Strained yogurt

Strained yogurt, Greek or Greek-style yogurt, yogurt cheese, sack yogurt, hung curd, or kerned yogurt is yogurt (or "yoghurt") that has been strained to remove most of its whey, making it thicker while preserving its sour taste. In Europe and North America, it is often made from low-fat or fat-free cow's milk. In Iceland a similar product named skyr is made. Labneh is a strained yogurt thicker than Greek yogurt.

Strained yogurt is usually marketed in North America as "Greek yogurt". In the United Kingdom, the term "Greek yoghurt" may only be used for yoghurt imported from Greece; strained yoghurt is sold as "Greek-style yoghurt", and yoghurt made creamy by thickening agents instead may also use this name, although ingredients must be declared. Strained yogurt is widely eaten in Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and South Asian cuisines, where it is often used in cooking, as it curdles less readily when cooked. It is used in a variety of dishes, cooked or not, savory or sweet. Straining makes even non-fat yogurt varieties thicker, richer, and creamier than unstrained. Since straining removes the whey, more milk is required to make strained yogurt, increasing the production cost. In Western Europe and the United States, strained yogurt has increased in popularity compared to unstrained yogurt. Since the straining process removes some of the lactose, strained yogurt is lower in sugar than unstrained yogurt.

In 2012, most of the growth in the US$4.1 billion American yogurt industry came from the strained yogurt sub-segment, typically marketed as "Greek yogurt". In the US, there is no legal or standard definition of Greek yogurt, and yogurt thickened with thickening agents, typically pectin, locust bean gum, starches or guar gum, may be sold as "Greek yogurt".