Yogurt

One of the first things I gave up when I decided to try and reduce the plastic in my life was yogurt.

When I was little I never even liked yogurt, but it had gradually become a staple in my life with Bron, from the Muller Stars I had in my lunch box at work, to the tubs of natural yogurt we kept at home for making smoothies or cooling all the hot curries we used to eat. Surprisingly, though, it quickly became something we just didn't buy anymore, and didn't look to buy either, once the decision had been made.

And then this week I found these little yogurt treats in cute glass jars. Delicious too! Thank you Loseley.

The French Method
A couple of summers ago, Bron and I took a trip to Carcasonne in the south of France. We went with our friend M to help her look after another friend's backpacker's lodge for the week - not that Bron and I helped all that much in the end, choosing to beome paying guests and sleep in a wonderful log cabin rather than the dank basement provided for volunteers.

It was a wonderful holiday, beautiful weather, beautiful countryside, and delicious food. One of the things that struck me most, though, was the array of little glass jars in the French supermarkets. Where in England you would see shelves of plastic pots, the French use glass. Yogurt, puddings, fresh juice: all in glass. Easily cleaned, easily recycled, and easily reused. The lodge where we stayed, Sid's Mums, had shelves of empties of these pots in the kitchen for guests to use as drinking glasses; and use them we did.

So I was pretty excited when I found glass-potted yogurts tucked away in Cornwall. Bron seemed a little bewildered by my high levels of enthusiasm when I produced these yummy little pots from my shopping bag, though obviously he didn't have any qualms about eating them. And now the jars are washed out and sitting in the kitchen cupboard ready for their next calling. There is just one little catch: although the lids were foil, they were sealed with a small amount of tear-off plastic. Presumably this is to prevent tampering, etc, though I do wonder how necessary it is given that 'normal', plastic pots of yogurt don't require them. Besides, if the French can do it, why can't we?

The Home Method
Of course, I could always make my own yogurt at home if I wanted to. It would be fun to try one day, but for this weekend at least I'm going to be lazy, sit back and enjoy the spring sunshine.