Yogurt: The New Superfood

Trumpeting new evidence about yogurt’s health benefits, two California yogurteurs are preparing exceptionally good muffins, dressings and more.

 Plus: Quick, Healthy Breakfast Recipes

Since at least the 1970s, yogurt has been an iconic health food. Now there’s a new generation of believers who point to recent research about probiotics (cultures like lactobacillus acidophilus, present in many yogurts) that indicates yogurt may boost the immune system, improve digestion—even provide inner peace.

Patama Roj and Jessica Gilmartin, former Wall Street bankers turned food missionaries, have fueled themselves on their organic, made-each-day yogurt since opening their café, Fraîche Yogurt, in Palo Alto, California, last year. The two consider probiotic yogurt the new superfood, but even people who are skeptical about these health claims can’t dispute that the yogurt itself is delicious, as are the recipes Roj and Gilmartin create with it. They puree it into a sweet-tart salad dressing with figs to toss with mixed greens, bake it into surprisingly moist and pour it into a crunchy granola pie shell, then top it with warm apricot preserves. “The goal of the Fraîche store,” Roj says, “is to get people to eat yogurt as many times a day as possible.”

More recipes made with yogurt, like Farfalle with Yogurt and Zucchini

Published November 2008