A review by Kristina J. Fitzhugh, Editor,
Spa Index
My friend won't touch anything made with Tofu. She has
convinced herself that she hates it. I've given up trying to convince her
that she cannot hate something a blameless and bland as Tofu, but there is no
convincing her. What she doesn't realize is how many times she has eaten
tofu without realizing it, and enjoyed what she was eating. I just quit
telling her "It's tofu, just try it, trust me." It must be the concept of
eating anything called a curd that disturbs her. She doesn't like the sound of
tofu, curd, or other off-putting labels like mung beans, soy beans, or heaven
forbid some herbal remedy with the word "Wort" in it.
Knowing her aversion to tofu, I slyly introduced her to
yet another food find that I think is delicious, healthy, and easy to make, and
have enjoyed watching her eat it in great quantities, knowing full well the name
alone would make her recoil. I can hear it now. "YoChee?
You're feeding me WHAT?!" The cat will be out of the bag when
she reads this article, but not to worry. I'm sure she'll still love it.
YoChee is simply a name coined by healthy
diet and cooking writers and lecturers David and Nikki Goldbeck, and means
"Yogurt Cheese" made from drained yogurt. The Goldbecks have
appeared on hundreds of national and local television and radio programs and are
the best-selling authors of several books (noted below). Nikki Goldbeck
holds a B.S. in food and nutrition from the School of Human Ecology at Cornell
University, and a licensed Dietician/Nutritionist in New York State.
Many reputable and popular Spa Facilities in the United
States and Europe are successfully substituting a drained-yogurt product in
place of cream cheese, sour cream, butter, mayonnaise, and even eggs, to assist
dieters in satisfying their craving for smooth, creamy entrees and desserts
while remaining at their desired caloric and fat intake levels.
Spa Index received a number of requests
for Spa recipes using drained yogurt, and found YoChee in our search for those
recipes.
The Goldbecks, trying to distinguish the fact that Yogurt
Cheese is neither Yogurt nor Cheese, came up with "YoChee" as a whimsical name
for the product which results from yogurt that has been drained of its whey, or liquid,
and is transformed into the
unique, delicious, versatile, and healthy food that the Goldbecks have put
center stage in their book, Eat Well the YoChee Way.
You will enjoy Eat Well the YoChee Way
if you are interested in eating more healthfully in general without making
any difficult sacrifices, looking for lean protein and more calcium in your
diet, are lactose intolerant, a vegetarian, a meat-eater seeking to lower
saturated fat in your diet, or, like me, find it hard to give up a the "creamy
factor" or to substitute "diet products" when you are trying to
reduce fat and caloric intake.
Like my friend who is convinced that tofu is noxious, I am
a firm believer that there is no such thing as a good fat-free cheese. I
would prefer to do entirely without cream cheese or hard cheese than eat those
abhorrent "fat free cheese" products on the grocer's shelves. That goes
double for Reduced Calorie Mayonnaise. Is anything worse? I don't think so.
However, I finally found not an acceptable, but excellent stand-in for these
high fat products, after I made my own fat-free YoChee. I found YoChee
virtually indistinguishable from cream cheese in texture, creaminess,
appearance, and cooking properties. YoChee does have a bit more "bite"
than does cream cheese, but I found that "bite" contributes nicely to dips,
spreads, and dressings, yet is masked entirely when mixed in sweetened or highly
flavored recipes. The majority of the tartness or sour flavor we associate
with yogurt is contained in the liquid, or whey, which is drained away
when making YoChee. What is left behind is a smooth, creamy, cream-cheese
substitute, or sour cream and mayonnaise substitute, that is every bit as
delicious and versatile as their high-fat counterparts.
In fact, YoChee is a healthy, nutritious, and really
delicious way to counter-balance some pressing and common dietary concerns
involving calcium, fat and caloric intake. Yogurt Cheese is not a
new food or concept -- it's actually a food that can be traced back historically
for generations -- but the Goldbecks have not only given us easy steps to make
it at home, but also some excellent suggestions for incorporating it into our
diet and the tools for doing so.
YoChee is simple to make and requires no cooking
experience, no special equipment (although there are some terrific
draining gadgets offered by the Goldbecks at their website), and keeps very
well. I initially started by using it as a substitute for cream
cheese on a morning bagel, but I've graduated to incorporating into pasta,
sauces, roasted turkey drippings for gravy, into whipped potatoes instead of
butter, and in place of mayonnaise in salad dressing, among others. My
latest kick is to spread YoChee, sweet-hot Pepper Jelly, and flaked smoked
salmon on crackers.
How do you make it? Remember that what you put
into your YoChee affects what you get out of it. Use your favorite brand
of plain, non-fat yogurt (or low-fat if you prefer, understanding that it
will affect the calorie and fat levels of your YoChee), a brand which contains
live cultures. If you don't have a favorite brand,
pick the best brand on the shelf, and be certain it doesn't contain pectin,
a gelling agent, or other thickeners that many commercial brands use to make a
firmer product appealing to American palates, and are designed to prevent
separation of solids from liquids. These products do not drain well.
In addition, choose a product that has not been heat-treated or pasteurized.
Some manufacturers do this to extend the shelf life, but in doing so, they
destroy the very health-benefits we seek from the live and active cultures found
in good quality yogurt. After trying several brands available to me
on the West Coast, I found my favorite was Nancy's Organic Honey Yogurt.
After draining this product overnight, I have a creamy product that is neither
tart nor sweet, since the very modest amount of honey in the product smoothed
out the flavors.
After selecting your favorite yogurt, spoon the fresh
yogurt into a draining device which can be as simple as cheesecloth draped
securely over a bowl, a mesh colander or strainer, or a YoChee drainer available
at the Goldbecks' site. Choose a fine meshed colander as opposed to one
with holes for draining pasta. Gravity does the work for you, as the whey, or
liquid, drains away from the yogurt over time. The longer you let your
YoChee drain, the firmer and denser the product will be. For YoChee
cream, let the yogurt drain between 2 and 4 hours for a silky product perfect
for yogurt recipes. Another 2 hours, and you'll have a perfect substitute
for sour cream. However, after 24 hours in the refrigerator I pour
off the collected whey and have a firm, dense YoChee ball remaining in my
colander, which I turn out into a plastic lidded container for storage and use
in place of cream cheese. A good quality fat-free Yogurt will produce good
quality fat-free YoChee at about a two to one ratio (2 cups of pre-drained
Yogurt will produce 1 cup of YoChee).
In Eat Well the YoChee Way, each
chapter lists the benefits of substituting YoChee in dozens of favorite but
often unhealthy recipes, and lists the nutritional benefit of doing so.
Take a look at these selected comparisons:
Angelic Deviled Eggs (page 55) vs. traditional
Deviled Eggs: 30% less calories, 40% less fat, and 44% more calcium.
Herbed YoChee (page 71) vs. Philadelphia® Soft Herb
and Garlic Cream Cheese: 85% less calories, 0 fat vs. 5 grams of fat per
tablespoon, 150% more protein, and 50% more calcium.
Spinach Quiche (page 108) vs. traditional Spinach
Quiche: 33% less calories, 50% less fat, 75% less saturated fat; 22% more
protein, and 34% more calcium.
The nutritional value of YoChee is easy to chart. A
1/2 cup serving of YoChee made with nonfat yogurt contains 85 calories, no
fat, 10.5 grams of protein, 10 grams of carbohydrates, and 235 mg of calcium.
Approximately 1/3 of the carbohydrates contained in a cup of yogurt are drained
away in the YoChee making process, so, if one cup of undrained yogurt has 16
grams of carbohydrates, then the drained YoChee will contain approximately 10
grams of carbohydrates. YoChee is beneficial to diabetics because it
adds protein and calcium to the diet. The Joslin Diabetes Center considers
a tablespoon of YoChee as a "free food." It helps slow down the
blood-sugar raising effect of carbohydrate-rich foods, making them more
suited to diabetic menus. For those allergic to dairy
products, YoChee can be made with soymilk yogurt, as well, and for the lactose
intolerant, YoChee is a way to enjoy dairy products that might otherwise be
impossible. People who are lactose intolerant have difficulty breaking
down the milk sugar "lactose." During the process of turning milk into
yogurt, the bacterial cultures convert a portion of the lactose into lactic
acid, which reduces the problem. In addition, when that yogurt is drained
to make YoChee, some of the remaining lactose is further drained away into the
whey, making the YoChee lower in lactose than the yogurt it was made from, and
available to enjoy in small quantities.
If you subscribe to or read Dr. Andrew Weil's
Self Healing Newsletter, you know he proclaimed the Goldbecks' book The
Healthiest Diet in the World as "one of the best books on natural healing."
The Vegetarian Times proclaimed the Goldbecks' book American
Wholefoods Cuisine as a "Monumental work, a must for every vegetarian
cook." For the breakfast lover, Bon Appetit describes the
Goldbecks' book The Good Breakfast Book: Making Breakfast Special as
"...a good book with which to break the fast without falling into the cereal or
egg rut."
Now, the Goldbecks bring us Eat Well the YoChee Way
(©2001 Nikki and David Goldbeck, ISBN 1-886101-09-04), which has 312 pages with
line illustrations, a guide to incorporating YoChee into your diet, and 275
wonderful recipes, at the Goldbecks' website,
www.YoChee.Com, for $18.95 regularly, or on special for $16.45, which
includes a $5.00 in Stonyfield Farm Yogurt coupons. You can
look forward to browsing chapters which include YoChee nutrition, Breakfast and
Brunch, Appetizers, Spreads and Dips, Soups, Vegetable entrees, Mainly Beans,
Pasta, Grains, Sandwiches and Wraps, Baked Goods, Desserts, and Dessert
Toppings, with nutritional analyses for all recipes,
The staff at
www.YoChee.Com granted Spa
Index permission to reprint three recipes for our readers. Here are
three of our favorites:
Blue Cheese Dip
The refreshing flavors of cucumber
and dill act as a counterbalance to the pungent blue cheese in this dip.
1 cup YoChee
1 cup diced, peeled cucumber
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced dill, plus extra for garnish
1/2 cup crumbled Blue Cheese
salt and pepper to taste
In a blender or food processor, pure the YoChee, cucumber and lemon
juice until no visible pieces of cucumber remain. Transfer the puree into
a clean bowl. Using a fork, mash in dill and blue cheese so that the
cheese is well incorporated but tiny pieces remain. Season with salt and
pepper to taste. Since or once, or chill. Garnish with minced dill. Yields 1.5 cups of dip. Nutritional value per 1/4 cup
serving: 70 calories, 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 6 grams of
protein, 4 grams of carbohydrates, and 140 mgs of calcium.
Alfredo Style Garden Pasta
Using YoChee, you have the
sumptuousness of traditional Alfredo with a fraction of the fat,
and additional protein. To
dress this dish up, scatter 2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts over the top.
3/4 pound pasta of your choice
1 medium green bell pepper, cut in strips
1 medium red bell pepper, cut in strips
1/2 cup onion, chopped (red onion, sweet onion. or
shallots are all delicious)
Up to 2 cups of any one, or a combination, of the
following: Sliced fresh mushrooms,
diced asparagus or green
beans, snow peas, artichoke hearts (quartered)
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely minced
1 cup of YoChee
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
dry wine or sherry to taste
salt and pepper to taste
In a large pot of boiling water, cook pasta to taste.
Meanwhile, combine vegetables and herbs in a deep skillet, cover tightly, and
heat until tender, approximately 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to promote
even cooking, adding wine or sherry for added liquid, as needed. If using
canned artichoke hearts, wait until the end of cooking time to add. When
vegetables are cooked to taste, add cooked, drained pasta and mix well.
Turn the heat down to low and stir in YoChee and Parmesan, stirring until evenly
distributed and melted. Season liberally with salt and pepper to taste and
serve. Yields four servings at 420 calories per serving, 4
grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 23 grams of protein, 78 grams of
carbohydrate, and 295 mg of calcium.
Creamy YoChee Brownies
YoChee makes excellent, fudgy style
brownies
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup YoChee
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons canola oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and oil an 8 inch square baking pan.
Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nuts in a bowl,
and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together YoChee, oil, maple
syrup, honey, and vanilla, beating until smooth. Stir the YoChee
mixture into the flour mixture until they are completely blended and no dry
spots remain. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25
minutes, until the brownies are slightly soft in the center, but a toothpick
comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake. Let the brownies cook
for 15 minutes before cutting. Yield: 16 small or 8 large
brownies. Nutritional value per large brownie: 197 calories, 9 grams of
fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 5 grams of protein, 28 grams of carbohydrate, and
80 mg calcium.
