t!

Room temperature yogurt is the same as room temperature milk, with no preservatives added and no need to add preservatives.

From the production process, room temperature yogurt will be pasteurized after fermentation is completed. In this way, both lactic acid bacteria and probiotics are killed, and they will not continue to ferment and cause deterioration.

In addition, after sterilization, these yogurts will be filled into sterile packaging in a sterile environment. No preservatives are required and the shelf life can reach half a year.

02 Is the nutrition of room temperature yogurt worse than that of refrigerated yogurt? The biggest difference between room temperature yogurt and refrigerated yogurt is that the lactic acid bacteria and probiotics in room temperature yogurt are dead, while most of these bacteria in refrigerated yogurt are alive.

Don't worry when you see this. We drink yogurt mainly to consume high-quality protein and calcium. In terms of these ingredients, there is really no difference between storing at room temperature and refrigerating.

However, in order for room temperature yogurt to maintain its texture and taste throughout its shelf life, it may be necessary to add a lot of thickeners and flavors.

We looked at the ingredient lists of seven types of ambient yogurt purchased online, and almost all of them contained hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate, acetylated distarch phosphate, agar, pectin and gelatin.

Why add these things?

Hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate and acetylated distarch phosphate are modified starches that increase the viscosity of yogurt; agar, pectin and gelatin have gelling properties that can control the precipitation of whey and prevent yogurt stratification.

The combination of these thickeners allows you to drink yogurt in normal condition within the shelf life.

The role of flavoring is to maintain the flavor of yogurt so that its taste will not fade over time.

We bought 7 types of ambient temperature yogurt, 5 of which were flavored.

Don’t think that you don’t need to add flavoring to the original flavor. Our technician lady used to be a yogurt formula developer. She told everyone responsibly that there is a kind of flavor called yogurt flavor.

Of course, we have said many times that whether it is thickeners or flavors, these are legal additives.

So you don’t have to completely deny these room-temperature yogurts, they are drinkable.

If you mind these additives and just want to drink pure yogurt, then the room temperature yogurt currently on the market cannot satisfy you... How to choose, read on~

03 Be careful when choosing yogurt. Old fans know that we do not recommend most of the yogurt on the market (whether it is at room temperature or refrigerated), mainly because the sugar content is too high.

For example, in the following model, for every 100 ml of milk you drink, you will drink about 7 grams of sugar.

In our opinion, yogurt should be simple and pure.

So the yogurt we most recommend looks like this: apart from milk and bacteria, there are no other additives in the ingredient list.

For example, we noticed these yogurts on the market early on:

Of course, there are some new excellent yogurts, and you can identify them by the ingredient list.

Currently, this type of yogurt is only available in refrigerated form. Although room temperature yogurt can be produced technically, as mentioned above, without those additives, the texture and taste are not very good, so naturally no one is willing to buy it.

If you are too lazy to look at the ingredient list to distinguish, then just avoid the word "flavor". For example, flavored yogurt (milk), flavored sour milk (milk), flavored fermented milk, etc.

You can choose pure yogurt with words such as yogurt (milk), sour milk (milk) or fermented milk.

Although pure yogurt may taste a little sour, this is the taste that yogurt should have.

If you think it is too sour and monotonous, you can add some fruits, dried fruits or nuts to make a cup of healthy and delicious yogurt.

The animated picture comes from soogif

There are many rumors about yogurt, such as:

Drink a cup after a meal to help digestion (it will only make you feel fuller)

A good partner for losing weight and reducing fat (in fact, most of them will make you drink a lot of sugar)

The thicker the yogurt, the higher the nutritional value (in fact, many of them contain thickeners)

......

Sometimes, it is easier for people to let down their guard when something seems harmless.

I hope that next time you choose yogurt, you will take a closer look at the ingredient list and eat less excess sugar.