Some heavily diluted Iceland skyr. It matters where you buy the stuff folks… PIC Nick Ison
Thank God for Total Iceland. Else you´d be the butt of some serious jokes in Iceland after trying to buy some „skeer“ in the nearest local supermarket.
We came across the website of the monopolistic Mjolkursamsalan company in Iceland which is the only company allowed to do pretty much anything to the white liquid able bodied cows give us day in and day out. Yeah, out goes the myth of the free enterprises of Iceland.
This heavily rotten company has taken it upon itself to promote the thing we locals call skyr and as a result some superficial foreigners tend to think of as Iceland yogurt. Sadly, they are making a killing doing so for all the wrong reasons.
You see, the Skyr made by this monopoly is pretty far removed from the thing Skyr used to be for centuries. For one, the Skyr nowadays is jam-packed with sugars, natural and otherwise, and this is the reason it tastes like flowers in bloom. Nowadays you can also find the Skyr in a number of flavors, all of which are quite foreign to Iceland. Strawberry Skyr? Are you serious?
For the record; Skyr is supposed to taste a little bitter and sour. It is originally without any additives at all and for centuries the folks here ate it only with unpasteurized milk or unpasteurized cream. This way it is healthy, as far as we know, and to date no one has died from over-eating on Skyr. In fact, one of the local Christmas Lads eats nothing but Skyr from unsuspecting peoples.
However, we were struck by some very serious, and misguided, advice on the website of said company. As seen below:
Fancy pregnant lady and fancier ad-text. Neither are true.
We´re guessing the fancy pregnant lady arrived courtesy of a foreign picture bank while the text is absolute crap from a to z. Skyr is certainly healthy, we think, but for active people it is not advisable. Skyr is heavy. The real thing fills your gut in seconds which is not conductive to taking on a mountain or trekking some glacier. A fat Lazy-Boy is more like it immiediately afterwards.
Then there is the statement about Skyr being responsible for the long lives of Icelanders. Not only is this utter bullshit and unproven on all accounts but it is also in rather bad taste since the company does not promote its original Skyr recipe. It only promotes the sugar-filled strawberry and agave types of Skyr. Which certainly did not keep the locals alive for centuries through hard times.
Last, but not least, they say you only have to ask for „skeer“ in the nearest supermarket to find the product!!!
Skeer, or skýr, in Icelandic language means you are bright. Shouting about your brightness in a supermarket is hardly gonna win you some admirers. The MS company seems to think you are little but retards.
Team Total Iceland thinks otherwise. Want Skyr in the next supermarket either A) look for it in the dairy area or B) ask for Skyr. Pronounced as it sounds. That way you´ll escape being the butt of jokes.
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