Yogurt so rich and sweet, guests might think they were eating Devonshire Cream. Photo courtesy of TIC Gums.
June 2005
Updated March 2007
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Liberté Méditerranée Yogourt
High-Milkfat, Probiotic, Ultra-Rich “Dessert” Yogurt
CAPSULE REPORT: We could love on yogurt and give up dessert if only American retailers would bring in all 12 flavors of Liberté Méditerranée Yogourt. If you think you don’t like yogurt, try this: If you didn’t see the carton with the word yogourt, you might guess you were eating Devonshire cream with strawberries. To us, this is the best-tasting yogurt—if your idea of the best yogurt is something that can pass for cream, pudding and dessert. Our favorite flavor: strawberry. The yogurt is also probiotic culture-rich.
Liberté Méditerranée Yogourt is a sundae-style yogurt (fruit on the bottom) from Canada, made with milk from Vermont. Most whole milk yogurts are 5%. Méditerranée is Greek and Turkish style yogurt (hence the homage in name), and adds a tad of heavy cream along with extra filtration to achieve 8% milkfat. As we have a penchant for sweet, heavy cream, it is quite simply the most delicious fruit yogurt we have ever eaten.
And, it has the same calories as most other whole milk, fruit-sweetened yogurts.
If you didn’t relate to our Crème Chantilly analogy, think of sweet, heavy cream thickened to the consistency of sour cream. Now add fresh strawberry purée and you’ll understand why we’ve flipped for our latest discovery.
Made by Les Produits de Marque Liberté of Quebec, Canada, the all-natural yogourt has active acidophilus and bifidus cultures* and is rbGH free. Today, it is available in the Northeast United States. But foodies everywhere are encouraged to clamor for it from their local provisioners. Start with the manager of your local Whole Foods: the chain already carries it in their Northeast stores, so it’s in their supply chain.
*In addition to health value, the live bacteria cultures contribute to the creaminess. Liberté uses Bioghurt cultures, which can successfully colonize in the intestines. Read more about probiotics.
Flavors
There are 12 flavors Liberté Méditerranée Yogourt, and if you have access to all of them, we envy you. The four flavors of currently available in the U.S. (at Whole Foods Markets) are exceptional:
- Strawberries, our favorite, tasting exactly like summertime strawberries and cream
- Wild Blackberries, tasting like blackberry whipped cream (the seed-averse should recall
that blackberries have pronounced seeds)
- Peach & Passion Fruit, a sweet and sunny combination
- Plum and Walnut, a sophisticated marriage of dark plum and walnut flavors with crunchy walnut bits.
Exquisite flavor, healthy, all-natural, and under a dollar? May we make gourmet discoveries like this every day!
Other Liberté Lines
Les Produits de Marque Liberté is dairy that makes a full array of products. The other yogurt lines available in the U.S. include Goat Milk Yogurt, Organic Yogourt Organic Muesli Yogourt, Plain Yogourt and Six Grains Yogourt.
Six Grains, a line of 2.5% milkfat yogurt with a tablespoon or so of the 6 basic grains  mixed in, is the best-seller. It’s tasty, and we talk to people who are gaga over it who have never tried Liberté Méditerranée. Obviously, it’s the “health appeal” of grains mixed with your yogurt, although in reality, the spoonful in that six-ounce container of yogurt is a garnish, no substitute for the cup of whole grains you think you’re replacing.
We also tried the 2% Plain Yogourt. While a classic, tangy-style yogurt, it has an underlying milky sweetness that hints at vanilla (although there is none used—just sweet milk from sweet animals, and a sweet touch in the dairy). The plain yogurt has the silky fluidity that Emmi Swiss Yogurt fans adore. See our full review.
There also is a separate line called Dessert Yogurt, a 2% milkfat yogurt. We found a carton of the Coconut and enjoyed it very much—lots of crunchy coconut pieces reminiscent of a slightly tangy coconut cream pie filling.
We are told that Liberté’s 10% plain yogurt may get to the U.S. at some point. Ten percent! The mind boggles at the richness that awaits us. If it doesn’t come soon, we may just have to change our vacation plans.
LIBERTÈ MÈDITERRANÈE YOGOURT
Black Cherry, Dulce de Leche, Fieldberries, French Hazelnut, Lemon, Peach & Passion Fruit, Mango & Oranges, Moka, Plain, Plum & Walnut, Strawberries, Vanilla, Wild Blackberries
- 6-Ounce Carton
$.99 Suggested Retail Price
Available at some Whole Foods Markets and other fine retailers. To find a retailer near you, use the Contact form on the website.
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For more information about Les Produits de Marque Liberté, visit
www.liberte.qc.ca
Prices and product availability are verified at publication but are subject to change.
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